2020 Bulletin archive

January Bulletin

Past events

CRT Council Elections – your vote counts!

Voting for public representatives to serve on CRT Council closes on 14th February. There are 34 candidates vying for the four Boaters’ Rep posts. If you haven’t voted yet, there is still time, so please put your x against Helen Hutt, NABO’s Treasurer, candidate No 20.

Helen says: “I’ve already had many pledges of support from my own boating contacts and from boaters on several Facebook sites. Obviously, I’ve no idea how the other candidates are faring but I’m feeling pretty positive about my prospects.”

“If I am elected, I aim to be a critical friend to CRT and will encourage them to work with boaters and use our knowledge and experience to achieve the best outcomes for all – boaters, the navigations in general, our heritage, other canal users and CRT itself.”

See her full details and my manifesto here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/how-we-are-run/the-council/council-elections-2019-20

All CRT licence holders should have received an email or a letter with instructions on how to vote. If you haven’t got yours, please phone CRT immediately! Your vote matters.

NABO Council met on Saturday 18th January and a key discussion was determining Council’s priorities for the year ahead. Of real importance will be engaging with both CRT and the EA, always as critical friends, as they prepare bids for continuing government funding. Also of importance is to address environmental issues especially given the ill-informed pressure to move boats away from diesel and to enforce the use of electrical power. Given that boaters are the amongst the most environmentally aware communities, the Council need to work with CRT and EA to promote good practice, and to encourage NABO members to engage more and contribute to the dialogue. Finally, Council needs to continue pressurising CRT and the EA to provide better facilities and to deal more effectively with antisocial boaters, unlicensed boats, boats moored on waterpoints and those overstaying on visitor moorings.

Towpath mowing. In the October bulletin we mentioned that CRT would make its mowing plans available on the internet. We can report that these can be found on the CRT web site at

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/canal-and-river-network

Go to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Open data portal’. New page opens, click on search for data and select ‘Apps and Maps’, new page opens, tick the box ‘web maps’, select the item presented, zoom in to location desired. This is the same information that Fountains are using, so if it is wrong, then the mowing will be wrong. If we don’t tell CRT, they will continue to cut wrongly. At the moment the mowing plans only show when the zoom is very close in.

Fire in a marina in USA. At least eight people were killed when a fire destroyed row of 35 boats in a marina in the US state of Alabama. You can read about it here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51275437 We will endeavour to follow this story and find out the causes.

CRT Head of Boating. Mark Tizard and Mike Rodd met Matthew Symonds, Head of Boating, on January 16th at CRT’s Hatton Office. Items discussed included when substantive negotiations will be expected on the DEFRA Grant (answer 2021) and what could NABO do to assist. It’s clear that wellness is the sole pitch. NABO’s view is that CRT should move its pitch from wellness to a wider environmental view. It was agreed that at the next meeting we would discuss this approach in more detail. We also discussed CRT’s misleading notice system, the introduction of CRT aware stickers for boaters with permission to overstay and a forthcoming push to penalise boaters for mooring on facilities or lock landings.

Winter stoppages are well underway and hopefully boaters will soon notice the difference. A significant programme of hedge and overhanging tree management is underway. If your line of sight is blocked with vegetation that needs cutting back, please email CRT and make them aware. Remember that all cutting must be done by the end of March, before the nesting season starts. No point in telling them on the 1st April.

We have these a few snippets of completed works in December by CRT:

40 planned construction projects were completed in December, plus seven emergency/arising jobs also completed. There were 34 further projects on site that will have been completed by now;

807 Volunteer hours recorded during December in construction works;

Six lock gates have been manufactured in its workshops;

Work highlights:

Bradley Workshop – new dry dock gates and hardstanding areas;

Rutter’s Bridge repairs on Shropshire Union;

Swanley Lock 1 on the Llangollen;

Llangollen embankment repairs using Enviro Bags;

Pelsall Works Bridge repairs on the Wyrley & Essington;

New composite gate designs at Picketsfield Lock, K&A;

Dowley Gap Stoppage Leeds & Liverpool;

Foxton Lock Stoppage GU Leicester Line.

CRT Lockage report. This is hot of the press today

You can see it here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/original/41295-annual-lockage-report-2019.pdf

The headline increases are on the North SU, Macc, Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals. The report say numbers were down in many areas because of water restrictions. This needs some study, a good item for the next NN! Will you write the article?

Navigation standards. These used to be called Minimum Safety Standards and, you will recall, resulted in the large square bollards on narrow canals. David Fletcher attended a meeting with CRT staff reviewing these so that they can be re energised by the regions, without more square bollards!

Maintenance targets. From a recent freedom of information request, some maintenance information:

Please see below a breakdown of planned preventative maintenance targets achieved by each region in percentage terms from April 2019 – December 2019.

North West – 77%
North East – 99%
East Midlands – 100%
West Midlands – 80%
Wales & South West – 93%
London & South East – 50%

Note that the 2019/20 completed stats for London/SE are higher than shown, as there are resource issues currently within the region.

CRT recently published a summary of its Waterways experience survey, conducted monthly between April and September across the regions on a sample of boats spotted cruising. A detailed review is in the forthcoming NABO News. In essence, (although the average response rate was low at 14%), boating experience was more positive and satisfaction with the level of upkeep was higher than that recorded in the annual perception survey.

BSSTC. Mike Rodd and David Fletcher attended a BSS Technical Committee meeting this month, continuing the periodic review of the BSS requirements. The timetable for launch of this package has slipped a bit, and it now set for 1st August. There is nothing to fear in this – it’s a good sensible clean-up of the documents to address anomalies and reduce the scope for examiner judgement. This aids the consistency that we all need. Two further meetings are set for March and April. An examiner mentioned that he has seen a number of solid fuel stove flue failures at the top where the pipe goes into the collar. This is a combination of internal corrosion caused by the cold spot at the collar, and thin wall tubing that is often used. The examination only requires checking ‘where it can be seen’, so it up to the boater to expose it if examination is required. If not exposed, you cannot complain if a hole appears shortly after examination and your fire was in at the time. Best thing is go and clean your flue and have a look inside yourself to see that all is well.

Navigation Advisory Group. The planned vegetation meeting in January did not happen because CRT put no effort into making any arrangements. A rematch date is set for February. David Fletcher will continue to nag them about poor mowing plans and would be very happy to hear news of winter cutting, good and bad.

Future events.

CRT Navigation Advisory Group. There is a full meeting next week at Hurleston and Northwich. Planned is a debate on the current policy on canoes, and the warnings stated on the CRT website. Needless to say, these are heavily slanted to ‘wellbeing’ and pay little attention to behaviour and the real dangers of small craft being crushed by narrowboats. Access to tunnels for canoes is an issue, in particular Crick, Saltersford and Maida Vale. All a bit like cyclists. We can expect the canoeists to push back.

CRT Directors Mike Rodd will meet on the 24th of February with the “new” (actually returning to his original post!) Director for Wales and the South West, Mark Evans.

Open days. CRT is running its usual programme of open days at engineering works, you can find detail, here:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/events/open-days

Internal matters.

The next NABO Council will be a round the table meeting on Saturday 14th March at 10.45 at the Tamworth Boat Club. Members, young and older, recent or longer served, are very welcome. Please let us know you are coming.

Membership renewals. In January, we started sending out fully populated renewal notices by emails generated by the membership system. For those who have previously elected to have email renewals, these will be the only notices sent out. All others will, at this stage, also receive a paper reminder. Do you need both? If not please let us know. We want to grow this service to all those who have email addresses, and use email regularly. If this is not you, that is fine, we are very happy to send paper to you.

The next edition of NABO News is in preparation and will be with you in February. Please get your items to the editor in March for the following issue.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

If you no longer wish to receive these bulletins, click here and send an email. We will delete your email address and only use snail mail for all your communications.

CRT Boater’s rep election special, your vote counts!

All CRT licence holders should have received an email or a letter with instructions on how to vote. If you haven’t got yours, please phone CRT immediately! Your vote counts and will help NABO retain our seat on the CRT Council.

If you don’t think you have received an email, check your spam / junk folder. The emails were sent on the 20th January and come from CES, the election administrator, not from CRT. If you are still certain it’s not arrived, please email council@canalrivertrust.org.uk (give your boat index or customer number) and ask them to re send it.

See her full details and my manifesto here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/how-we-are-run/the-council/council-elections-2019-20

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

February Bulletin

Past events

CRT Council Elections – your vote did count, thank you.

We are delighted to report that Helen Hutt was elected (along with Tim Allen, Dave Mendes da Costa and Phil Prettyman) to serve as a Boater Rep on CRT Council for the next four years. The first Council they will attend is on 26th March but they are having an informal meeting with CRT’s National Boating Manager, Matthew Symonds, and the outgoing reps a week before that. This will be an opportunity to get to know each other and discuss working together to try and resolve issues that affect the boating community.

In addition, our previous Chair, Stella Ridgway, was appointed as the Friends representative, unopposed.

See full details of the election here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/results-of-our-council-elections

TUGn: On Tuesday 25th February, Mike Rodd attended a meeting of the Thames User Group (Navigation), which was held largely to prepare for the forthcoming meeting of EA’s National Navigation Users Forum (NNUF), to be held the following week on 3rd March. (Mike will also be attending that meeting.) Of particular importance at NNUF will be seeking an insight into EA’s developing funding strategy and understanding how it might impact boaters. The situation regarding the EA’s call for tenders to manage all of its moorings along the Thames was also discussed. It was noted that 12 organisations had bid and their submissions would now be analysed and an appointment made. Of great concern, from those who had analysed the call for tender documents, was that there was no clear policy from the EA on how the work is to be actually implemented and it appears that the EA is using the exercise to help determine how best to approach its future moorings management strategy. The meeting also discussed the future role of TUGn, noting that, with the closure of RTA, several aspects of RTA’s work needed to be covered elsewhere. Further details in the next NN.

Crofton K&A: On Monday 24th February, Mike Rodd held a very positive meeting at Crofton with Mark Evans, recently appointed as the Waterways Director for Wales and the South West. Mike emphasised how pleased NABO was, and indeed most boaters were, that Mark was now in this position, especially as he would be building on his previous excellent work running the K&A & B&T. Mark was very positive about the future, although noting that there were many staffing changes which needed to bed in, and he also acknowledged that CRT’s management of its contractors often needed attention. Mike congratulated Mark on CRT’s (and indeed its contractors!) work at Crofton where major engineering is taking place, largely related to improving the water feed for the K&A – the collaboration between CRT and the K&A Canal Trust, responsible for running the accompanying historic pumping station, was excellent.

