Posts Tagged ‘Damian Kemp’
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
The fifth meeting of the Local Mooring Strategy steering group took place on 28 January. It ran much more smoothly and constructively than the others due to the absence of the BW Chair, Sally Ash. The bullying atmosphere experienced by boaters’ representatives was conspicuous by its absence as BW’s Damian Kemp ran the meeting with a minimum of fuss. Despite being the Project Officer for the Local Mooring Strategy, Mr Kemp has shown willingness to take boaters’ views and rights on board. Unfortunatley he has little power within BW.
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Tags: continuous cruising, Damian Kemp, liveaboards, Local Mooring Strategy, Sally Ash
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Moorings Consultation, News | No Comments »
Monday, November 29th, 2010
The local mooring strategy steering group met again on 8 November. We are able to provide notes of most of the discussion, taken by a volunteer, which are at the end of this article.
The most significant point that emerged at this meeting was the fact that there is a strong consensus among the different interest groups – liveaboard and other boaters, the hire boat industry, local authorities and parish councillors – around the table on the following points:
Photo: Bob Naylor KAcanalTIMES.co.uk
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Tags: Bathampton Parish Council, British Waterways, continuous cruising, Damian Kemp, mooring policy, Sally Ash, Section 17, Waterways Act 1995
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, Moorings Consultation, News | No Comments »
Friday, November 12th, 2010
The last Kennet and Avon Canal User Group meeting took place on 29 September. A volunteer has kindly provided us with a transcript of the discussion, which you can read in full below if you want to know what took place. The volunteer says “Despite my best efforts, these notes are likely to be partial in both senses of the word. Occasionally I have added my own thoughts as footnotes where it seemed appropriate.” Here it is:
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Tags: Damian Kemp, Kennet and Avon Canal User Group, Mark Stephens, meeting, mooring policy
Posted in News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
The first two meetings of the Local Mooring Strategy Steering Group took place on 26 August and 21 September. Boaters attended both meetings, and there were also representatives from NABO and the RBOA. Much of the discussion in both meetings focused on whether BW had the legal powers to impose the restrictions they wish, which they have set out in their new policies (see our previous articles on BW’s new policies http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/?p=1014 and http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/?p=1001 ). The Local Mooring Strategy has a very limited remit, basically being about where geographically to impose the new restrictions between Bath and Foxhangers. According to BW, the new policies are not up for discussion. Despite attempts to convince BW that the restrictions they want to impose will be unenforceable if they are not legal, the Chair, BW’s Sally Ash, said at the last meeting that she was not concerned with the law.
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Tags: 14 day rule, continuous cruising, Damian Kemp, hire boat companies, Local Mooring Strategy, mooring policy, Sally Ash, Section 17, traveller's rights, Waterways Act 1995, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, Moorings Consultation, News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
A boater has been asked to represent unaffiliated boaters (ie those not represented by NABO or RBOA) on the Local Mooring Strategy Inquiry Panel. In February BW agreed to include them on the panel, then later went back on its commitment, but following pressure from NABO and RBOA as well as from other boaters, BW has now included one unaffiliated boater. The first meeting is on 26 August at County Hall, Trowbridge, at 10am.
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Tags: continuous cruiser, Damian Kemp, Local Mooring Strategy, Moorings Consultation, NABO, Wiltshire County Council
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, Moorings Consultation, News | 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 »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Following our incomplete story, BW and the K and A Trust: After the apology, the answers! (July 2010 posts), we have received the emails between Mark Stephens, K&A Manager, and the Trust, requested using Freedom of Information. These emails include the draft minutes of the User Group meeting on 29 April. They also show Mark talking about the boaters’ towpath tidy, saying how pleased he is that people are volunteering without being asked, but also saying that some control is needed. Mark, if you’re reading this, one of the people organising the clean-up tried many times to talk to you on the phone to ask permission to do this, with no joy. So we went ahead and tidied the towpath anyway.
The emails also show that the main focus of the Trust’s partnership with BW is the use of volunteers to carry out maintenance of the canal. A good reason to get involved methinks. It doesn’t look like the Trust will be involved with enforcement, but we still don’t know what the partnership agreement actually says. At the last request for it, we were told it hadn’t yet been drawn up.
The emails are here. Mark Stephens emails 1 Mark Stephens emails 2 Mark Stephens emails 3 Mark Stephens emails 4 Mark Stephens emails 5 Mark Stephens emails 6
Mark Stephens emails and draft UGM minutes
Mark Stephens emails and K&A Trust volunteer tasks
Tags: British Waterways, Damian Kemp, FOI requests, Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, Mark Stephens
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests | No Comments »
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
We have just obtained via Freedom of Information the minutes of a meeting on 28 May between BW and a number of boating organisations such as NABO, the RBOA and the IWA about the results of the recent consultations on moorings policy and local mooring strategies. APCO, the trade body for the hire boat industry, was also at the meeting. Not only do these minutes make it even clearer that the local mooring strategies are going to specifically target boats without moorings:
“The strategies should define how far a boater must move in order to comply with BW CC guidance”.
These minutes also reveal that BW is reviving the idea of the Roving Mooring Permit:
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Tags: continuous cruising, Damian Kemp, FOI request, mooring policy, Moorings Consultation, Sally Ash
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, Moorings Consultation, Opinion | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
I have now had a response from BW to my request for an internal review of its refusal to send me minutes of meetings with the K&A Trust. Here it is:
Further to Caroline Killeavy’s correspondence with you I am responding to your request for all documents regarding: …“Please could you send me the minutes or notes of all meetings between British Waterways and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust which took place between 1 January 2009 and 23 March 2010. Please could you send me copies of all email correspondence and notes of telephone calls and conversations to British Waterways from the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust between 1 January 2009 and 23 March 2010. Please could you send me copies of all email correspondence and notes of telephone calls and conversations to the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust from British Waterways between 1 January 2009 and 23 March 2010. Please could you send me a list of the dates, times, locations and attendees of meetings between British Waterways and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust between 1 January 2009 and 23 March 2010.”
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Tags: British Waterways, Damian Kemp, FOI requests, K & A Canal Trust, Mark Stephens, Robin Evans
Posted in BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests | 1 Comment »