Prince William wades into abandoned boats blight on Duchy of Cornwall estate

Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall estate has waded in after locals raised fears over hundreds of hulks - abandoned sailing and motor vessels - littering the rivers of Devon and Cornwall. With 100 of these boats on the River Dart alone, the royal estate has agreed to help remove the eyesores.

The Duchy owns the riverbed on the River Avon and said it was "working in conjunction” with their moorings manager to deal with “a small number of abandoned boats". The estate covers 131,000 acres of land with most of the estate’s income given to the Duchy of Cornwall.

Locals have raised concerns regarding six dilapidated and abandoned boats, one of which is almost covered by water at high tide. There are fears pollution from fuel and oil on board could impact local wildlife and the river health.

Local wildlife artist John Ashton said abandoned boats were now starting to blight local rivers. He said: "It's getting worse year by year. Up to about 10 years ago everything was pristine here. There are more wrecks here now than I have ever seen and I've been here for about 40 years."

The British Ports Association said in a 2022 report, that boat abandonment had "increasingly become an issue in some ports, harbours and marinas". The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has also concluded that "recreational vessel abandonment is set to become an increasingly large problem".

Chris Craven, who owns the Creekside Boatyard on the River Dart, says the problem needs to be dealt with. He said: "There's a big problem with abandoned vessels on the water and beaches and in the yards. The main reason for this is unlike when you buy a car there's not a form of traceability in the boating industry.

"Because of the lack of education in it, and ease of buying a boat, a lot of people find after purchasing that they have bought something which needs a lot of upkeep, or they might have bought something which needs a lot of work doing before it can go in the water.

"There is also a lack of administration behind it. It's therefore very easy to abandon a boat. They are full of oils etc that end up in the ecosystems - it's quite a toxic thing really."

Chris says many European countries have made getting rid of boats cheaper and easier to recycle - whereas the cost of disposing of a boat in the UK is around £400 per tonne. He added: "A lot of our European neighbours have taken this thing on at district level and are being progressive.

"In the UK we haven't embraced this and there isn't a specific law which says you can't abandon a boat. We just want to stop this from happening."

A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said: "The Duchy of Cornwall is working in conjunction with our moorings manager to deal with a small number of abandoned boats on the river Avon. This task is ongoing at the moment."