The 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.
Although 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 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
Despite promises from both Wiltshire and Bath and NE Somerset Councils, it appears that the Government has ordered boat dwellers to be excluded from the two-yearly caravan count which took place on 27 January 2011.
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It looks like at least one liveaboard boater will join the pilot Kennet and Avon Waterway Partnership Board. Andrew Harry, who lives on an electric boat, was invited to join the new Board following a selection process which two liveaboard boaters took part in.
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Travellers Advice Team (TAT) has represented a number of boaters recently and is building up some expertise in this area of law. TAT a team of solicitors that provides legal advice to Gypsies and Travellers.
TAT provides a Telephone Advice Line for Travellers
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We have submitted information on the situation, rights and needs of liveaboard boaters for the Core Strategies being drafted by Bath and NE Somerset and Wiltshire Councils.
What’s the Core Strategy? It’s the policy that guides local planning over the next 20 years or so. A boater met with one of the planning officers involved in drafting Wiltshire’s strategy, and a written response has gone to the public consultation on the BANES core strategy. This was done in response firstly to a proposal by Wiltshire’s Canal Officer that the Local Mooring Strategy should be written into its Core Strategy, and secondly because Bathampton and Claverton Parish Councils have responded to the BANES consultation with proposals that would have an adverse impact on liveaboard boaters.
Photo: Bob Naylor KAcanalTIMES.co.uk
There’s going to be a census this year – it happens every 10 years. The census day is 27 March. We understand that census forms will be sent out by post this time, rather than being delivered by hand. If you have a postal address, especially if you are registered to vote, you will probably get a form. If you don’t have a postal address, you can call the census helpline on 0300 0201 101 from 4 March to get one, and you can arrange to have it sent to a postal address or possibly hand-delivered to you at a location of your choice.
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We have now acquired a phone. Text or call us on
If we need to ring or text you back we might use another number or an ‘unknown number’ – depending on what freebies we manage to get our hands on. Please circulate this number to any boaters you know who don’t have internet access!
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?
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