Trustees of the Canal and River Trust plan to register the new charity in November or December 2011. If you will be directly affected by this you have the right to object to the registration of the charity. Objections should be sent to the Charity Commission. The Bill that will allow BW to be transferred to a charity has passed through the Committee stage in Parliament without much change. Now is the time to object to it being registered with the Charity Commission.
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Posts Tagged ‘traveller’s rights’
Now’s the time to object to registration of BW charity!
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011BW Chair says Local Mooring Strategy will not displace people
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011The tenth meeting of the Local Mooring Strategy Steering Group took place on 11th October at Wiltshire Council offices, Chippenham. Brian has taken over from Kev as one of the representatives of unaffiliated boaters. The agenda was as follows: finalising maps; enforcement and defining neighbourhoods. K and A Manager Mark Stephens chaired the meeting in the absence of Project Manager Damian Kemp. Sally Ash, the original BW Chair, had already informed the group that her presence appeared to be “not conducive to progress”.
Dale Farm eviction likely soon
Monday, October 17th, 2011We occasionally post news of matters outside the waterways. The eviction of travellers at Dale Farm in Essex now looks likely to go ahead in the next 48 hours. Some boaters who have been threatened with, or have experienced, eviction from BW’s 2,200 miles of waterways will no doubt sympathise with the families at Dale Farm. For more information contact 07583 621312 or savedalefarm@gmail.com. See http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
Policy and Law Reform Objectives for Boat Dwellers Proposed
Monday, August 22nd, 2011A boaters’ group has proposed that the transfer of British Waterways to charity status would be an ideal opportunity to put in place statutory protection for the homes of all boat dwellers in the UK. Currently there is no legal recognition of the homes of boat dwellers (a boat is a chattel in law) and no statutory protection from eviction.
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MP asks Parliamentary Question on behalf of liveaboard boaters
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011Duncan Hames, the Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham, whose constituency includes the Kennet and Avon canal between Dundas and Hilperton, was contacted recently by a number of boaters concerned that the transfer of BW to charity status would put them at increased risk of homelessness. As a result, Mr Hames asked this question in the House of Commons on their behalf:
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Write to your MP NOW!!
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011Please write to your MP NOW!! and ask him or her to vote against the British Waterways amendment to the Public Bodies Bill (amendment 99A). The Bill will be debated in the House of Commons on 12th July. Please ask your family and friends to write to their MPs as well.
You can find out who your MP is from
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ or http://www.writetothem.com/
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Only 13 days to respond to BW charity consultation
Friday, June 17th, 2011There are only 13 days left to respond to the DEFRA consultation on the New Waterways Charity. It ends on 30th June. If you plan to respond, below is one boater’s response which may provide some inspiration in answering the questions. You can download it. It’s always better to respond to consultations in your own words, as duplicate responses may carry less weight. If you have any thoughts about the consultation that you want to share, please comment here.
Here’s the sample responseResponse to BW Charity consultation
Deadline June 30th to respond to BW charity consultation!
Sunday, June 12th, 2011The DEFRA consultation on moving BW to charity status ends on 30 June. Please respond giving your views on whether BW is fit to become a charity. The responses will be considered when the Ministerial Order for the Statutory Transfer of BW to a charity goes through Parliament. It’s extremely important that all the issues get onto the table in the DEFRA consultation as there won’t be another consultation.
Census information requested by boater
Thursday, April 7th, 2011Although personal details gathered by the census are exempt from Freedom of Information, other aspects of the census are included, and so this FOI request went to the Office for National Statistics recently:
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If you didn’t receive a census form…
Sunday, March 27th, 2011If you haven’t had a census form you can write to Glen Watson, Census Director, 2011 Census, Office for National Statistics, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, NEWPORT, Gwent NP10 8XG and ask for one to be delivered to an address of your choice or to a place such as a library for you to collect. The number of people living on boats has never been properly counted so filling it in would help. You can also ring the Census helpline on 0300 0201 101.
Last week, a boater complained that the census office said that forms could not be sent to “mailboxes” or non-residential addresses, and as a result the page below appeared on the census web site