Posted by Peter Hyland on September 08, 2013 at 03:34:48 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Boathouse for sale posted by Peter Ceresole on September 08, 2013 at 02:02:04:
I don't see why ownership of a lake bed is thought of as a "weird concept". A lake is simply a piece of land which is covered by water. If a farm has a pond in its field, the farmer owns the bed of the pond - there is no essential difference. The bed of a lake will not belong to a Council or other public body until a conveyance is made by the original owner. In the case of Windermere, ownership of the bed of the lake was transferred to the local Council (now the South Lakes DC) in 1939. In the case of Coniston Water, the bed of the lake was evidently transferred to the Rawdon Smith Trust at some point. The Trust now regulate the provision of moorings. (I gather they are more restrictive than the SLDC at Windermere, but I don't have accurate knowledge of this.) It all seems pretty straightforward to me.