Trust Aware stickers: CRT has started providing ‘Trust Aware’ permits to boaters who have been granted an adjustment to their cruising requirements under the Equality Act 2010. Find out more at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/trust-aware-stickers-for-those-who-need-support

Red Diesel: At the time of writing there is much press speculation that at the Budget in March, the tax subsidy for red diesel will be withdrawn and the tax equalised with retail diesel. Is this is a news spoiler, or fact? If implemented it will lead to substantial increase in costs. See this as an example of coverage. We were hoping all this nonsense had gone away!

https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/rishi-sunak-budget-chancellor-to-cut-red-diesel-subsidy

Environmental policy NABO recently updated policy document and now includes important enviromental statements. It states, amongst other things, that NABO believes that, as a group, boaters are among the most environmentally aware in society. We actively encourage our members to consider the environment in all aspects of boating activity, in particular regular engine maintenance, non-polluting waste disposal, use of smokeless fuel, alternative energy sources etc. NABO supports the use of diesel engines to provide power for navigation and electricity and hot water for domestic use, until low-cost practical alternatives are readily available and can be phased in. NABO will encourage navigation authorities to install waterside power supplies for battery charging, where this is appropriate, to reduce the use of diesel engines at moorings.”

NABO recently wrote to the waterways press in response to the government initiative to ban non-smokeless coal. You can see the details in the next NN, being sure that the Environment is going to be a major issue going forward.

Storm damage CRT and it’s contractors have been doing a fantastic job dealing with the results of recent storms. At its height there were 17 notices in one day regarding fallen trees. There are many other unplanned stoppages at the moment. The Soar is closed due to a sunken boat, Teddington Locks are closed due for boat fires, there are land sips on the SU and Leicester section, there are problems on the Calder and Hebble (see below), and the Rochdale, and it goes on. Of course, all the navigations are in flood, and the ground is saturated everywhere. Perhaps not the time to start out on a trip.

Winter stoppages continue. 21 planned construction projects were completed in January, plus two emergency/arising jobs were also completed. There were 64 further projects on site that will have been completed by mid-February. 1012 volunteer hours were recorded during January in construction works. Obviously, the current weather will be impacting on progress.

Toddbrook: At a recent public meeting to discuss the reservoir, CRT confirmed that there will be water shortages this summer as the reservoir capacity has been reduced by 29%, and restrictions of some sort will be necessary, depending on the weather. In the worst-case scenario, the locks could be shut for three days each week. CRT indicated that a solid block of three days was their preferred option but the audience seemed to be in favour of alternating days. The best option was a daily time restriction. Whatever restrictions are needed CRT would try to give two weeks’ notice before implementing them.

C&An: The Calder and Hebble Navigation could be closed for as much as a year at the ‘Figure of Three’ locks near Dewsbury. Following storm Ciara, the nearby River Calder overflowed, with flood water surging into the canal pound between the two ‘Figure of Three’ locks. Hundreds of tonnes of silt and stones were deposited in the pound and the offside bank was completely washed away alongside the lower lock, including the lock’s bywash overflow channel.

CRT post. Do you want a job with CRT? Fortunately, no previous knowledge of canals or boating is required. Makes it easier. What could go wrong? See here:

https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/7041910/area-operations-manager/?LinkSource=PremiumListing

CRT Navigation Advisory Group: There was a meeting in early February. The group visited the lock construction at Hurleston, which was then on target for completion. Then we went to Northwich for the last meeting to be held there, as the office will close in 2020. Apparently, the refurbishment costs of the grade 2* building make it uneconomic. The expectation is that the not-listed buildings will be cleared and the site developed. As we predicted, there was a debate on the current policy on canoes, and the warnings stated on the CRT website. There is to be a review including NAG members. CRT staff said they were happy with the robustness of the new water point stainless steel devices. NAG members were astonished. If you see one that is not surviving this year, please send a picture.

The delayed vegetation meeting from January has just taken place. David Fletcher attended. CRT reported that the winter cutting has been delayed because of the storm damage and fallen trees. They will get back onto the planned work asap, and will have to manage the uncompleted work case by case. There is no absolute deadline for completion, but they have to be careful of nesting birds, and this is earlier in the south etc. They can cut a tree if it can be inspected and shown not to be hosting birds. CRT shared the vegitiaiton package that will come to the regions for the spring forum meetings, and suggestions were made. This is the time to nag them about poor mowing plans.

Double fatality at York in December. The Coroner has said that both the victims were found unresponsive in the boat. He said that in both cases, there was a suspicion of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and therefore an inquest needed to be held into their deaths. (All boats with cabins must have at least one working CO alarm. This applies event if your examination is not yet due.)

Hire boat code. The long-awaited revised Hire Boat code is out for consultation now. You can read about it here. https://www.aina.org.uk/hireboatcodeconsultation/ . One of the significant issues concerns the new stability and freeboard standards applicable to hire craft. These follow a number of accidents where boats have rolled over resulting in loss of life. Inevitably this means that small craft will only be able to accommodate lesser numbers of crew, and they must not be in parts of the boat that can cause instability. (E.G. not on the bow). There are extensive changes to the requirements and duties for operators and also hirers. If you are a hirer or an owner, you might wish to comment. The consultation closes on 9^th March.

Future events

NNUF: Mike Rodd will attend the forthcoming meeting of EA’s National Navigation Users Forum to be held on 3rd March. Of particular importance at NNUF will be seeking an insight into EA’s developing funding stagey and understanding how it might impact boaters.

BSSAC: There will be a meeting of the Advisory Committee on 10th March. There is an item to review the cost of the Examination Certificate, which is about £40 (per 4 years) at the moment. There are a number of routine items on the make-up of the committee, the examiner complaint procedures, and recent incidents on the waterways, particularly fire and CO poisoning. David Fletcher and Alison Tuck will attend.

BSSMC: There will be a meeting of the Management Committee on 17th March. This is a routine review of ongoing workloads and plans for training examiners. Probably the cost of Certificates will come up. David Fletcher will attend.

BSSTC: There will be a meeting of the Technical Committee on 23rd March. This is to progress the review of the examination procedures. This package of work is now targeted to complete this summer and be implemented on 1st August. David Fletcher and Mike Rodd will attend.

Internal matters.

Membership renewals. As reported last month we are now sending out renewal notices by email. For those who have previously elected to have email renewals, these will be the only notices sent out. All others will, at this stage, also receive a paper reminder. Do you need both? If not please let us know. We want to grow this service to all those who have email addresses and use email regularly. If this is not you, that is fine, we are very happy to send paper to you.

The next edition of NABO News will be prepared after the March Council meeting with a copy date of 21st March. Please get your items to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

If you are a NABO member and addressee and no longer wish to receive these bulletins, click here and send an email. We will delete your email address and only use snail mail for all your communications.

With immediate effect we recommend that cruising liveaboard members find a safe mooring with reasonable access to services and supplies and hunker down. CRT are saying tonight that the 14 day movement requirement is suspended. Non liveaboard boaters should not visit their boats unless advised it’s safe to do so.

There are no instructions on BSS examinations in the current advice from CRT. If yours is due, talk to the license office and get their guidance. We are pressing for examinations to be supended for the critical period and will keep you advised.

Listen out for further Government and/or CRT announcements.Their web site is here

Stay safe out there.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

March Bulletin

Past events

Covid-!9 CRT have said this on 23 March

Following the most recent announcement from the Prime Minister regarding the UK’s response to the coronavirus crisis, we are asking leisure boaters to stop all non-essential travel. As a result, and to help those who live-aboard (along with those who would need to travel to their boat in order to move it) we are suspending the requirement to move every 14 days. The suspension will be kept under review in line with revised government guidance, applying initially until 14 April.

We ask everyone to be considerate and make sure at least a minimal amount of essential movement is maintained to keep vital boater facilities and services accessible to those that need them. We will continue to maintain boater facilities and pump out cards are available from our online shop. (We will be urgently reviewing the implications for face-to-face sale of pump out cards and facilities keys from our public offices).

With immediate effect NABO recommends that cruising liveaboard members find a safe mooring with reasonable access to services and supplies and hunker down. Non-liveaboard boaters should not visit their boats unless advised it’s safe to do so.

On Friday last week the BSS announced that the joint owners of the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) are allowing a temporary extension to safety certificates for those craft requiring an examination before14 April 2020.

Any future changes will be reviewed in respect of the Government’s most up to date advice and we will advise boat owners accordingly. In the meantime, Navigation Authorities and licensing bodies will maintain a record of BSS extensions. Boat owners are advised to check any implications for their boat’s insurance cover linked to the temporary waiver of BSS Certification with their broker or underwriter. For more information visit the Boat Safety Scheme website.

Listen out for further Government and/or CRT announcements. Their web site is here

On BSS examinations, we assume that the 3-week extension runs from the expiry date of the old certificate and not from the date of the announcement. There is not much point in the latter. Three weeks does little to protect boaters and inspectors, marinas etc and no doubt confuses insurance companies. As things are unfolding, we think that it won’t be long before a further extension is announced. This is a matter for the Navigation Authorities, not BSS. We expect that they will not refuse to re licence if you do not have a valid BSS. Our advice if you are getting close to this, is to ring the NA licence office and ask the question. We will continue to press for a good solution. It does not mean that you don’t have to maintain your boat. Gas leaks and no CO alarm are two of the top failures at the moment.

Many marinas are now closed and leisure boaters and third parties are asked not to visit.

CRT wrote to us this week and the content is added at the end.

Stay safe out there.

NABO Council met by teleconference on Saturday 14th March. This was to have been face to face, but we cancelled this at the last minute as members were going into isolation, and advice was tightening. Details of the meeting are in the next NABO news

NINF On Saturday 28th March Mike Rodd will attend the meeting of the National Inland Navigation Forum, which brings together representatives of most of the boating organisations. Given the current situation this will be undertaken by a teleconference. The major topics to be discussed include the on-going re-organisation of the EA and its move to becoming less dependent on government funding. The management of Thames moorings will also be discussed, with the outcome of the recent tendering process still to emerge. The present situation relating to red diesel and the proposed environmental control on the use of fuel and coal/wood etc will also be reviewed and appropriate action planned.

