Support Us

Sign the petition!

We the houseboat community of Tideway Village ask you to support us, come and visit our 'special place' and sign the petition to save this unique London community.


What else can you do?


Please tell more people! By spreading the word, you're helping our community - thank you!


Please write to the people with the power to save us, Tideway Village is a community, it is an asset to Battersea, hopefully they'll be able to help us: 

Our local MP: Jane Ellison MP, House of Commons,London,SW1A 0AA 

Email: jane.ellison.mp@parliament.uk

The Head of the Planning Committee at Wandsworth Council :
Cllr. Nick Cuff, Wandsworth Council, The Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, SW18 2PU

Email: ncuff@wandsworth.gov.uk

We're experiencing fantastic support from both the London community and internationally.

Tideway Village features in bestselling author William Boyd's latest novel Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Boyd fully supports our cause :

"Nine Elms/Tideway Village is a unique community on London's river. It is absolutely essential that it must remain as it is - true to itself and the needs of its members. It is one of London's secret assets and must be carefully protected and nourished." William Boyd CBE

Famous eco-warrior Lady Dido Berkeley has lent her support to our campaign :

"These boats and their village are vital now and to the future of our living breathing River Thames for 2 good reasons -
1. MONITORING - People in these boats help look after the river at first hand, and
2. SAFETY - These moorings are important from a safety angle, with dinghies etc tied alongside they are the first on hand if there is a boating accident with "man over board". This was proved and evidence at the "Marchioness" disaster public inquiry."

Councillor Conrad Bradley of Gravesham Borough Council, Kent states :

"Any regeneration along the Thames needs to be river based and work from the Thames into the land. What this would mean is that the special contribution that the site makes to the Thames should come first, be it a slipway, a jetty, a houseboat community etc, any landbased regeneration scheme should then follow and adapt to the riparian use. This doesn't mean no development it just means the use of the river should be maximised first. We have lost enough Thames already to land based development."

Fantastic messages of support are coming through from our petition site too :

"Tideway Village is a a beautiful community which sums up everything about living in London it would be a great loss to London if it was gone."

"A wonderful community that I visit cannot be allowed to be destroyed. london is such a large city and it is hard to find little retreats like this little village. Please save it"

"This place has a unique sense of community and a beautiful attitude to boat living. It would be a shame to remove it, not to mention the damage that would occur to local wildlife!"

"The houseboat community are not ephemera that should have their homes destroyed arbitrarily in the pursuit of profit. They should be treated exactly the same as those who live in bricks & mortar with their dignity, right to a home, a family life and a life without persecution left intact."

"Houseboats add character and have a fantastic community spirit that's rare and should be valued. Don't let them 'bland' London!"

"It is tragic that the life which has existed on the river Thames for as long (if not longer) as the city itself is not clearly identified as part of the heritage we should strive to protect, If development cannot move around and within the parameters of the environments it encroaches on then it should not happen. We have enough experience of what happens to a community when it is raised and re written a new - there crucial element of a heart and soul are effectively absent."

"What a beautiful neighbourhood Tideway Village is! Irreplaceable!"

"Such a significant, special and unique community should be saved and protected."

"This boating community has grown organically and should be allowed to remain, it gives the area real life and character."

"Houseboat communities are some of the few remaining areas of character and unexpectedness in cities and should be preserved at all costs."


"It is tragic that the life which has existed on the river Thames for as long (if not longer) as the city itself is not clearly identified as part of the heritage we should strive to protect, If development cannot move around and within the parameters of the environments it encroaches on then it should not happen. We have enough experience of what happens to a community when it is raised and re written a new - there crucial element of a heart and soul are effectively absent."

Leave your own message here, by signing the petition!