CRT’s review of visitor moorings between Devizes and Reading has now finished and the proposals for change have been finalised. A 12-month trial/ consultation period has begun. If any changes have an adverse effect on liveaboard boaters it’s really important that we make this clear to CRT. Send your comments to CRT or make a formal complaint.
CRT is currently carrying out a review of the visitor moorings between Devizes and Reading in a consultation exercise in which most of the user groups of the K&A are represented. Five meetings were held between August 2017 and March 2018. Proposals for any changes are due to be finalised this month, April 2018, and trialled for 12 months. During the trial, all boaters will have an opportunity to comment on the changes.
Following a complaint to K&A Manager Mark Evans, CRT has reduced the 48-hour visitor moorings below Seend bottom lock (lock 17) to the length recommended by the Kennet and Avon Visitor Mooring Review – Bath to Foxhangers in March 2015.
Despite a number of boaters contacting CRT about this, it took more than 7 months for the error to be corrected. The error was first reported to CRT in July 2016.
Earlier in 2016, CRT put up signs at the visitor moorings below lock 17 that extended these 48-hour visitor moorings by approximately 200 metres westward from the western end of the purpose-built length of visitor moorings right up to the culvert.
This was contrary to the Visitor Mooring Review, which recommended that this length of visitor mooring should be shortened so that it only covered the stretch with mooring rings. The remaining space should have reverted to 14 days in July 2015 for a trial period until September 2015.
This was done without any consultation with users which is contrary to CRT’s Short Term Moorings Framework for Change dated March 2015, which states on page 1 that before making any changes to visitor moorings, waterway managers should:
“Conduct quantitative monitoring of craft that use the mooring and local area over a length of time, taking into account various factors including time of day, time of year, weather and other such influencing factors
Consult with all those potentially affected by any changes, from local & visiting boaters to local retailers including marina operators and the hire boat industry
Pilot the potential changes over a period of time gathering data and feedback, allowing the proposals to be amended as required
Inform visitors and those affected of any changes in a meaningful, clear and consistent way that ensures confusion is avoided”.
There was no evidence that any of the above steps had been followed by CRT before making the change.
Although the complaint has been remedied, CRT has yet to explain either why the Short Term Moorings Framework for Change was not followed or provided proof that these steps were followed and that the evidence gathered justified the change that was made last year.
The correct location of the visitor moorings – from this point to the lock
See also
http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/crt-makes-changes-to-ka-visitor-moorings-without-consultation/
http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/visitor-moorings-to-become-14-days-in-winter/
CRT’s Short Term Moorings Framework for Change published in March 2015 states that CRT will always consult users before making changes to visitor moorings, and also that any changes should be based on evidence of a need for the change that is being proposed. On the K&A, CRT has made changes to visitor moorings without any consultation at all and seemingly without any evidence that the changes are needed.