The Task and Finish group set up by BaNES Council to assess how liveaboard boaters should be included in the Council’s strategies on Travellers and Housing has almost completed its report. The final report will be presented to the Housing and Major Projects Panel on 23rd July before being sent to the Cabinet for final approval and adoption. BaNES Council held a small focus group, carried out case studies and took written statements from boat dwellers. It has also investigated what work has been done in other local authority areas, particularly in Wiltshire. It is now analysing the information and writing a formal report with recommendations for action that will be sent to to the Council’s Cabinet.
Boaters who attended the focus group on 20th March report that the BaNES representatives present were conspicuously unimpressed with CRT. What the boaters didn’t know at the time was that the Boat Dwellers Task and Finish group had met with Sally Ash, Richard Rutter and Tom Deards of CRT earlier the same day and had been told by CRT that the balance of users of the canal in Bath was not right and that leisure users were being forced out.
See also
http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/banes-council-want-to-hear-from-liveaboard-boaters/
Tags: BANES Council, continuous cruising, liveaboards, Sally Ash, traveller's rights