Posts Tagged ‘BANES Council’
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011
The tenth meeting of the Local Mooring Strategy Steering Group took place on 11th October at Wiltshire Council offices, Chippenham. Brian has taken over from Kev as one of the representatives of unaffiliated boaters. The agenda was as follows: finalising maps; enforcement and defining neighbourhoods. K and A Manager Mark Stephens chaired the meeting in the absence of Project Manager Damian Kemp. Sally Ash, the original BW Chair, had already informed the group that her presence appeared to be “not conducive to progress”.
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Tags: BANES Council, continuous cruising, liveaboards, Local Mooring Strategy, Mark Stephens, Sally Ash, Section 17, traveller's rights, Waterways Act 1995, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in Continuous Cruisers, Mooring Strategy Committee | No Comments »
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
If you haven’t had a census form you can write to Glen Watson, Census Director, 2011 Census, Office for National Statistics, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, NEWPORT, Gwent NP10 8XG and ask for one to be delivered to an address of your choice or to a place such as a library for you to collect. The number of people living on boats has never been properly counted so filling it in would help. You can also ring the Census helpline on 0300 0201 101.
Last week, a boater complained that the census office said that forms could not be sent to “mailboxes” or non-residential addresses, and as a result the page below appeared on the census web site
http://help.census.gov.uk/england/help/help-and-information/Aboutthequestions/PropertiescoveredbytheCensus/Topics/Mobilehouseholds.html
Tags: BANES Council, liveaboards, traveller's rights, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in Continuous Cruisers, News, Resources | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Despite promises from both Wiltshire and Bath and NE Somerset Councils, it appears that the Government has ordered boat dwellers to be excluded from the two-yearly caravan count which took place on 27 January 2011.
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Tags: BANES Council, FOI requests, liveaboards, traveller's rights, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, News, The Politick | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
We have submitted information on the situation, rights and needs of liveaboard boaters for the Core Strategies being drafted by Bath and NE Somerset and Wiltshire Councils.
What’s the Core Strategy? It’s the policy that guides local planning over the next 20 years or so. A boater met with one of the planning officers involved in drafting Wiltshire’s strategy, and a written response has gone to the public consultation on the BANES core strategy. This was done in response firstly to a proposal by Wiltshire’s Canal Officer that the Local Mooring Strategy should be written into its Core Strategy, and secondly because Bathampton and Claverton Parish Councils have responded to the BANES consultation with proposals that would have an adverse impact on liveaboard boaters.
Photo: Bob Naylor KAcanalTIMES.co.uk
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Tags: BANES Council, continuous cruising, equality, liveaboards, mooring policy, Planning, traveller's rights, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in Continuous Cruisers, News, Resources, The Politick | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
Following a Freedom of Information request we have obtained the deployment plan written by BW giving details of how the Canal Monitoring and Enforcement Officer post proposed to BANES by Councillor Ian Dewey of Bathampton would work. Written in March, this document shows that BANES was planning to patrol the canal 5 days a week between Bathampton and Bradford on Avon, and assumed it would gain Wiltshire’s support for patrolling the area within its boundary. However, Ken Oliver, Wiltshire Council’s Canal Officer stated at a meeting of the local mooring strategy steering group on 26 August that Wiltshire was not prepared to participate in this scheme.
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Tags: BANES Council, Bathampton, continuous cruising, enforcement team, liveaboards
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
From correspondence below, obtained via Freedom of Information from Bath and NE Somerset Council, it looks like BW and BANES are paying jointly for an extra boat checker. This appears to be instigated partly by Councillor Ian Dewey of Bathampton, who has been a key mover in efforts to move liveaboard boaters off the canal.
The “concerns” expressed take no account of the fact that the Mooring Guidance for Continuous Cruisers is not a legal requirement and clearly states that it does not have the force of law. Unlike the 14-day rule in Section 17 of the British Waterways Act, BW does not have the legal power to enforce it. In one of the emails, David Lawrence, BANES Deputy Director for Heritage Services, says he does not think there is a problem. It is not clear whether this extra staff appointment is going ahead permanently, as the original contract seems to have been for this summer. However, we do wonder whether this is a good use of a cash-strapped Local Authority’s money, as responsibility for enforcement on the canal lies with BW.
The information in these emails seems to imply that BW is bypassing whatever the local mooring strategy would decide – this has gone ahead before the local mooring strategy inquiry panel has even started meeting.
The emails are here. Banes enforcement 1 Banes enforcement 2 Banes enforcement 3 Banes enforcement 4 Banes enforcement 5 Banes enforcement 6 Banes enforcement 7 Banes enforcement 8
Tags: BANES Council, continuous cruiser, Damian Kemp, enforcement team, FOI request, Section 17, Waterways Act 1995
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, News | No Comments »