TNUF On the 3rd March Mike Rodd attended a meeting of the Thames Navigation Users Forum which brings together representatives of a wide cross section of users of the Thames, including the 8 River User Groups (the RUGs) and many other representative groups, with relevant EA personnel. Chaired by the Thames Director, Julia Simpson, the 5 hour(!) meeting illustrated that the new-look EA is making every effort to listen to its key river users in moving its navigational responsibilities forward over the next five years. Of special interest, the moorings management contract, which will cover all of EA’s moorings on the Thames, was dealt with noting only two tenders were submitted! It was also made very clear that the EA did not have any specific enforcement methodologies in mind but was seeking tenderers to provide proposed solutions.

CRT meetings The first informal meeting between Matthew Symonds, CRT’s Head of Boating, and new Boaters’ Reps was held over Skype on 19th February. Coronavirus dominated the agenda – and this was before the initial stringent public safety measures announced by the PM. Since then, we have been in regular contact with Matthew and Jon Horsfall, Head of Customer Services, passing on boaters’ concerns and making suggestions for tackling the fast-evolving situation. Several Boaters’ Updates have been issued and there has been a joint letter to Government from CRT, British Marine and the Broads Authority requesting urgent assistance for waterways businesses. As we write, we think that CRT has done its best in very challenging and fast-changing circumstances (way ahead of the EA, whose first communication with boaters came out on 25th March).

CRT Council Meeting: Helen, Boaters rep on CRT Council writes:

Here is my summary of the main points (which, of course, may be superseded even as we write!!):

If you live on your boat, stay on it and self-isolate. Only move in order to use essential facilities. If you are vulnerable, need medical or practical assistance (like getting food supplies) contact CRT; they are putting a scheme in place to help. Ditto if you are struggling financially; payment of mooring and license fees can be put on hold.

If you’re not a liveaboard, stay away. Mooring restrictions are suspended so there is no need to move your boat every 14 days. It is unlikely that there will be any refund for partially unused licenses but, let’s face it, this is hardly a case of severe hardship.

Boating businesses, including roving traders, will obviously suffer from loss of income and they should apply for whatever reliefs the Government is able to offer. CRT promises to be as lenient as possible, without compromising its own financial stability.

Social distancing is a key factor in combatting the virus, so walking or cycling on narrow canal towpaths, where the two-metre rule is impossible, should be avoided and fishing is not allowed. Boaters can put up CRT notices to this effect.

Wash your hands immediately after using water points and other facilities, and locks if you have to go through them to reach facilities.

Our first CRT Council meeting was to have been held on 26th March; that has obviously been postponed until the crisis is over. In the meantime, I and the other Boaters’ Reps are keeping in touch with both CRT and boaters by email and social media. I’ve set up a new email address for this purpose; contact me on helen.hutt@outlook.com if you need advice or have any comments.

Red diesel. In the March budget the Chancellor made announcements about the tax on red diesel. The thrust is now environmental rather than the EU intervention on propulsion with red diesel. More details are in the next NABO news. It looks as though Brexit will not free us of this nonsense.

Toddbrook event. In March the two reports on the failure were released. You can read them here. Not all will want to wade through all this so we have provided details and an analysis in the next NABO news

BSSAC: David Fletcher attended a meeting of the Advisory Committee on 10th March. The meeting heard proposals to increase the examination fee. Whilst there is little doubt that this is needed, the timing could not have been worse, with hire fleets out of business and private owners unable to use their boats for the most part. Members also asked to see accounts for previous years. The report for accidents in the 2019 is available

BSSMC: David Fletcher attended video conference meeting. This was a routine review of ongoing workloads. It is clear that the virus restrictions will impact on all BSS activities in the coming months and decisions will have to be made to keep all parties safe.

BSSTC: The Technical Committee on 23rd March was cancelled. The workload will be progressed in the coming weeks by email and video conference. It is pretty clear that the work package in progress will not now be completed this summer and there will be no changes to the current requirements this year.

Future events

There are no face-to-face meetings planned. Routine meetings will be attempted by tele- or video- conferences, but little or no arrangements have been firmed up as yet.

Crick show. We are afraid that this has been re-scheduled, without a date specified. No doubt many other events will suffer the same way.

Internal matters.

The next NABO Council will be a telephone conference on Saturday 25th April at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements,

Membership renewals and Coronavirus.

We have been on a path to fully computerise the membership system, taking full advantage of web-based technology and safe banking systems. The virus pandemic means now we have to take further steps. So, from May 2020, paper renewals will be sent only to those for whom we have no email address. This is a very small number. In addition, we have to ask members’ co-operation by avoiding paying by bank cheque if at all possible. Again, this affects is a very small number. You will appreciate that a cheque is of no use if we cannot go to the bank and, with the membership team already under restrictions, we must avoid doing this. Bank standing orders are the preference for us but direct transfer or PayPal are good too. Perhaps someone could make the payment on your behalf? Use your membership number so that we can identify the payment. Having said that, if there is no alternative, we ask that you give us a call, and we will sort out something, perhaps extend membership for a few months, until this is over. Please be sure that we remain committed to supporting all members who don’t use the internet and similar systems. We need to use the time saving technology wherever possible so that we can concentrate efforts on those who really need a paper reminder.

Back copies of NN. We have been scanning the editions of ‘The Boater’ as it was in 1991 when NABO was founded. Those from 91-93 are on the web site now and can be found here. They give a fascinating incite to the immediate work of lobbying for the 1995 BW Act. We are in awe of those who went before. Read and enjoy. More will follow.

The next edition of NABO News is already on line, and with the printer and will be with you in April. The one after that will be prepared after the April Council meeting with a copy date of 2nd May. Please get your items to the editor.

We wish you all a safe and healthy time in these extraordinary circumstances.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

If you are a NABO member and addressee and no longer wish to receive these bulletins, click here and send an email. We will delete your email address and only use snail mail for all your communications.

Text of message from CRT

Hello Mike and Mark

I hope that you are keeping safe and well at this time. As I’m sure you can imagine the past week has been has been extremely busy at the Trust as we have responded to the measures announced by the Government to address the Coronavirus crisis. Our focus has been on making sure that our staff and boaters are kept safe, informed and ensuring that we can maintain the network and essential services safely through the current restrictions.

If it would be helpful I’d be happy to arrange to catch up with you by phone at some point this week. If you’d like to do that, please let me know when would be convenient for me to give you a call. Meanwhile, I thought you might find it helpful to know the measures the Trust has undertaken over the past week;

The Trust has instigated our contingency plans with most staff now home working as most offices are now closed except for essential staff. Our IT and back office systems have been upgraded to support increased home working. We’ve identified all key workers who will continue to attend work to ensure safe maintenance of the network and essential boater facilities are maintained

We have issued two special Boater’s Update e-bulletins this week to provide important government guidance and changes to the Trust’s Processes (such as the temporary suspension of 14-day movements). We will be issuing a special weekly Boater’s Update for at least the next six weeks, and will keep this under review in line with information from the government

Our Coronavirus website FAQs are being updated daily with any relevant additional information (please let me know if there are any additional questions you think would be useful to add to this)

We have pro-actively contacted all boaters with existing equality adjustments (EAs) and have asked any boater who is within the governments high-risk groups to contact us. We will be communicating on a weekly basis with those with EAs and boaters who have self-identified to ask them to contact us if they need any additional help or support (for example with help accessing essential services such as water/waste, or need help getting supplies). We have completed a GDPR legitimate interest process to enable us to temporarily collect data informing us that customers are in a high-risk group, as this is not normally data we would hold on them. At present around 60 boaters have contacted us to advise us they are being advised to ‘shield at present’

We have finalised a process that our license support officers can use to support boaters who may be facing financial difficulties at this time. We’re asking boaters in this position to contact us to discuss how we can help them. Support may include deferred payments, payment plans and help identifying support from the Government schemes or other sources

Working with other partners we have agreed a temporary extension to boat safety certificates due to renew in the coming weeks

Our customer service phone lines have temporarily reduced to 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday as staff answering calls have now all moved to home working. We are hoping that we will be able to re-open the phone lines at weekend from next week – but this is subject to additional home working IT kit arriving

We have temporarily closed all of our staffed structures for all but essential journeys

The winter relaxation on short-stay visitor moorings is being extended until the end of April and will be kept under review if the government restrictions continue beyond then

Today we have begun contacting continuous cruiser boaters today to try and identify privately provided boater facilities they are dependent on. We’ll then be working with private providers to try and ensure that access is maintained to essential boater facilities during the lockdown

We have produced and put up thousands of posters across the network re-iterating that whilst they remain open, towpath use should now be kept to an absolute minimum. The posters are also available to download from our website and so fare over 1800 have been downloaded

Sorry if I’ve missed anything – but I’ll be happy to discuss these or any other questions you have on the phone.

Stay safe

Best wishes

Matthew Symonds

National Boating Manager (Leisure)

April Bulletin

Past events

NABO Council met by tele conference on Saturday 26 April. Our previous experience of these conferences is paying off. We get through the business quickly and efficiently. They are still no substitute for a round table discussion. A key point was the Covid 19 lockdown and the impact on boaters and the wider canal business. As result we have written to CRT making a number of points. These in summary are towpath access to speeding cyclists and serious runners, increased financial difficulties for boaters, vacating marina moorings to the towpath to reduce costs, support to the marina industry, insurance situation of boats with a delayed BSS certificate, access to leisure boats for safety checks. More details in the next NN.

The current situation is that most waterways are closed to all but essential movement, usually defined as moving locally to get services. Coal boats continue to provide an vital service especially with many marinas closed. Boaters are not allowed to visit marinas for routine checks on liesure draft. For CCers, there is no need to move every 14 days, but find a mooring where you are comfortable with the footfall. Towpaths are not closed, but access is restricted as per CRT signs. BSS has been extended for those due before 11th May, and we can expect this to be extended yet further. If you are concerned about BSS and relicensing, ring your navigation authority. Navigation authorities and licensing bodies will maintain a record of BSS extensions. CRT have extended private boat licences by one month, and hire craft owners get a rebate of three months. CRT tell us they want to hear from those in financial difficulties due to these circumstances, so do get in touch with them. The CRT link for announcements is here. Many marinas are now closed and leisure boaters and third parties are asked not to visit.

