On the day that the Canal and River Trust held its launch in London, boaters have discovered that Head of Boating Sally Ash has been the director of a canal holiday brokerage company since 2004. Liveaboard boaters have often speculated about the reason behind her department’s policy of harassment and bullying of boaters without home moorings, and this conflict of interest provides a possible explanation.
A row has been simmering since the Spring about the problem of turbidity on the eastern K and A. Wiltshire Councillors have accused BW of violating the Heritage Lottery Fund contract after BW agreed with Natural England not to issue any more hire boat licences on the eastern end of the canal.
The fourth meeting of the Local Mooring Strategy steering group took place on 10 December. It was notable for the comments of the APCO rep that “existing legislation, consistently applied, would solve the problem… if we get ‘place’ right, we’ve done our job”. APCO, the Association of Pleasure Craft Operators, is the hire boat companies’ trade body. Many hire boat firms rely on liveaboard boaters for much of their skilled and unskilled workforce, and would encounter problems if their staff had too far to travel to work.
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.
Following the severe dent put in Whimbrel by the drunken crew of the boat Warneford, owned by RNAS Yeovilton but managed by a hire boat company, on a weekend that featured many late night booze cruises by overloaded boats of drunk and frequently abusive young men we thought we would help.
So if you experience any anti-social bahaviour or collision from a hire boat out of office hours, please ring Steve Lewis, local enforcement officer on 07771 943152 at any time of day of night.
As enforcement officer it is, of course, Steve’s job to police such behaviour and we are certain he will welcome your call.
It goes without saying that all such incidents should be reported both to the hire boat company and British Waterways as soon as possible and a claim submitted for any damage involved.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the good ship Whimbrel’s claim for repair of what is substantial damage to the hull and immediate interior.
We thought it would be useful to have the whole of this sorry tale, told in installments on this site in one place.
if you want to know what causes congestion along the Kennet and Avon, read on, if you want to know how dismissively the chief executive treats genuine concerns from a large portion of his customers, read on….
Dear Robin,
thank you so much for your illuminating reply.
I think that the fact that BW have presided over a more than 100% increase in hire-boating between Devizes and Bath in 6 years goes a long way to explaining congestion at locks, and other perceived problems on our otherwise tranquil and beautiful canal.