Trustees of the Canal and River Trust plan to register the new charity in November or December 2011. If you will be directly affected by this you have the right to object to the registration of the charity. Objections should be sent to the Charity Commission. The Bill that will allow BW to be transferred to a charity has passed through the Committee stage in Parliament without much change. Now is the time to object to it being registered with the Charity Commission.
A number of boaters have been served with enforcement letters in the last few months. This has mainly been on stretches of the canal above Devizes. Here is some advice about how to respond to them that we hope will be helpful. You can also download this briefing below as a 4-page leaflet.
A row has been simmering since the Spring about the problem of turbidity on the eastern K and A. Wiltshire Councillors have accused BW of violating the Heritage Lottery Fund contract after BW agreed with Natural England not to issue any more hire boat licences on the eastern end of the canal.
BW directors and members of the public attending the BW AGM on 13 October were greeted by a group of BW employees condemning the “already overpaid directors” £15,000 inflation-busting bonuses as a disgrace while employees pay was not increased. The staff handed out a leaflet asking “are these the people you want to run your charity in future?”.
Graphic designer Simon Greer's take on the new logo
We can bring you the full text of Waterways Minister Richard Benyon’s written statement of apology to the House of Commons for pre-empting the results of DEFRA’s second consultation on the new waterways charity, which includes the issue of whether the Canal and River Trust will be subject to FOI. Mr Benyon wrote:
Waterways Minister Richard Benyon today apologised to MP Duncan Hames for giving him an incorrect answer to his question about whether the new Canal and River Trust would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Minister had said that the charity would be subject to the FOI Act in the same way as BW is now.
BW claimed in its reply to the River Lea mooring plan consultation responses that it had case law to support its statement that its draconian proposals for mooring restrictions did not threaten boat dwellers’ human rights. Boater Simon Robbins made a Freedom of Information request to BW in September asking for copies of the relevant judgements. BW refused Simon’s FOI request. You can read the correspondence here.