Insurance. If you have a boat moored on the system, which you cannot get to because of Covid-19 restrictions, you may be concerned about your insurance cover. Our insurance broker thinks a boat should be regarded in the same way as a holiday property. Most property insurers have already extended the period of acceptable absence from 30 to 60 days with a promise to review after that. Boat insurers may already have issued a FAQ on their response to Covid-19 but, if not, his advice is to check your insurer’s web site in the first instance; if there is no information there, email your insurer. But given the restrictive circumstances, they would be unreasonable if they didn’t waive any such clause. If an insurer did say ‘no’ and you decide to visit your boat to check all is in order, get it in writing/email in case you need to show something to CRT/police to justify the journey.

Towpath access. The continuing poster campaign from CRT to encourage public not to exercise on the towpath seems to be largely ineffectual especially with regards to runners and cyclists. Mike Rodd has received reports that on the K&A some unfortunate conflicts where liveaboard boaters who are understandably very unhappy with some of the folks cycling or running along the towpaths and have taken matters into their own hands. However, there is a significant number of people who almost have no alternative but to use the towpath to get to work – including some working in Bath hospitals and care homes.

EA meetings. Mike Rodd reports that meetings with the senior management of the EA, relating to ensuring that their navigational responsibilities become less dependent on government funding and hence exploring becoming more commercially viable, have ground to a halt due to the present lockdown. This also appears to have happened with evaluating the tenders to oversee the management of all the EA’s Thames moorings. We know there were two experienced bidders for the contract and they await a decision. Whilst this will only immediately affect boaters using the Thames, the underlying concept of outsourcing moorings management is of vital interest to all boaters and it is certain that CRT will be looking very closely at the approach!

Bridgewater docks CRT have stated that they will not continue to operate the Bridgewater docks although they will continue to run the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal.

Water shortages Following a wet February, both March and April have been very dry, particularly in the north. Due to this and some lower levels in reservoirs post Toddbrook, the Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Huddersfield and Leeds & Liverpool canals are closed for the foreseeable future. The aim is to save water so that when the system is reopened, we do have some water to play with.

CRT conference call. Mike Rodd and Mark Tizard had a long conference call with CRTs Matthew Symonds on 20th April. Several of the points are covered elsewhere so they are not repeated here.These are few other snippets.

One third of CRT staff now furloughed and CRTs revenue from all areas is under pressure.
Matthew is now Head of Boating and Rachel Haywood is appointed his deputy. She has been with CRT some time and transfers from Customer Support.
With a few minor exceptions the winter stoppage programme has been completed.
Matthew said that that it was too early to understand whether the current emergency would impact on future government grant funding but it was hoped that the importance of the towpath for exercise and ‘wellness’ and CRTs management of its liveaboard customer based would be seen in a positive light.
The Middlewich breach report now delayed until after the pandemic.
Mike commented that EA appeared to be adopting many of CRT practices and Matthew confirmed that CRT were offering advice in many areas where asked.
Mark said that the virus had showed how important towpath services were given that many marinas had closed (and some might be permanently). It was hoped that CRT would take this into consideration in current thoughts about the future of facility provision. The internal report on this which was due to be discussed has been delayed. The two tenders for the removal of waste and maintenance of facilities is due to be awarded shortly. This should lead to improvements in areas like recycling.
CRT volunteers and Waterways Chaplains are out contacting vulnerable and self-isolating boaters offering support and assistance.

BSS: There are no formal meetings, but review of paper documents on requirement updates has commenced. We continue to talk to the BSS office about developments on the Covid 19 lockdown and guide them on the key issue of the handing if examinations at this time.

CRT Boat count. CRT have announced this national count today. The licenced boat numbers are down 1.1% to 31,094. Licence take up is 96.2% a drop of 0.2% from last year. You can read the details here.

Navigation Advisory Group. David Fletcher called in on a marathon 4-hour conference, with the main subject being the Covid 19 response and plans for the future on the lifting of the lockdown, the ongoing need for short term and long-term maintenance and the personal and financial consequences of all of this. There is a good deal of brain power going into these extraordinary circumstances. There is talk of extensive work to be done on high risk assets included reservoirs following the learning from Toddbrook. The immediate effect is that a small number of reservoirs are reduced in level. All this will take many years and have a significant cost. On mowing regimes, CRT have revised web access to the maps for this and the link is here. This shows what CRT have told Fountains to do. Is it right in your area? Much more about this in the next NN.

Future events

We are all looking forward to the time this lockdown is lifted and we can safely escape to the waterways.

There are no face-to-face meetings planned. Tele conferneces will be attempted as the situations arise.

Be sure that we as active as ever in these times. There is plenty of contact to be made and influence to be brought to bear, to represent boaters.

Internal matters.

Membership renewals and Covid 19. The May renewals have gone out mostly by email. Please do check and see, particularly if you have to pay manaully by transfer, PayPal etc. Please don’t pay by cheque. If you have no means of paying electronically, get someone else to do it for you, and use your membership number as the reference. Having said that, if there is absolutely no alternative, we ask that you give us a call, and we will sort out something until this is over. Please be sure that we remain committed to supporting all members who don’t use the internet and similar systems.

The next edition of NABO News is being prepared this week and will be with you in May.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

May Bulletin

Past events

CRT is opening up the system for general navigation from 1 June. Currently no overnight stays are allowed but CRT is hoping this will be relaxed, look out for CRT updates. The EA is following CRT’s lead. Parts of the Macclesfield, Peak Forest, Leeds and Liverpool and Huddersfield canals remain closed due to low water levels. Keep an eye on CRT notices for updates. With the current weather, water shortages are going to come this summer.

The CRT Boater’s Update on 28 May included this information:

Unless your boat is your primary residence (i.e. you permanently live on it) overnight stays on your boat are not currently permitted.

Mooring exemptions ended on 23 May. This means that visitor moorings have reverted to locally signed stay times, unsigned stretches are 14-day-stay and our guidance for continuous cruisers comes back into force. This effectively means that if your boat is moored on a 14-day mooring and hasn’t moved since lockdown began then you need to move your boat by 6 June.

Please bear in mind that it will take time to get the entire network fully operational. As you will expect, booking for some passages and services will be required. Some sections and structures may be closed for a further period. This page details which waterway structures fall into those categories.

Much of the network’s infrastructure has not been used for a good couple of months – we have done all our safety checks but with more active use we expect there will be some niggles and issues as boats begin to cruise further afield. If you come across any, please do let us know.

If you are unable move your boat because you are self-isolating or shielding you need to ensure that you’ve told your local licence support officer.

For leisure boat owners, there is catch 22 issue for boaters without a home mooring and who are not living aboard. CRT want them to move, but they are not allowed to stay overnight. Best to talk to CRT on this on a case by case. Leisure boaters can only visit the boat if you can answer yes to these four questions:

Have I confirmed with my mooring provider, e.g. marina, that I can access my boat?

Is my boat near enough that I can travel to and from it safely in one day (no overnight stays are permitted)?

Can I get on my boat while still strictly observing social distancing?

Am I, and my boat, in England (different rules apply in Wales)?

Boat Safety Scheme extensions. The suspension of BSS examinations has been lifted and new guidance for boat owners on preparing boats for examination in the time of COVID-19 has been published here: BSS Examination Preparation Linked to Covid-19 protocols.

As there is now a considerable backlog of boats needing to renew their certificates, the temporary extension to safety certificates for those craft requiring an examination has been extended until 31 July 2020 to provide all boaters awaiting their examinations with sufficient time to arrange this. We strongly urge those who can to book their examinations to do so as soon as possible so that examiners can resume working in line with the agreed BSS Examination Preparation protocol, to start to address the backlog of examinations and keep the waterways safe for all to enjoy.

Remember that examiners are just as worried about coming to your boat, as you are worried about having them on board. It can be expected that boaters will need to sanitise the work surfaces of the boat, remove any clutter that obstructs the examination, and vacate the boat at least for the period of the examination, maybe some days before. It will take some discussion, preparation and trust to achieve the result. We suggest to use an examiner that is known to you, or at least you have used before.

If you are a boat owner who is self-isolating or are in a high-risk group who is ‘shielding’ and whose BSS certificate has or is due to expire and you require an examination, you should contact your licence support officer to discuss your circumstances.

Thames boating clubs. On the 16 May it was announced that five organisations representing recreational powered craft users on the non-tidal Thames have agreed to join forces to encourage greater engagement and co-operation with the Environment Agency, which is responsible for managing the waterway. This group then wrote on the 20 May 2020 regarding the lifting of restrictions to recreational powered craft boating on the Thames. Noting their belief that it is important not to delay freedom of navigation across the whole waterway because of local issues affecting particular locks or reaches. The group put forward a series of recommendations. See: here.

CRT Elected Reps An online meeting was held on 15 May to discuss coming out of lockdown and the impact on boaters. Although the general feeling was that a slower approach should be taken, CRT went ahead with its plans as published, albeit with promises of leniency for any boater experiencing difficulties in moving as required. Over the past few weeks there have been several instances of uncollected rubbish, leading to overflowing bins and disgruntled boaters and public. Action was quickly taken when flagged up by Helen. Our next meeting, also online, is on 28 July.

APPWG. Mike Rodd attended the video-conference meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways on May 14. This well “attended” meeting was chaired by the APPWG’s Chairman, Michael Fabricant, and focused on the need for dedicated financial support for waterways businesses. It was pointed out that these businesses are highly seasonal and thus are being hit hard by the lockdown and, unless urgent funding is provided by Government, many will fail. The meeting called for the Government to provide targeted support for the inland waterways sector.

Covid plans . Following NABO Council’s May meeting, an open letter was sent to Richard Parry raising several concerns including:

Limiting the use of towpaths for exercise, specifically in areas where there are moored boats.
Whilst welcoming the extra month given to leisure boat licences expressing concern about loss of trade to chandleries, hire boats etc. and supporting CRT to help the marina industry.
Urging CRT to talk to the insurance sector regarding the requirements for BSS certification.
Expressing concern that the safety of some boats moored on the towpath may be at risk.

NABO noted that its members are appreciative of the steps CRT is taking to contact and protect vulnerable boaters and the steps already taken to cushion the effects of the lockdown on the trade and on boaters generally. See: here.

