Liveaboard boaters will address BaNES Council on the importance of keeping the moorings at Mead Lane, Saltford open on Thursday 16th January 2020. The consultation report will be discussed by the Council’s cabinet at 7pm on 16th January at The Guildhall, Bath. The meeting is open to the public; Mead Lane moorings is item 15 on the agenda. The Council’s cabinet will take a final vote on which of the options outlined in the consultation report it will adopt.
BaNES Council is holding another consultation about the moorings at Mead Lane, Saltford, on the River Avon. The deadline is 31st October 2019. Please respond to this so that the views of boaters without a home mooring are heard. The survey is here:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MeadLane
There will be a a drop-in consultation session for the boating community on Tuesday 22nd October 2019 between 5pm and 8pm at Bath Cricket Club, North Parade Rd, Bath BA2 4EX. Please go if you can and make sure that BaNES Council understands how important it is for liveaboard boaters to continue to be able to moor at Mead Lane for 14 days and how this can make the difference between being able to renew your licence with no problems and having your licence restricted to 6 months or renewal refused with the consequent risk of Section 8 and homelessness.
Wiltshire Council is carrying out a consultation regarding the report on its 2017 survey of liveaboard boaters. Please comment by 29th June 2018. Your comments will help to shape the Council’s approach to planning for the accommodation needs for residential boaters. The report is online here http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-gypsy-travellers or you can download it here Wiltshire 2017-draft-boaters-survey-with-appendices
CRT announced on 6th March 2018 that it would not increase licence fees for boats without a home mooring. However there will be fee increases for widebeams and significant reductions in the prompt payment discount, which together will result in more liveaboard boaters struggling to pay the licence fee, more boats becoming unlicensed and more people losing their homes.
CRT’s report on the year-long consultation also stated that “a further review will be undertaken to establish how the significant growth in demand from boats without a home mooring in key locations can be addressed, to fairly reflect the benefit experienced by those boaters without a home mooring in London and other highly popular locations”. CRT stated that these ‘highly popular’ locations include Bath.
The next meeting of the K&A Boaters’ Action Group will be on Monday 12th February 2018 at 7.30pm at the Somerset Arms, High St, Semington BA14 6JR, a 5 minute walk south from the canal bridge. All are welcome. The meeting aims to plan what action to take if CRT announces an increase in licence fees for boats without a home mooring.
The Boaters’ Cafe Club outreach boat Litania will be at Bathampton Wharf next Tuesday 5th December 2017 from 12 noon to 4pm.
Come and be crafty and make some colourful woolly things to yarnbomb along the canal at a later event in early spring! Clare Brown will be running the workshop, aimed at liveaboard boaters who would like support with wellbeing and mindfulness.
The next meeting of the K&A Boaters’ Action Group will be on Monday 11th December 2017 at 7.30pm in the Canal Tavern, 49 Frome Rd, Bradford on Avon BA15 1LE. We will have lots of paper copies of the CRT Boat Licence Review questionnaire so that anyone who hasn’t responded yet can fill one in. The consultation closes on 18th December so it’s your last chance to get your views in. CRT is proposing to increase the cost of a boat licence without a home mooring, so it’s really important that the views of boaters without a home mooring are represented in this consultation.
We publish here a full example response to Stage 3 of CRT’s Boat Licence Review consultation Example full response CRT licence consultation 2017.
Here also is a pdf copy of the blank questionnaire for anyone who prefers to print and complete the questionnaire on paper Print version CRT survey
Here is a Word version of the survey to complete electronically and send by email CRT Licence Consultation word version
If emailing, please send the completed survey to info@tonic.org.uk or you can print it and post it to “Freepost TONIC” (you do not need to use a stamp).
Paper questionnaires should be posted to “Freepost TONIC” (you do not need to use a stamp). The deadline for both paper and online responses is midnight on Monday 18th December 2017.