Dear all supporters of the ‘Stop the Pier’ campaign,
Our campaign is moving very quickly. Please find below some further updates and some further suggested actions if you would like to help.
The petition has received an amazing 5700 signatures in a day. This is huge signal of the level of public support for the campaign and public opposition to the pier and its existential threat to river activities in Putney. Please find a link to the petition below. Please do sign and share this with past and present club members and supporters, friends and family via social media or otherwise:
https://www.change.org/p/save-our-sports-on-the-river-thames-stop-the-pier
Here is a twitter video of me raising this issue in parliament yesterday, with a link to the petition, it would be brilliant if you could retweet this if you have twitter:
Please also find a link to the press release below. If you know any journalists, it would be great if you could share this with them.
Ranalagh Sailing Club have made a campaign page on their website which has the visual representations of the proposal which are powerful: https://www.ranelaghsc.co.uk/ffc-pier/
Thank so much to James for getting the change.org petition and banners done so quickly and thanks to every club who is able to put up a banner during the weekend and take advantage of the biggest opportunity to raise awareness of the campaign with the public, the great and good of rowing and the media.
Please find links to some national and local coverage following our press release yesterday. I will be continuing to push this issue in the press over the coming days. Riverside Radio are featuring this at 6pm this evening and I have an ITV interview on Sunday.
The chair of the Boat Race Board, Tim Senior, has provided this statement:
‘The Boat Race is aware of proposed plans to build a 75ft pier from Fulham Football Ground into the middle of the River Thames and is concerned about the impact on river users.
The proposed construction, at the start of The Championship Course, would negatively impact the historic annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities and the training of the crews on this stretch of river would be seriously impeded, with added wash and danger from the river traffic using the pier.
More importantly though, as The Boat Race is a one day event and our crews are visitors to the Thames, it is the rowing and sailing clubs up and down the river who would be most affected. We are concerned that the pier will limit the ability of river users to continue using the river in a way that they have for hundreds of years and the impact of a river hazard and the increase of large river vessels would be felt by the rowing, sailing and general pleasure users of the river on a daily basis. We are particularly concerned about the impact on junior rowers, from clubs like Fulham Reach Boat Club who are a recipient of The Gemini Boat Race Bursary, who are starting their rowing journey on this stretch of river.’
I have also written to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries MP. And will be writing to further relevant bodies in the coming days and will come back to you to ask you to sign some joint letters.
Thank you so much to you all for supporting the campaign. I will continue to work with you all to defend river sport in Putney and keep you all in the loop regarding further developments.
Best wishes,