Navigation advisory group. CRT has generally not been discussing it’s thinking on Covid 19 measures with the group. It is apparent that CRT takes its lead largly from DEFRA. This is in contrast with BSS which has been very active with the committees to get advice. Some social media reports about veg management on the S Oxford has been discussed in the group, and CRT have agreed that the winter cutting has not been correct and action will be taken. The power of social media strikes again. Let us do more of it please.

Toddbrook. Following the long item in NN a few weeks back, some additional reports on the dam have come into the public domain. There are published on Narrowboatworld here. Nothing new, but further background and opinion of the general state of neglect. Makes sad reading.

Future events

We are all looking forward to the time this lockdown is lifted and we can safely escape to the waterways. It is getting nearer. There are no face-to-face meetings planned. Routine meetings will be attempted by tele- or video- conferences. BSS techncial work continues in this way.

Be sure that we are as active as ever in these times. There is plenty of contact to be made and influence to be brought to bear for the good of boaters.

Navigation Advisory Group. David Fletcher will call into the next zoom meeting in mid-June. The main subject will be the reopening of the system and vegetation management to get the towpaths ready. Water supply is also bound to come up.

Internal matters.

The next NABO Council will be a telephone conference on Saturday 21 June at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements,

We are changing our business address with immediate effect. The new address is on the website and will be used with all future correspondence. Mail sent to previous addresses will be collected and answered. This situation is largely because of the difficulties we have experienced in using the PO Box in the lockdown.

Membership renewals. The June renewals are going out mostly by email. Please do check and see, particularly if you pay by transfer, PayPal etc. Please don’t pay by cheque if at all possible.

Website security. One of the key factors in the website security is login credential for members. Following a recent review we are going to force a password change and increase the complexity of passwords from mid-June. The new requirement will be for nine characters with at least one each of upper case, lower case, number and special character. If you make the change now you can use your old password to get in. Otherwise you will have to use the ‘update password’ link. Remember that your email address is not your user name, and that if your email address is out of date, then the forgotten password routine does not work either. Any problems, we are here to help.

The next edition of NABO News will be prepared in July after with a copy date of 28 June. Please get your items to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

June Bulletin

Past events

CRT and EA are in the process of opening up the waterway system for general navigation. The latest from CRT was on 23 June and it said: ‘As you may have heard, the Government has today announced measures to continue the easing of lockdown. Importantly, this means that from Saturday 4 July all boaters in England will be able to stay overnight on their boats. In Wales, you can go out on your boat if you can do it locally. This generally means not travelling further than five miles to where your boat is moored. There should be no overnight stays on boats, no landing in any place beyond the immediate local area and a return to the point of departure. The restrictions on staying local could be lifted on Monday 6 July, if conditions allow, and we will update further when this is confirmed.’ This page gives details of canal structures that may not be open. Note that the Leeds & Liverpool, Macclesfield and Peak Forest are open, although water shortages mean there are timed passages at the major locks. As we go to press with this, there is a city lockdown in Leicester. CRT have a stoppage notice here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/17849-between-bridge-18-wanlip-road-bridge-and-bridge-52-turnover-bridge. So the city is closed. In order to help those who live-aboard, the Trust is suspending the requirement to move every 14 days on moorings between Wanlip (Bridge 18) and Newton Harcourt (Bridge 52). We are not done yet with this virus. Stay safe out there.

EA has said this on 26 June: ‘We are pleased to let you know that overnight stays on boats will be allowed from 4 July 2020. This includes private leisure boats as well as commercial hire boats and hotel boats. Individuals and operators should follow Government guidance on social mixing outside of household groups.’

Boat Safety Scheme extensions. We understand that the suspension of BSS examinations up to end July will not be further extended in most circumstances. Guidance for boat owners on preparing boats for examination in the time of COVID-19 has been published here: BSS Examination Preparation Linked to Covid-19 protocols. It is now expected that, if your BSS is due or overdue, you will get this organised in most circumstances. You should ring your chosen examiner and get a booking for the examination to be done. If you are shielding and cannot do this, then you must ring your navigation authority (NA) and talk to them. Otherwise if your licence is due or overdue, and you do nothing, it will not be renewed. If you are caught up in this and have a good or bad experience, please tell us so that we can understand what is happening and guide the NAs.

NABO Council. We met in June by teleconference to review the current position of the issues of the day. There will be a full report in the next NABO News. We have been using the phone-in option for a couple of years now, and we are getting better at it. It is time- and cost-effective, all done in a couple of hours and the minutes come out quickly. We will go back to having some of our meetings at Tamworth, but it is clear that things will change.

CRT is extending licence holidays for many boat businesses until 31 July and continues to try ‘to persuade DEFRA and central Government to provide a specific waterway financial aid package. IWA are continuing to lobby and intend to send another letter this week to the Waterways Minister. Their Chief Executive and Chair are due to meet with her next week’.

CRT meeting. Mike Rodd and Mark Tizard will have a routine phone-in meeting with CRT’s Matthew Symonds on the 14 July.

CRT winter stoppages. These are now on the CRT website here. Phil Goulding took part in a long review meeting in June to discuss the details. If you have comments, please let us know or send them straight to CRT at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/planning-your-boat-trip/planned-winter-stoppages

Bridgewater and Taunton Canal in Somerset. CRT has stated that it will not continue to operate the Bridgewater Docks, although it will continue to run the 11-mile canal. The CRT lease on the docks is coming to an end and, although it has been extended until November because of Covid-19, CRT does not want to renew it from the dock’s owners, Somerset County Council. So if nobody will take on the running of the docks, all boats will have to be removed. Apparently, boat owners have been given notice that they will probably have to remove their boats, some of which are residential.

Housing benefit and universal credit In a landmark judgement issued on 25 June 2020 the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that Housing Benefit is payable for boat licence fees because the boat licence fee if living aboard is rent. Specifically, the boat licence fee is a payment in respect of a licence or permission to occupy a dwelling and thus it qualifies under Regulation 12(1)(b) of the Housing Benefit Regulations. Regulation 12(1)(b) is directly transposed to the Universal Credit Regulations so this judgement also applies to claims for the boat licence fee as housing costs in Universal Credit. The judgement is here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ef4c369e90e075c5582f510/CH_3284_2017-00.pdf

Navigation Advisory Group. David Fletcher attended a phone-in meeting in June. There was a long discussion about the reopening of the waterways, covering emergency engineering, water shortages in the NE and river navigations, and managing the Government’s response to Covid-19. Also, there was discussion on boater’s facilities provided by CRT. Should they continue to provide services like shower and pump-out, which are very expensive to operate? You may recall that the cost to CRT of a pump-out is £100, for which they collect less than £20. There is pressure to move to providing connections for self-pump-out only. CRT has several times said that there is no obligation on its part to provide anything. Tell us what you think.

Future events.

We are nearly there, this lockdown is being lifted and we have to find a way to the new normal. There are no face-to-face meetings planned. Routine meetings will be attempted by tele- or video- conferences. Be sure that we remain as active as ever in these times. There is plenty of contact to be made and influence to be brought to bear for the good of boaters.

Navigation Advisory Group. Vegetation. David Fletcher will call into the next Zoom meeting in mid-July. The subjects will be ongoing work on the recovery of mowing regimes and the winter work planned for offside cutting. We see a lot of social media pressure on CRT not to cut towpaths, to save the wild flowers. Our normal stance is to fight for the navigation aspects of towpath management. What do you think?

Internal matters.

The next NABO Council will be a teleconference on Saturday 5 September at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

We need members help. Could you help us by having a phone catch-up with CRT regional managers on a quarterly basis? Sharing and raising local issues such as moorings, vegetation, dredging etc.

Membership renewals. The July renewals are going out mostly by email. Please check and see, particularly if you pay by transfer, PayPal etc. Please don’t pay by cheque if at all possible. As previously advised, we are no longer using the Wolverhampton PO Box. Our new HQ address is 20 Oak Grove, Hertford SG13 8AT.

Website security. We have now made the change on password complexity. The new requirement is for nine characters with at least one each of upper case, lower case, number and special character. If you cannot get into the website, this is why. Any problems, we are here to help.

The next edition of NABO News is being prepared this week and will be with you in July. This will include an item from our NE representative Howard Anguish, about the problems for the local canal societies facing difficulty with loss of income from local event and services.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

July Bulletin

Past events

Covid 19 situation. The latest news is of increased cases in the Manchester area. The Government FAQ’s are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do Stay safe out there, this thing is not going away just yet.

Chair Mike reports: The Welsh canals finally opened on the 13th July and it was great to see that all the hire boats and day boats were immediately snapped up. Sadly most pubs were not able to open but local shops doing good business. The Mon and Brec, with little vegetation work having been done during the lockdown, is very overgrown and dangerously full of branches etc.

E scooters: Mike also reports that he has now experienced the new issue of e-scooters on the towpath – traveling at over 15mph. They are extremely dangerous to all and CRT simply must sort this out before someone is seriously injured.

Crofton: The pumping station is partially re-opened with guided tours available – see their website for times etc. Unfortunately, it has proved impossible to open the ever-popular cafe.

Red Diesel: In case you haven’t seen it, the Government has launched a consultation on the proposed implementation on the ‘Reforms to the tax treatment of red diesel and other rebated fuels’ for many (including pleasure craft).

Will the marina business be sustainable, with the initial cost of extra pump/tanks and the higher cost of smaller volume deliveries as they are split? They suggest that there are no ongoing costs, which is obviously not the case. White diesel in marinas will be uncompetitive; the risk is that boaters will buy at supermarkets and hump down the towpath and decant it, with all the environmental spillage risks this brings. And white diesel in the tank has an increased risk of theft. Something tells us that they are not listening and this is not going to work.

Fuel for solid fuel stoves. DEFRA has just published its intensions over solid fuels, coal and wood which are proposed to become the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 coming into force on 1 May 2021. The legislation will need to be debated in both Houses of Parliament before it comes into force and the dates for these debates are yet to be confirmed. The details are here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/air-quality-using-cleaner-fuels-for-domestic-burning/outcome/summary-of-responses-and-government-response The Regulations will phase out the supply of traditional house coal for domestic combustion, wet wood sold in units of up to 2m3, and introduce sulphur and smoke emission limits for manufactured solid fuels.

These changes will be phased in between 2021 and 2023, with all sales of small volumes of wet wood being phased out by 2022 and sales of traditional house coal by 2023. Stoves or open fireplaces are not banned, and these policies do not seek to prevent their use or installation. Our intention is to ensure people move from burning more polluting to less polluting fuels. We are encouraging a move from burning wet wood to burning dry wood, and from traditional house coal to smokeless coal and low sulphur manufactured solid fuels.

