Posts Tagged ‘Moorings Consultation’

Boaters attend Wiltshire Area Board meetings

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Boaters have attended the Wiltshire Council Area Board Meetings at Trowbridge and Pewsey recently. Here’s a report from the Trowbridge Area Board on 1st July.

Wiltshire Council’s canal officer Ken Oliver gave a brief update on the outcome of the recent meeting between BW, boaters and Wiltshire Council in Devizes on 1 June. He only spoke for about 5 minutes as Councillor Osborn had somewhat hijacked the meeting due to being unhappy about a £500,000 hole in library budgets.

Read more…

BW pledge to eliminate overstaying in two years

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

An article in the August 2010 Waterways World quotes one of the BW Directors, Simon Salem, who said that in the past two years BW has more or less eliminated licence evasion and the task  for BW enforcement now is to eliminate overstaying “within two years”.

Unfortunately Simon’s statement is contradicted by Sally “Foot in Mouth” Ash, who works in his department at BW HQ.

Read more…

BW to revive roving mooring permit idea

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:

Read more…

Report of Community Involvement in Managing Local Moorings meeting

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

The meeting on June 1st about Community Involvement in Managing Local Moorings was organised by Wiltshire Council to discuss BW’s proposals for a local mooring strategy between Bath and Devizes. About 150 people attended. Damian Kemp was the only BW representative there. The meeting was chaired by Councillor Fleur de Rhé Phillippe.

Damian announced that BW would be going ahead with its plan for a local mooring strategy for the western Kennet and Avon between Bath and Devizes. He explained how the local mooring strategy steering group would work.

Read more…

“I Never Give In To Bullies” – A Letter To BW

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Two years ago, BW proposed in a previous consultation to increase the licence fee for boats without a home mooring by £150. This plan provoked enormous opposition from boaters. One of the responses to that 2008 consultation summed up how many of us feel. We decided it was time to share this inspiring and angry letter with other boaters. Here is an edited version.

18/10/2008

Dear Mr Salem

I have read British Waterways’ response to the BWAF report on boat licence fees and this is my response to that. I live on a boat and have done so for 18 years, I am an individual and speak for myself and do not subvert that right to user groups, whoever they might be.

The points I take exception to, which I believe are the main purpose of the exercise, are those relating to the so-called ‘continuous cruiser’ which is the absurd name and concept applied to people who live on boats who neither need nor want a permanent mooring.

Read more…

Public Meeting on Local Moorings Strategies, June 1st in Devizes

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

BW is to hold a public meeting on June 1st, at Devizes Corn Exchange at 6.30pm, to announce its plan to go ahead with local mooring strategies. This is despite the fact that 73 of the 98 responses to the consultation on developing local mooring strategies, and 88 out of 161 responses to the national consultation, opposed the plan. Quite a few boaters are planning to go to this meeting. It is an opportunity to tell BW what we think of the proposals. Anyone can attend but you need to book a place. The meeting is being hosted by Wiltshire Council. If you want to go, contact Margaret Tipper at Wiltshire Council on 01225 718441 or email her:  margaret.tipper@wiltshire.gov.uk

Read more…

Consultation stitch-up part 2

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Some boaters have now looked at all the responses to the consultation on Moorings Policy for England and Wales (the national consultation). The responses to this bigger consultation also show a majority opposed to local mooring strategies. Of 161 responses, 88 were against local mooring strategies, 48 in favour, and 25 either did not answer the question or were neither in favour nor against. We are still seeking answers from BW

Read more…

BW contradicts itself over consultation

Monday, May 10th, 2010

The email correspondence below from Sarina Young of BW completely contradicts what Damian Kemp told the Kennet and Avon canal User Group meeting on 29 April. According to Damian, the consultation responses have been analysed. According to Sarina on 7 May, they have not been analysed. Draw your own conclusions!

Read more…

Consultation stitch-up at Kennet and Avon User Group meeting

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Although 73 out of 98 responses to the consultation on local mooring strategies opposed the idea, BW has said it will go ahead and start setting up the first local mooring strategy group on the Kennet and Avon between Devizes and Bath. BW justifies this by saying that many of the consultation responses were from groups and so these responses were treated as being from the total number of their membership rather than one response. I believe that this completely discredits the consultation process

Read more…

Why did we bother?

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

The following report appeared on Narrowboatworld yesterday, see:
http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/leatest/1776-mooring-consultations
It says:

Read more…