BaNES Council Housing and Major Projects Panel endorsed the Council’s Task and Finish group report on Boat Dwellers and River Travellers on 19th November. Liveaboard boaters delivered a statement to the Panel supporting the report and explaining why the actions proposed in the report were needed.
Nigel Johnson, CRT’s legal and corporate services director will retire at the end of 2013 according to a CRT press release. This is surprising, because it was announced last year in a review of directors’ pay and roles that he would retire at the end of 2014. Mr Johnson was responsible for CRT spending around £250,000 on BW/ CRT’s failed six-year court battle with Nigel Moore over a section 8 order in Brentford.
An enforcement officer on the Grand Union Canal recently emailed a boater without a home mooring telling them how far they should travel in order to comply with s.17 3 c ii of the 1995 British Waterways Act. He said “… if your craft is seen to be travelling in excess of 17km, moving from place to place every 14 days (unless local restrictions apply) turning around to genuinely cruise in the opposite direction there should be no issues”.
The Waterways Ombudsman has told Sally Ash that her language is “not helpful” after two boaters complained about the CRT Council Briefing on Non-Compliant Continuous Cruising. The briefing, written by Head of Boating Ms Ash, alleged that ‘non-compliant continuous cruisers’ were preventing leisure boaters from using visitor moorings.
CRT appears determined to make liveaboard boaters homeless by denying those who have been subjected to enforcement the opportunity to comply by taking a winter mooring.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that a meeting took place between CRT and BaNES on 2oth March this year in connection with the Council’s assessment of the inclusion of boat dwellers in its Gypsy, Traveller and Housing Strategy. Reportedly some of the BaNES representatives present were not impressed with CRT.