CRT call in. There was a catch-up call with Matthew Symonds, Head of Boating, on 10 July. Brief notes are:

CRT/EA would appear to be effectively dead from a CRT perspective at the present time.
Additional reservoir work is needed (quite a lot we suspect given that CRT has hired two engineers with specific relevant experience). No govt funds have been received and the costs to CRT are likely to be substantial.
CRT pleas for Govt support for boating related businesses have fallen on deaf ears
Water is looking good through to September at the moment.

CRT annual boater reputation survey. This has been has been published. Boater overall satisfaction is still substantially below the 2017 figure, although slightly higher than last year. Pages 46-52 are worth reading and echo what NABO has been saying for several years now

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/original/42155-boater-reputation-survey-2020-results.pdf?v=fedf49

The main themes emerging that are likely to have contributed negative aspects to the overall perceptions, include:

Poor maintenance, reactive rather than proactive and failure to take account of/prioritise boater’s needs
Lack of confidence in senior management
Lack of support for Trust’s wellbeing vision
Lack of support for the rebrand
Lack of and neglect of boater services

Emergency stoppages. There have been a few structure failures since lockdown has been removed. Members are recommended to sign up for CRT stoppages email if planning a cruise to keep on top of this. You might get a nasty surprise. The thoroughness of CRT’s inspection regime is an area of increasing concern.

Elected Reps video conference. Helen reports on this meeting which was held on 28th July. CRT’s Elected Reps (private boaters, boating business, volunteers, Friends, employees, fisheries) were invited to a Teams meeting with Matthew Symonds. A fuller report will be posted on the NABO website but here is a brief run-down of the topics discussed:

Covid 19 update – CRT getting back to normal, still supporting 550 vulnerable boaters. Boat movements relatively smooth following end of lockdown but getting busier. Hire boat companies report being sold out for the rest of the season.
User facilities – there is a working group which will report back at the end of August, with recommendations where improvements can be made quickly and easily, followed by further consultation on problem areas.
Red diesel – CRT responding to official consultation only in respect of its own fleet.
Towpath maintenance – opposing views from boaters; some loved the result when mowing stopped, others hated it. Now returning to normal regime, as published on CRT’s website; responsibility for implementation is regionally devolved so boaters’ issues best addressed locally. NAG sub-group making site visits in autumn.
Dredging – MS repeated request to boaters to ‘let us know where’. Peak Forest particularly bad at the moment, despite recent dredging operations.
Increased towpath use – users need to be considerate not just to each other (Share the Space) but to boaters too; plea for public messages to emphasise this.
Recent spate of lock beam failures – most of them were already on the ‘to be replaced’ list but obviously condition was worse than thought. MS felt the inspection regime was not necessarily at fault. Inspection team has started to use a resistograph, which can measure the condition of the wood internally. Some may be replaced by composite materials. Also laser measurement of all locks (not just problem ones) to be carried out in due time.
Other local problems – Stoppage at Diglis, due for September, will seriously affect already hard hit boat hire companies’ short breaks. MS to check if it can be postponed. Grindley Brook, Severn Trent water supply leaking badly over towpath. Land adjacent to N Oxford Canal being flooded by canal.
A Facebook page may be set up by private boater reps, further thought required! The next meeting is in September.

Boat Safety Scheme extensions. We understand that the suspension of BSS examinations up to end of July will not be further extended in most circumstances. Guidance for boat owners on preparing boats for examination in the time of COVID-19 has been published here: BSS Examination Preparation Linked to Covid-19 protocols. It is now expected that, if your BSS is due or overdue, you will get this organised in most circumstances. You should ring your chosen examiner and get a booking for the examination to be done. If you are shielding and cannot do this, then you must ring your navigation authority (NA) and talk to them. Otherwise if your licence is due or overdue, and you do nothing, it will not be renewed. If you are caught up in this and have a good or bad experience, please tell us so that we can understand what is happening. NAs are understandable nervous at having thousands of delayed examinations. We understand that the failure rate is 25% at the moment and, although this is not unusual, it is also attracting attention. If this does not improve, it is inevitable that the frequency of examinations will be increased as it demonstrates that boaters are not maintaining their boats. The most common failures at the moment are gas leaks, insecure batteries and wrong fire extinguishers.

Navigation Advisory Group. David Fletcher attended a phone-in vegetation meeting in July. CRT is preparing for a rebid of the vegetation contract. As part of the preparation they are updating the mowing maps. In the last NN we reported on this issue. Please get your comments into customer services. We had a first look at the winter offside cutting plans. Is your area overgrown? Please let us know.

Future events.

The lockdown has been lifted and we hope that many of you are getting out to your boats and enjoying a new normal. We see many hire craft out, and hopefully these companies can get some business in the next few months. There are no face-to-face meetings planned, and only occasional zoom meetings. We are going boating whilst we can.

Internal matters.

The next NABO Council will be a teleconference on Saturday 5 September at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

The next edition of NABO News will be prepared after the September meeting. Please get your items and lockdown stories in to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

September Bulletin

Past events

Covid 19 situation. The latest Government FAQ’s are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do. This includes the list of local restrictions which continue to change, Glasgow tonight!. Stay safe out there. We have a long way to go before we are free of this.

Reports from around the system are that the waterways are busy, with plenty of private boats out, and all the hire fleets booked. The Thames was said to be very crowded last weekend with many day boaters in paddle craft causing significant navigation hazards. Members are reporting jungle conditions on the towpath and many navigation hazards from offside trees. Please report, report, report.

Grass cutting. CRT and Fountains are now publishing a weekly programme of mowing. You can find a link for it on this page: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/specialist-teams/maintaining-our-waterways/vegetation-management/mowing-the-grass/grass-mowing-map.

Weather. The end of the month has seen two named storms, Ellen and Francis, passing through. Trees have been falling across the cut all over the country. CRT is to be congratulated for the speed at which the contractors were able to attend and clear fallen trees from the navigation. Hopefully the reservoirs have been topped up.

Stoppage notices. Infrastructure failures continue to appear on an almost daily basis. There is an increasing trend of some of these being caused by boaters, like the damage at Nottingham lock, although these are still in the minority. A good example of an ongoing problem would be Hillmorton locks, acknowledged by CRT as the busiest in the system. However, only one set of the paired locks is open and, on the open middle lock, only one paddle was working, resulting in a queue of 26 boats according to one boater in the queue. Members are recommended to sign up for CRT stoppages email if planning a cruise to keep on top of this. You might get a nasty surprise. The thoroughness of CRT’s inspection regime is an area of increasing concern.

Press Releases There is a growing trend of a mismatch between CRT’s press releases and reality. From a boating perspective, an example was the announcement of the planned towpath improvements on the Rochdale, which coincided with two boaters stuck on the same canal and having to retreat as CRT was unable to provide water for passage due to the leaking gates.

CRT Quiz. If you are really bored have a look at this. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/features/locks-docks-and-boat-lifts-quiz

Some of the answers are a bit strange. Any comments please, not to us but on a post card to ‘CRT Head of Wellbeing’, at the shallowest lock on the system, or in a 40ft boat up the Caldon!

Beale Park. The popular Thames visitor moorings at Beale Park have been withdrawn and now the whole stretch is covered with no mooring signs. A spokesperson said they have had serious problems there this summer with so many people around, with rubbish, including excrement, discarded towels, rubbish bags and fires. They don’t have a full complement of staff after lockdown and have been really struggling to deal with it. They have also had problems with the access road down to the river being blocked for residents, due to double-parking and have had to call the police out on one occasion. In the end they concluded, reluctantly, that they had little option but to close the moorings at least for the rest of this season. They intend to review the position next year with a possible working party of interested users to see how best to manage the site.

Mon and Brec. Mike Rodd reports that at last the Mon & Brec reopened to boats in mid-August – access having been restricted by the Welsh Assembly ruling of no journey longer than 5 miles! Little winter work had been done and so it was very overgrown, but every boat possible was out – with all hire and day boats doing excellent business, at last!

See the consultation document here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/899174/Consultation_on_reforms_to_the_tax_treatment_of_red_diesel_and_other_rebated_fuels.pdf Section 5.30 – 5.45 covers private pleasure craft and includes eleven question (Q12-22) in this section. The consultation closes on 1st October 2020 (not the 20th as we said last month). It is not clear to us where hire-boats fit into this. The document does not specify. We think they are they classed as ‘private leisure craft’ and not ‘commercial’. Perhaps you know better? We are still of the view that UK should ignore the EU ruling and retain the use of red diesel on inland waters. More in the next NN.

Boat Safety Technical Committee. Mike Rodd and David Fletcher attended a TC meeting via Zoom in August. The only subject was the revised procedures for gas testing. The main change is that the requirements for bubble testing are relaxed for the current Aldi units to a more exact equivalent of the manometer test. It has been known for some time that a boat could fail an examination with the bubble tester, but then pass a retest with a manometer. Boaters have nothing to fear from these changes which will come into force as examiners are trained. More details will appear in the next NN.

Boat Safety Scheme extensions. The suspension of BSS examinations up to end of July has not been further extended in most circumstances. Guidance for boat owners on preparing boats for examination in the time of COVID-19 has been published here: BSS Examination Preparation Linked to Covid-19 protocols. It is now expected that, if your BSS is due or overdue, you will get this organised in most circumstances. We have heard that examiners are getting through the backlog, and no members have reported to us that they cannot get a date. The fact remains that there are many thousands of boats with expired certificates.

Winter stoppages. The CRT consultation on the programme for this winter is now complete and the final list is here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/report/winter-notices.pdf. Our thanks to Phil Goulding who has taken part in all the meetings for us.

Future events.

Navigation Advisory Group. David Fletcher will attend a vegetation inspection on the North T and M in September. Local reports indicate that this is a good candidate! There is also a full meeting of the group in September by Zoom. There is plenty to talk about.

Internal matters.

