Mill Green is an off-road track in Caversham on the bank of the Thames linking Star Road with Piggots Road.

For more than three years, a shipping container has partly blocked part of the track, which can be passed using the pavement next to it.

Ivan Carter, a boater who owns a mooring in Mill Green has expressed frustration about the situation, claiming that the container has been put there without permission.

Although he has reported the issue to the Reading Borough Council on multiple occasions, no action has been taken. 

Mr Carter said: “They are doing nothing about it, they have a duty to uphold planning law and they are doing nothing about it. Why haven’t they taken enforcement action?”

He added that he is mulling taking the council to court for inaction. 

Mr Carter was seeking to create vehicular access from Mill Green to his mooring, however, his plan was rejected by councillors in March 2022, with an appeal to the government planning inspectorate being dismissed that November. 

He said: “That’s in the past now, there’s other stuff they don’t seem to have a problem with.

“They [the council] are not fair, and they [the boatyard] are allowed to do that, it’s biased.”

Mr Carter has put The Moorings up for sale saying that he intended to 'test the market'. 

The plot has been listed for £475,000 by Caversham real estate agents Farmer & Dyer. 

Photos of the listing show a garden and paved area to entertain guests, a covered mooring and a hut with overnight accommodation. 

A double bed inside the hut at The Moorings in Mill Green, Caversham, which has a list price of £475,000. The site cannot be used as permanent accommodation. (Image: Farmer & Dyer)

Concerns have previously been raised over a plan for two homes at the site, which was ultimately withdrawn in 2018.

Mr Carter has never applied for housing on the site. 

He said: “I’m not a developer, I've never applied for a dwelling on it.”

Furthermore, the listing on Rightmove states that the plot is purely for leisure uses and cannot be developed as it is floodplain land.

Meanwhile, the shipping container remains in situ with railings securing it. 

“They [the neighbours] should have permission to have it there but they don’t.

“Why are they [the council] putting barriers up if the container is still there?

“I just didn’t want the container there, they’ve done it to spite me, we don’t need the container to be there, it’s not their land.

“It’s bias on the part of the council.”

Answering his complaint, a council spokesperson said: “Having reviewed the circumstances around the placing of this shipping container, it remains ‘not development’ and the council has no planning power to ask for it to be removed.”

The shipping container is owned by the Better Boating Company which neighbours The Moorings. 

A member of the company declined to officially respond, but did reiterate that the council has no issue with the placement of the shipping container.

Mr Carter has claimed that two mobile homes have been installed at Better Boating, which is unverified. 

A council spokesperson said: “In relation to the mobile homes, any suspected planning breach should be officially reported via the Council’s online webform at Report a Planning Breach - Reading Borough Council.”