Archive for December, 2009

Boaters – use your vote.

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Something that us boaters may or may not be aware of is that we still have the right to vote even though we are “of no fixed abode”.

By filling in the declaration of local interest form and sending it back to a local council you can get added to the electoral roll (although not for credit purposes), all you need is a care of postal address for the forms to be sent to. The same form will cover you if you want to be registered under BANES, Wiltshire or Reading Councils.

http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/downloads/boater-registration.pdf

Why bother? Well, its up to personal choice, but its our right to have it and it means we get our say.

By the way, this info doesn’t go to BW as its a separate government body, so saying where you most often moor cannot get in the way of your right to continuously cruise.

The Bill de Leie show

Friday, December 18th, 2009

We don’t normally lift from other websites but this, seen in the latest Towpath Talk letters page had me in stitches so I thought I’d share it with you all.

Has BRITISH WATERWAYS slipped its legal moorings?

WHAT in blue blazes was NABO’s legal affairs officer Geoffrey Robinson thinking of. By asserting that the very basis of the powers that British Waterways control of licensing and mooring are at odds with the law and possibly unenforceable he has given every druggie, alcoholic and general deadbeat on the canals carte blanche to moor anywhere, for as long as they want and without buying a licence.

Read more…

Petition launched

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Help stop british waterways from denying boater’s legal mooring rights and destroying boating communities

A petition has been launched at the consultation meetings

Read more…

A positive response – and more babies

Friday, December 11th, 2009

A lot has been said, both on this site and at the meetings about the negative impacts of the proposals, understandably, people have been pushed onto the defensive by these threats to our homes and lifestyle. However there is a significant amount of feeling that we can also effect change in a positive way.

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Consultation meetings – a brief report

Friday, December 11th, 2009

It is not often that boaties move me to tears, barring when they hit my foot with a mooring hammer. But the response to the meetings has moved me muchly. The back bar at the Canal Tavern was packed and the Love Lounge at the Bell had a surprising number of people given how cold and damp the weather was that night.

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Consultation Meetings

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

If you can’t make the meetings, we hope that you feel strongly enough to respond when you can. The clocks on the home page show how long you’ve got, not forgetting the party season about to commence.
We have some documents to aid which will be available at the meeting, here they are for general download.
National moorings reponse form with room to fill in your response
Local moorings response form
Suggestions for possible responses

Letters to Robin

Friday, December 4th, 2009

We thought it would be useful to have the whole of this sorry tale, told in installments on this site in one place.
if you want to know what causes congestion along the Kennet and Avon, read on, if you want to know how dismissively the chief executive treats genuine concerns from a large portion of his customers, read on….

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My Reply to Robin Evans Regarding the expansion of hire-boating on Kennet & Avon (West)

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Dear Robin,

thank you so much for your illuminating reply.

I think that the fact that BW have presided over a more than 100% increase in hire-boating between Devizes and Bath in 6 years goes a long way to explaining congestion at locks, and other perceived problems on our otherwise tranquil and beautiful canal.

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Reply from BW Chief Robin Evans providing details of Hire Boat expansion on Kennet & Avon (West)

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Apologies for the delay in replying to your previous e-mail.

The 40% statistic is a national one. The K&A has gone against this trend and you are correct that there has been a significant increase here – a doubling in fact in the number of hireboats based between the bottom of Devizes locks and Bristol from 36 in 2003 to 78 this year.

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Dialogue with Claverton Parish Council

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Further to our letter to Claverton and Monkton Combe Parish Councils
posted here; http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/?p=210 we have received the following reply from the Clerk to Claverton Parish Council;

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