Geoffrey Rogerson NABO is deeply saddened by the loss of its long-term legal advisor and council member, Geoffrey Rogerson, who passed away on the 3rd August 2020 after several years of illnesses. Known by all who met him, as a gentle gentleman, with great pride in his own family, and respected by all. But despite his seeming mildness, he was always direct, honest and when necessary, outspoken. With his deep practical knowledge of matters-legal, Geoffrey made a huge contribution to NABO, leading all aspects of its legal work, closely supported when necessary by the Council’s solicitors. A long-term canal (and whiskey!) fanatic, his boat on the K&A was one of the very first to travel up the then restored Caen Hill flight. And for many years he lived on his boat on the K&A as an active, rule-abiding continuous cruiser, setting a very clear example to all. And this always ensured that he could provide NABO’s Council with the best possible guidance on mooring matters. Geoffrey seldom missed a NABO Council meeting, always accompanied by his partner, Belinda.

The next NABO Council will be a teleconference on Saturday 5th September at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

The next edition of NABO News will be prepared after the September meeting. Please get your items and lockdown stories in to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

September Bulletin

Past events

We are looking for some help. NABO Council is made up of a small group of volunteers – boaters like you. We meet either physically or by teleconference around six times a year for a couple of hours, to discuss issues of concern and plan for action. To be direct, the coming years are likely to present substantial challenges to boaters. Recently you will have noticed that CRT has not been focussed on boaters and the maintenance of navigation and we need help to change their priorities. Infrastructure failures are increasing, facilities are under pressure, dredging and vegetation management remains a concern. Financial pressures are increasing on the Trust, which is shortly to start renegotiating its grant with a financially constrained government.

Without your help we are struggling to be as effective as we would like. Do you think you could help us? From being eyes and ears and a conduit to CRT regions or by joining us on our Council teleconferences and sharing your views. Please spare a little time for the benefit of your fellow boaters. Drop me a quick email to mark.tizard@nabo.org.uk or call Mark on 07818 757 676

Past events

Covid 19 situation. The latest Government FAQ’s are here. This includes the list of local restrictions which continue to change. Needless to say, this has all gone to rack and ruin in the month with the rule of six and widespread restrictions. Look out for Llangollen and Liverpool. Stay safe out there.

Stoppage notices. Short-term stoppages continue to come up, quite apart from the trees down in the last couple of weeks. The Caldon is closed because of a lift bridge strike and the Rochdale for a failed culvert. The Macc locks have been closed for a few days because of water shortages. Keep an eye on the stoppages if you are cruising.

CRT Licence terms. CRT has just invited feedback on its proposed changes to the terms and conditions of its private boat licence. The T&Cs were last updated in 2015, although they in large part remained the same. After a review, CRT is proposing some changes in their words, to make them clearer and strengthen them to protect both boat owners and CRT. NABO will be discussing its response at the forthcoming Council meeting on 10th October so please let us have YOUR views as soon as possible. We will be revisiting previous legal advice and may take further advice depending on CRT’s proposals. In due time, we encourage all members to complete the online survey which highlights the changes between the proposed and existing terms. The consultation gots underway on Monday 28th September and will run for 12 weeks. Read about it here.

EA mooring enforcement. The EA has advised that the car-parking enforcement company, District Enforcement (DE), has been awarded the contract to enforce mooring regulations on the Thames. This is an odd decision as DE’s participation in the recent trials was deeply unpopular with boaters, whilst the other participant in the trials, Thames Visitor Moorings, received much support.

Avon incident. The draining of a section of the River Avon in Bath caused the stranding and sinking of many boats. EA say that the Twerton sluice gate ‘had a software failure’ resulting in a sluice opening. The river level suddenly dropped by 1.8m, damaging around 47 boats, some seriously. CRT with the help of RCR are aiding the major recovery effort. Three boats have had to be removed and others are currently being lifted for inspection. The communications and support from the EA look to have been clear and regular. Investigations continue as to reasons behind the fault and the gates are being manned until this is discovered. This has happened before of course, at the same place in 2019, and on the Medway in 2010. This is unforgivable.

Red and white diesel. NABO has recently submitted its response to the Government’s consultation on red diesel. You can read it here. The following extract from one of the questions gives a good summary of our response: ‘As mentioned, over 451,000 inland waterways boats are involved, of which a high proportion use red diesel for heating as well as for propulsion. In practice, most users will vary from 60/40 to 10/90 depending on boat use and time of use. There must be flexibility. Assuming 60/40 for everyone does not work. There are growing numbers of liveaboard boaters, estimated at 30% of the total, who move a short distance every two weeks as required by the Canal and River Trust. Their diesel use is predominately for power generation and the provision of hot water. There are many craft in marinas that never leave their moorings and 100% of fuel is used for domestic services. Not permitting the use of, or increasing the cost of, red diesel will have an immediate effect on these users.’ The consultation closes on 1st October, so there is just time to make a response. See here Section 5.30 – 5.45 covers private pleasure boats.

Towpath safety. CRT has recently launched its new towpath campaign ‘Stay Kind, Slow Down’. No doubt as a result of further complaints from NABO and others of the perils of encountering aggressive and/or speeding cyclists. Whilst many cyclists are sensible, you do wonder why CRT is surprised that the increased graded surfacing of towpaths has resulted in faster cyclists. Please report all incidents. NABO recently wrote to Julie Sharman, the Chief Operation Officer of CRT, about e-scooters and unpowered craft, which ‘coincidently’ prompted a response covering most of these issues in the latest Boater’s Update and new advice for cyclists on stopping distances.here.

Winter moorings for 2020/21 will be available for up to four months between Sunday 1 November 2020 until Sunday 28 February 2021. Permits will go on sale at 6am on Thursday 1 October on a first-come, first-served basis. Winter moorings give boaters who don’t already have a permanent mooring a chance to moor up for the winter months, while keeping enough space clear for those who want to continue cruising. This year, prices have increased again between 3 and 5%. Before booking a winter mooring, please check the winter stoppages to ensure that works will not prevent you from reaching or leaving your intended mooring.

CRT Council. Helen Hutt, NABO treasurer and elected boater’s rep, recently attended a CRT Council meeting. She reports on the financial and progress position, following Toddbrook, the gales and Covid 19. You can read about them here and in the next NN.

Winter works. The CRT repair programme is costed at £45m, the usual welcome major repairs. The details are here. This winter the Trust will be hosting a series of online open days. With the limitations around people meeting face-to-face, these online events will showcase the work that goes on during the winter to keep the canal network open and available for people to use and enjoy.

Toddbrook. CRT have been consulting locally on the proposed rebuild of the resevoir spillway. You can see the details here.

Hammersmith Bridge. This key Victorian bridge over the Thames in West London is suffering in it’s old age. It is currently closed to foot, road traffic and river navigation. So don’t go planning on a pool of London passage for a year or two. Details here.

NAG Vegetation. A NAG team walked the north end of the Trent and Mersey in September with national and regional CRT staff. The object was to look again at the mowing and offside cutting carried out in the year and confirm the intended mapping and specification changes to address the issues. The T&M was the NAG team’s choice, because many of the well-known issues are on full display. It is very apparent that the local team is very conscious of written complaints and comments, and we ask that all members make their views known directly. CRT is retendering the Fountains’ contract next year, and now is the time to lock in any changes needed to cutting plans.

Future events.

NNUF. Mike Rodd will attend the National Navigation Users Forum meeting in October. He will also represent NABO at the meeting of TNUF (Thames Navigation Users Forum) on the 6th October. Plenty there to talk about.

NINF. Mike Rodd will attend the regular meeting of the National Inland Navigation Forum on the 20th October – bringing together most boater representative organisations. This is very timely for the boater’s terms consultation.

CRT catch up. On 15th October, Mike Rodd and Mark Tizard will have their regular meeting with Matthew Symonds of CRT.

Internal matters.

The September issue of NABO News is with the printers now and will be on the mat any day. It is already on the web site.

The next NABO Council will be a teleconference on Saturday 10th October at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part, in fact we really need you to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

The next edition of NABO News will be prepared after the AGM and November Council meeting. Please get your items and towpath horror stories in to the editor.

The software we use to send these messages has been ‘updated’ recently, supposedly to make the mails easiler to read on small devices. If you have any problems, lets us know.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

Special Bulletin on CRT licence terms and conditions

You should have recently received an email from CRT with a link to a consultation for a proposal to further change the licence terms and conditions.

We encourage you to complete the consultation. If you do not have the CRT email, the web page can be found here. You have plenty of time to consider the points, as the consultation does not close until the end of the year.

Your recent Council meetings reviewed the consultation and has decided to forward their concerns to the membership in advance of receiving the views of our legal advisors. In general whilst Council is sympathetic with CRTs needs to manage its waterways, we are concerned that wording is one sided, not proportional, and attempts to take powers not granted to it in the relevant Acts.

We have the following concerns :

Section A – Home mooring requirement to cruise.

As in the last review in 2015 CRT has provided no evidence of the scale of the problem they are seeking to address. There is no definition of a ‘genuine cruise’ so how would this be applied? Yet again CRT are seeking powers not granted in the 1995 Act which does not define how a boat with a home mooring must travel.

Section B – Insurance

We support this clause save that boaters should be able to submit the required documentation by email in addition to the web portal or post. We also object to CRT selling information to commercial parties.

Section C – Termination

Concern that CRT taking powers of repeated breaches e.g termination without notice, just because breaches are repeated does not mean the Acts do not apply.

Section D – Obligation of refunds

Concern that the opening sentence has been changed to avoid responsibility to provide waterways capable of navigation. We do not to buy a license to moor in a pond.

Section E – Boat Safety

Concern about the process of CRT entering a boat, may well for example exceed police powers. Any inspection should be carried out by a BSS qualified examiner.

Section F – Wider dimension boats

Concern that this ignores the importance of the tumblehome to the boats profile. F4 regarding fenders is a nonsense. Claiming powers to alter dimensions at CRTs discretion conflicts with right of navigation provisions of the BW Acts.

Section G – Change of ownership

CRT should be able to receive the information by email. Will CRT become the register of ownership?

Section H – False declaration

What is the intended outcome of this? Can a boater lose a licence If complying with the Acts?

Could this clause be used to address the issue of the home moorings at section A above.

Section I – Behaviour

Subjective wording, open to interpretation, one sided. Possible removal of license with no appeal process or right to independent review. Is this taking powers that are covered by existing by laws? CRT must issue licence if boater complies with the requirements of the 1995 Act.

There may be issues from our response to the consultation in 2015 which CRT ignored and we should take the opportunity to restate.

We will be discussing the legal advice received and finalising our response at our AGM on 14 November. Details on how to join in the teleconference in discussion will be included in our email bulletin at the end of the month.

