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.
Many boaters were upset and angry to find out just before Christmas that CRT is planning to close the Caen Hill flight from 9th to 15th January to carry out a “stilling test” that will result in water levels in the Long Pound dropping significantly, and that boats were being told to travel down Caen Hill to avoid being grounded.
Canal & River Trust (CRT) has announced a consultation on minimum standards for boater facilities. This is the first stage of a longer review and consultation regarding boater facilities and aims to gather information in order to agree a minimum standard of boater facilities that CRT will provide. This initial consultation closes on 21st November 2022.
CRT is holding its 2022 Annual Public meeting online at 12 noon to 1.30pm on Wednesday 12th October 2022. CRT is inviting people to submit questions to be answered in the meeting. See https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/annual-report-and-accounts/annual-public-meeting-2022
You can email questions to
annualpublicmeeting@canalrivertrust.org.uk
or send them via CRT’s social media channels
https://www.facebook.com/canalrivertrustboating/
https://www.facebook.com/canalrivertrust
https://www.instagram.com/canalrivertrust/
https://twitter.com/canalrivertrust
The Annual Public Meeting of CRT’s South West Regional Advisory Board will take place on Zoom on Thursday 7th April 2022 at 5pm to 6pm. The meeting will end with a question and answer session. You can submit questions in advance by emailing them to enquiries.walessouthwest@canalrivertrust.org.uk before 4th April. You can also ask questions on the day.
CRT has stated that it will remove any items left on or beside the towpath between Smelly Bridge (Bridge 173) and Avoncliff if these are not removed before April 2021. Due to the pandemic, CRT has provided a skip at Bridge 173 for boaters to dispose of any unwanted items.
CRT is threatening to terminate the licences of boaters who “persistently obstruct the towpath or use Trust land for storing items from their boat”. This is another reason to oppose and resist CRT’s proposed changes to the Boat Licence Terms and Conditions
In the next few weeks CRT will be starting to finalise the changes to the Boat Licence Terms and Conditions following the consultation that ended on 21st December 2020. Please write to your MP, or better still ask for a (virtual) meeting with them – personal contact is far more effective than a letter – and ask him or her to intervene to halt CRT’s proposed changes to the Boat Licence Terms and Conditions. Here is a sample letter to express your concerns and request a meeting with your MP:
The CRT consultation on proposed changes to Boat Licence Terms and Conditions ends on Monday 21st December 2020. You can only respond to the consultation online here https://wh.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=159843204588
Below we publish a short version of the previously published example response. Please respond if you can – if implemented, the proposals will drive some of our community off the water and into homelessness. Your response will carry more weight if you can put it in your own words, but the example response is a guide. You can download it here Short Example response to CRT Licence T&C consultation 2020