Liveaboard boater Simon Greer has started an online petition for security for towpath boat dwellers. You can sign the petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/447/522/923/security-for-towpath-boat-dwellers/
Simon, who has lived on his boat on the Macclesfield canal for many years, says: “Homelessness is a big issue and it now threatens liveaboard boaters. The Canal and River Trust may not be a Housing Authority but it does have an extensive and thriving liveaboard community. Those of us who habituate the towpath know of BW/ CRT’s current and ongoing campaign to make rigid the vaguenesses in the law which were knowingly introduced by Mr George Mudie at the 1995 Select Committee hearings.
The vague nature of the 14 day rule was given to us for our protection against British Waterways’ clear aggression towards its liveaboard customers. The issues today are no different from those of 1995.
The petition asks the CRT not to introduce any new rules that deliberately ignore the wise counsel of George Mudie MP and his scrutinising Select Committee. To do so would be to ignore the highest adjudication in the land. The phrase ‘Ultra Vires’ comes to mind.”
Tags: continuous cruising, liveaboards, petition, Section 17, Waterways Act 1995