A-Featured Articles
Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
The CRT has changed the Guidance for Boaters Without a Home Mooring without any consultation with those likely to be affected. The change moves the Guidance even further away from what was intended by Parliament when it passed Section 17 3 c ii of the 1995 British Waterways Act.
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Tags: Canal and River Trust, continuous cruising, IWA, liveaboards, Sally Ash, Section 17, Waterways Act 1995
Posted in A-Featured Articles, Continuous Cruisers, CRT Policy News, News, The Law | 3 Comments »
Thursday, August 9th, 2012
If you live on your boat, and your income and savings are low, you are eligible for Housing Benefit. You can claim Housing Benefit to cover the cost of the boat licence, boat safety certificate and third-party insurance. If you have a mooring and/or if you rent your boat, Housing Benefit will cover the cost of the mooring fee and rent up to certain limits.
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Tags: continuous cruising, housing benefit, liveaboards, moorings
Posted in A-Featured Articles, News, The Law, Welfare Benefits | 16 Comments »
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
On the day that the Canal and River Trust held its launch in London, boaters have discovered that Head of Boating Sally Ash has been the director of a canal holiday brokerage company since 2004. Liveaboard boaters have often speculated about the reason behind her department’s policy of harassment and bullying of boaters without home moorings, and this conflict of interest provides a possible explanation.
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Tags: Canal and River Trust, continuous cruising, Drifters Leisure Limited, hire boat companies, liveaboards, mooring policy, Sally Ash
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, CRT Policy News, News | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Both Houses of Parliament passed the BW Transfer Order on 27th June following debates on 25th and 26th June. In the debate in the Commons First Delegated Legislation Committee, Waterways Minister Richard Benyon announced that the Navigation Committee of the Canal and River Trust (CRT) “… will include at least one boater without a home mooring who understands and campaigns for the interests of itinerant live-aboard boaters.”
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Tags: BW charity status, BW Transfer Order, Canal and River Trust, continuous cruising, liveaboards, Waterways Act 1995
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, News, The Law, The Politick | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
BW’s Boating Projects report for May 2011 shows that BW is unsure whether people will pay overstaying charges. When Head of Boating Sally Ash reported on the progress of BW’s trial of “Extended stay charging” on the visitor moorings at Thrupp, she wrote: “Pertinent questions: WILL people pay? Are they more likely to pay if we offer pay-by-mobile”. This uncertainty demonstrates that the entire system of overstaying charges is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
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Tags: enforcement, FOI request, overstaying charges, Paul Davies, Sally Ash
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, News, The Law | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 26th, 2012
The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has recommended “that the Canal and River Trust demonstrates that it has taken into consideration the specific needs of all stakeholders, including itinerant boat dwellers, in the development of all future byelaws”.
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Tags: BW charity status, Canal and River Trust, continuous cruising, FOI request, liveaboards, traveller's rights
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, News, The Law, The Politick | No Comments »
Friday, May 25th, 2012
BW’s internal Licensing and Enforcement management reports between June 2011 and March 2012 show that BW has set a target for “all boats not moving at least 30km during their contract period to be within enforcement process “. The reports were obtained by a Freedom of Information request.
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Tags: 14 day rule, British Waterways, continuous cruising, enforcement, FOI request, Section 17
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, News, The Law | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
On 27th March, the House of Lords Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee decided to trigger the “super affirmative” procedure for the BW Transfer Order. This means that the time for consideration by Parliamentary Committees is 60 days (normally it is 40) and it must be approved by both Houses of Parliament following a debate in each. The 60 days ends on 24 May 2012 and the debates will take place sometime after 30 May. Seven days notice of the debates will be given and this will be posted on www.parliament.uk. This means that there is still some more time to lobby MPs and Lords about the Transfer Order, up to the start of June. Please write to your MP.
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Tags: BW charity status, continuous cruising, equality, human rights, liveaboards
Posted in A-Featured Articles, BW Policy News and FOI Act Requests, Continuous Cruisers, Letters to BW and others, The Law, The Politick | No Comments »