We have been alerted to the fact that CRT may be considering restricted opening hours all year round on a permanent basis for the Caen Hill flight in Devizes, should no objections be raised. The winter opening hours for Caen Hill (Locks 29-44) are 10am – 1pm every day, with last entry into the flight by 1pm.
CRT’s policy statement and report on its 2022 consultation on a minimum standard for boaters’ facilities, published on 30th May and 5th July 2023, states that CRT will increase its minimum cruising distance between facilities from 4 hours to 1 day, even though 25% to 35% of respondents (depending on the specific facility) thought a gap of 5 hours was too great. Since then we have had multiple reports of CRT closing facilities all around the waterways.