Local Mooring Strategy « Kennet and Avon Boating Community Website

Posts Tagged ‘Local Mooring Strategy’

Mooring Strategy meeting runs smoother without its Chair

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.

Local Mooring Strategy: Hire boat companies and liveaboards agree on way forward while BW tries underhand tactics

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

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.

BW pushing ahead with local mooring strategies for River Lea and other areas.

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

According to Sally Ash, BW is in discussion with the Lea Valley Regional Park regarding a local mooring strategy for the Lee and Stort Navigations, prior to wider public consultation. BW has tabled proposals which the Lea Valley Regional Park is considering. Ms Ash also said that she is talking with boater representatives “about the concept of individuals who are well-informed boaters and members of parish councils” with a view to finding suitable people to chair local mooring strategy steering groups independent of BW which will then go back to BW with proposals. This “concept” would appear to exclude liveaboard boaters from chairing any local mooring strategy steering group – how many people who live on their boats are also elected members of a parish council?

Get organised – BW to go ahead with local mooring strategies in other areas.

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

BW appears to be going ahead with local mooring strategies in other areas which it defines as ‘hotspots’ before the pilot local mooring strategy on the Kennet and Avon Canal has even been drawn up and implemented. As far as we know, these areas are the Lee and Stort, Birmingham, the Macclesfield Canal and the Southern Grand Union.

As we have discovered from the consultations and the subsequent local mooring strategy steering group meetings on the Kennet and Avon, local mooring strategies are likely to be targeted at boats without moorings and especially at liveaboard boaters without moorings.

2-hna1527 Photo: Bob Naylor KAcanalTIMES.co.uk

Boaters’ meeting and local mooring strategy update

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

About 35 boaters attended the meeting on September 21 and helped to reduce the Georgian Lodge’s surplus of Guinness. At the meeting, boaters agreed a statement of what they wanted from the Local Mooring Strategy:

Local Mooring Strategy destroys trees

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.

Boaters respond to BW’s new policies

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

We have just sent BW the message below in response to its draft policies for mooring along the banks of BW waterways.

General Comments

The rationale behind the policies on short-term towpath mooring is to force boaters without moorings to pay more. BW makes this clear in its response to proposals by BWAF on revenue generation dated August 2010. In response to BWAF’s proposal for “Continuous Cruisers to pay more”, BW replied “The new approach to local mooring strategies is the beginning of this process. It is a top priority to develop this and the involvement of user groups including those represented on BWAF is vital”.

The fact that most of the proposed changes are not included in the local mooring strategy but in the national policies means that the local strategy will not be local but imposed from above. If implemented, the new policies affecting liveaboard boaters without moorings will result in large-scale homelessness.

Local Mooring Strategy Inquiry Panel to hold first meeting

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.

Kennet and Avon Boating Community Website

Posts Tagged ‘Local Mooring Strategy’

Mooring Strategy meeting runs smoother without its Chair

Local Mooring Strategy: Hire boat companies and liveaboards agree on way forward while BW tries underhand tactics

BW pushing ahead with local mooring strategies for River Lea and other areas.

Get organised – BW to go ahead with local mooring strategies in other areas.

Boaters’ meeting and local mooring strategy update

Local Mooring Strategy destroys trees

Boaters respond to BW’s new policies

Local Mooring Strategy Inquiry Panel to hold first meeting

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