Boaters are moved to protest over new rules for canal users (From Wiltshire Times)

Boaters are moved to protest over new rules for canal users

11:00am Friday 29th January 2010

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Boaters who live on the Kennet & Avon Canal packed a meeting to express their fears over a new local mooring strategy which could see them forced to keep on the move.

British Waterways has drawn up draft plans to reduce canalside congestion on the stretch between Bath and Bradford on Avon.

Some 50 people attended the Bradford on Avon Area Board meeting on Thursday, claiming that proposals to restrict the number of 14-day moorings and introduce overstaying charges would have a damaging impact on their lives.

Panda Smith, who spoke for the boating community at the meeting, said: “They will have a disproportionate and adverse effect on our quality of life in comparison with other canal users.

“We will be forced to travel in a way which may result in losing our jobs, or education, our children’s access to school, our access to healthcare and our participation in the community.”

They say the proposed charges, which will be imposed by dividing the canal into zones, are intended to make life more expensive for cruising boats which remain in the area than taking a home mooring, fees for which can top £2,500 a year.

Also at the meeting was boat owner Bethan White, 41, whose son Jove, eight, is a pupil at Christchurch Primary School in Bradford.

Ms White, who is studying at the University of Bath, said: “These proposals will have an impact on my ability to get my son to school.

“There are no home moorings in Bradford, and we don’t necessarily want to have one anyway, we like to cruise up and down between Trowbridge and Winsley.

“I would not be able to afford to pay the mooring fee of about £1,500 on top of the cost of the licence.

“We don’t believe there is a congestion problem on the canal at all, you can usually find somewhere to moor up.”

Richard Burchill, who represents West Kennet and Avon for the Residential Boat Owners Association, said: “A lot of people would like to have a home mooring, but they are hard to get and expensive.

“Many don’t want one because they like the lifestyle – that is why they live on a boat.

“Boaters who disagree with British Waterways have been reluctant to contribute to the consultation.

“We are now hoping Wiltshire Council will chair a meeting between British Waterways and boating community representatives.”

British Waterways’ head of boating business Sally Ash said: “This first stage consultation is to identify how this group will be made up and the role it will have. Only when this is in place will the steering group start to look at specifics.

“At this stage it’s too early to say whether they will recommend increasing or decreasing 14-day, or other moorings in the area.

Facts from the waterways -

Annual boat licences cost from £432.97 for a 5.5m boat to £881.08 for a 22.4m boat.

Using 14-day moorings is currently free.

Long-term mooring prices, per metre, in the area include £91.02 at Avoncliff, £115.49 at Bradford Lock and £125.28 at Dundas.

In 2009 there were around 34,000 licensed vessels on British waterways’ network.

About 3,500 are classed as continuous cruisers without a permanent home mooring, which are not supposed to stay moored in one place for more than 14 days.

Boaters say the new proposals would cut the number of 14-day moorings and introduce charging zones for people overstaying. Paying these would make using the moorings more expensive than having a home mooring.

Boat licences state that ‘continuous cruisers’ must be engaged in a journey, or series of journeys, which must involve progress. Short trips within the same neighbourhood, or back and forth between several places, do not qualify.

Acceptable reasons for staying longer than 14 days do not include the need to remain within commuting distance of a place of work or education.

British Waterways is a public-owned corporation and the navigation authority for 2,200 miles of canals and rivers nationally.

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