First it was the Kennet and Avon
Then it was the Lee and Stort
and now…. It’s the South East waterways, the southern Grand Union and the Oxford Canal. Sally Ash is on the rampage again with another ill-thought out multi-layered deceit to appease hire boat company interests.
It is true these proposals will hit weekend boats most but the main issue is the long lengths of 24 and 48 hour moorings to be introduced, 2 or 3 miles in some cases together with the roll out of the £25 a day charges. For example, if these proposals are implemented, it will be impossible to moor anywhere for 14 days in the whole of the Rickmansworth/ Batchworth/ Mill End area of the Grand Union canal.
There is no mechanism outlined to collect the charges and rumour has it that Sally has done a deal with a private company to collect the fines which, of course, will lead to a culture of incentive to fine as much as possible. Enforcement for profit.
Once again Sally Ash has not produced any evidence or statistics to show whether there is a problem or what the problem is. The consultation is so badly worded, inconsistent and with important information missing that boaters in the South east have started this petition against the document and consultation itself. Hire boats will be exempt form these restrictions.
So to the details;
The consultation is here, closing date 1st March, exactly 4 weeks;
The consultation is so badly worded, inconsistent with important information missing that there is a petition against the document and consultation itself here;
Sign this petition against the proposals
Please forward this link to as many people as possible.
Tags: enforcement, grand union, Moorings Consultation, penalty charges, Sally Ash, se waterways consultation, visitor moorings, VM
i am a live aboard total boater, and i do not want to have any link or association with Travellers or Gypsies, there is none, and should be none, and there is nothing to gain by going down this nieve path, it’s not a joke.
Hello,
I am not a K&A Boater – I’m based on the Grand Union, so very much involved in trying to ensure that this consultation doesn’t result in the implementation of something unnecessary, unworkable, or both.
Firstly, I am interested in the basis for the statement you make that “Hire boats will be exempt form these restrictions”, and where you have that from, because the consultation makes no mention of hire boats. I have a written answer from Sally Ash that says it was deliberately decided not to make reference to hire boats.
However my main concern is the one you state, namely that they say WHAT they want to do, but the document completely lacks WHY, beyond a generic statement that “It is a priority for us to improve the chances of boaters finding space to tie up when they arrive at designated visitor moorings”.
I am trying to pursue the basis for it, and so far have only been able to establish that it is driven to some degree by responses in the last Boaters Survey, but also by talking to boating associations and the APCO. Obviously given their high prominence in such matters the IWA is likely to be a group that has had srong input. A fairly frightening thought for anybody who has seen Vaughan Welch’s version of what it is supposed to be like to travel down the Grand Union and into London.
At the moment I have raised an FOI request to try to get information about the level of complaints they actually receive related to these visitor moorings. Unfortunately those with more experience of FOI requests tell me I am unlikely to succeed, but it is another string to add to the petition you give details of abovre.
Finally thanks for bringing this matter to more people’s attention.
Alan Fincher
The problem with Sally is that she didn’t get where she is by actually doing her job. If she did her job like the vast majority of CRT enforcement officers and maintenance staff, she wouldn’t get noticed and therefore she wouldn’t be promoted. This is a problem with many organisations, not just CRT. Noisy people who keep coming up with ridiculous impractical ideas rise to the top, whilst quiet, practical, hardworking people recieve no recognition or reward. The cream rises to the top, hence the organisation is run by thick clots.
Sally’s incompetence and inability to do her job is the one thing that has caused chronic overstaying, plus abuses of 24 and 48 hr moorings by hire boaters and weekend boaters. The fact that she has nothing better to do than bleat about the ‘boater’s voices’ film is indicative of the fact that she cannot prioritise effectively. She is constantly associating herself with important sounding projects, so this goes completely unnoticed, however.
CRT and the canals would be better served without her. There are already effective and fair enforcement staff, we need more of them, and fewer Sallys.
Neil, from considerable experience of cooking lentils I have noticed that it is always the scum that rises to the top.
PROGRESSION,which SALLY ASH is inforcing.Will be the depression of not only the boat comunities,but comunities of villages,and towns.ALSO OUR NATIONAL HERITAGE.Which im sure the princes trust is totally ignorant of like so many people of the busy world.I AM A BOATER,and if you like caterize myself as a freshwater gypsey,and proud!!!!!!!!!! Im aware of changes that need to occure,but ressesion seems to hold hands in a conservative rule.Please everyone WAKEUP before our freedom is taken from our very souls