We invite any comments from members on this important matter. Please email web@nabo.org.uk or any Council member.
Vice Chair on behalf of NABO Council

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October Bulletin

The NABO AGM will be held on Saturday 14 November at 10.45am immediately followed by a Council meeting. The meeting will be held as a free dial-in teleconference. Please email Mark Tizard, click here and send an email. if you wish to attend and you will be sent an agenda plus dial-in details. We look forward to hearing from you. The response to the CRT terms and condition consultation will be discussed.

Covid 19 situation. The announcement for England this afternoon is not what we would wish for. The Government FAQ’s are here. This includes the list of any local restrictions which continue to change, bearing in mind that Scotland and Wales do their own thing. Keep an eye on CRT’s website for any changes as to whether the system remains open. CRT will be sympathetic towards any boaters needing to self-isolate; concerned boaters should contact their local customer support officer. We can all see that this is not going well at the moment so take care out there

Past events

NNUF. Mike Rodd attended a meeting of EA’s National Navigation Users Forum on the 6 October. Dominated by long presentations updating delegates on how EA had coped with the lockdown, an important part of the meeting was an update on the strategic review of navigation charges which had started before the lockdown. The work has been held back because of the lockdown etc and registration charges for 2021 will be the same as for 2020. Of interest also was the vast number of canoes, paddleboards etc that have arrived on the rivers and canals over the past months. British Canoeing reported that they have had over 25,000 new members! NABO reported that many of these new users did not seem to understand the rules applicable to our waterways.

See for a full report: here

NINF. Mike Rodd attended a regular meeting of the National Inland Navigation Forum (NINF) on the 17 October, bringing together representatives of NABO, RBOA, CBOA, DBA,TBA, HNBC and the General Secretary, Michael Stimpson. The meeting stated by looking at CRT’s request for input on the handling of the over-populated situation on the London waterways and it was agreed that the problem in London (and elsewhere on the system) was folk who had no interest in the waterways buying boats to live on. The next major issue was the (so-called) consultation by CRT on proposals to change the Terms & Conditions of private boater licences. It was agreed that proposals were badly written, unclear, rather confusing, and could well contravene the requirements of the Waterways Act. NABO advised that we were taking legal advice. The next key concern was the appointment of District Enforcement, a car parking company, to enforce against mooring overstaying on the Thames -see comments below. Finally, issues of shared ownership craft which were being rented out, for example, via Airbnb, were also discussed.

See for a full report: here

TNUF. Mike Rodd attended a meeting of the Thames Navigation Users Forum on the 20 October, with a rerun of the NNUF materials with of course, more reference to the Thames situation. The overview of Thames work being undertaken now and in the near future was particularly impressive and it is clear that the additional funding provided was being well used. Of special importance was the presentation by the MD of District Enforcement, the car-parking company awarded (in somewhat odd and non-user consulted) circumstances, the contact to monitor and then enforce short-term moorings on the majority of EA’s Thames’ sites. It was stated that an aim and objective of the contract was to “increase the number of enforcement actions, particularly the serving of Mooring Charge Notices”. Having queried this, Mike Rodd was told that that the EA feels that it was quite appropriate to operate a car-parking approach to their moorings, and if users chose to overstay, then the proposed charges were fully acceptable.

See for a full report: here

Thames mooring enforcement. Of importance was that a few days after the above meeting a copy of the proposed mooring notice produced by District Enforcement regarding this scheme was sent to all representatives for comment. NABO joined DBA and the RBOA in strongly objecting to this notice feeling that it was an aggressive and unwelcoming approach indicated by this signage. Users had been given to understand that the intent was to achieve effective management of short-term moorings and not a modified car parking scheme designed to deter anyone from mooring. Legal advice has been taken with the assistance of the Royal Yachting Association and the joint submission and RYA lawyer’s comments etc can be found at: here

Meeting with CRT. On 15 October Mike Rodd and Mark Tizard attended a virtual meeting with Matthew Symonds, CRT Head of Boating, and Matthew Aymes, CRT head of customer support and licensing. The main subject on the agenda was the terms and conditions consultation. On the proposed changes to boats with a home mooring, yet again there were no figures available to quantify the size of the problem. We understand that there has not been any successful enforcement action on boats without home mooring “shuffling”, which was said to be a problem in the 2015 consultation. On the other areas of concern, there was lot more apparent flexibility to amend the wording which would mitigate many of our concerns. More at the AGM.

We raised concerns about the high level of stoppages due to infrastructure failures. CRT stated that there had been no change in their inspection regime and they were reviewing why there had been so many failures. We raised concerns that often single paddle failures remained unfixed and were advised this was not policy and they should be fixed.

Terms and Conditions Consultation. First if you haven’t already, please plan to complete the consultation. There is plenty of time to do so. The nature of the web response page is such that you are best prepared by writing your responses on a text editor, and cutting and pasting them in. If you lose internet half way though you may lose your carefully crafted words. It will be quite hard to make a response on a mobile device. We have prepared a searchable pdf of the consultation document and put this on the website. You can extract text out of it should you wish. You have received our email sent recently outlining your Council’s concerns. Our legal advisers have commented and confirmed our view that the proposals regarding boats with a home mooring exceeds CRT’s powers under the relevant Acts. We shall discuss in detail at the AGM. The consultation can be found here.

London Congestion. CRT has launched a consultation seeking boaters’ views on how to alleviate congestion. You can see it here. Somewhat surprisingly, seeing as numbers have appeared to plateau in the last couple of years. The London strategy document, which took 3 years and was published during 2018, made many commitments but many have yet to be implemented due to CRT’s financial constraints. There is no explanation as to why the current strategy has failed or why any new strategy will succeed. Our concern with both these consultations (as has been the case in the past) is that CRT has already decided on their preferred outcome. In the meantime many boaters regard London as a no-go area.

CRT Annual Report. CRT has published their annual report which is available on their website. 2019/20 saw an increase in both income and expenditure on the canal system but the financial effects of current pandemic are as yet unquantified. There is a boater report too here.

CRT licence increase. From April 2021 licence fees will increase by 2% for narrowboats and 7% for wide-beams. Boaters are encouraged to renew online to claim a 2.5% discount. The prompt payment discount remains at 2.5% (formerly 5%).

Red diesel. The consultation is now closed. It is a good time to write to your MP and ask him/her to contact the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and request that he provides an exemption to inland waterways craft from the Treasury proposals that require the use of white diesel for craft propulsion. We now understand that the proposal would include commercial craft and they too would have to use white diesel. We thought that waterborne transport needed support, not taxing?

Online Passage Booking. CRT has expanded the current booking system. From 2 November 2020, you’ll now also be able to book the following passages online: The first three – Braunston Tunnel; Saddington Tunnel and Blisworth Tunnel – need to be booked if you have a wide-beam; Thames Lock; Boston Tidal Lock; Newlay & Kirkstall Forge Locks; Bingley Three and Five Rise Locks and Harecastle Tunnel. They join the likes of the Ribble Link and Standedge Tunnel which already use the online booking.

Heritage Grant. CRT has been awarded over £1.6m in funding for 17 projects across the country. The funding, which has been awarded via the Heritage Stimulus Fund, will help the charity’s work including projects with Hunts Lock on the River Weaver, Sawley Locks 1 and 2 on the River Trent, Diglis Lock 1 where the River Severn meets the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, Soulbury Three Locks on the Grand Union Canal, and Wigan Flight Lock 71 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which all received grants.

Navigation advisory group. There has been no meeting but there has been considerable on line discussion about the passage booking system. Two issues come up: first Harecastle is no longer turn up and go. Boaters have to book, and there are logistical problems with planning this because of the lack of safe moorings nearby. Anderton is also fully booked now and it costs £5 so there is no free option. Are CRT using this to make ad hoc charges? This will be on the agenda for the December meeting. We understand that the vegetation team continue to work on the mowing maps for next year. These are not yet published, but if you want to see your chosen area, ask the regional customer service team. We also understand that CRT have instructed Fountains (again) to ensure that all woody growth is removed on the towpath, fringe and washwall during the winter cut to edge. This has to be completed by the end of March 2021.

Future events.

BSS AC. Alison Tuck and David Fletcher will attend a virtual meeting of the Advisory Committee on 3 November. There has been no other meeting this year due to Covid, so this will be a state of nation event.

Internal matters.

The next issue of NABO News will be prepared following the AGM with a copy date of 21 November. Please get your items into the editor.

The AGM and the next NABO Council meetings will be by teleconference on Saturday 14 November at 10.45. Members are very welcome to take part, in fact we really need you to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

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November Bulletin

Annual General Meeting. The NABO AGM was held by teleconference on Saturday 14 November. The Chair and Treasurer delivered their reports. Nominations had been received from the following for Council: Peter Fellows, David Fletcher, Phil Goulding, Helen Hutt, Mike Rodd, Mark Tizard, Ken Hylins, John Devonald, Anne Husar and Peter Braybrook. There being no need for an individual election, the Council members were elected en bloc. Subsequently Matt Thompson and Peter Braley volunteered, and were co-opted to Council. Alison Tuck stood down, and we thank her for her input and work over the years. In the following Council meeting, the senior officers were elected unchanged. Full details are in the next NABO News. The Chair’s report can be seen here.

Covid 19 situation. The four-week lockdown ends in the early hours of Wednesday 2 Dec. and we go back to the tiers. These will remain in place for the foreseeable future, but maybe counties will change tiers in two weeks’ time.

CRT website says: ‘As of 2 December 2020 our navigations will be open for you to cruise – and stay on board overnight – subject to ongoing government guidance. The Government advises that people should specifically try to avoid leaving or entering very high alert level areas (tier 3), other than for things like work or education, so we would strongly advise against travelling to or from your boat, or boating for any distance, in these areas.

The CRT web page is here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/safety-on-our-waterways/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-boating-faqs.

CRT have told us today about mooring:

From the 2nd, everyone’s mooring clock will ‘reset’ so the majority will have 14 days until they need to move on. We’re again asking anyone with specific needs or issues to contact their LSO [Licence Support Officer,] and we’ll be as sensitive as we can to issues whilst trying to ensure the sharing of access and adherence to government guidance.

For boaters within or currently bordering Tier 3 areas, in line with Government advice to avoid travelling into or out of these areas, we are advising boaters to boat within their area and we will take this into account when reviewing movement patterns.

Hopefully this steady approach, which will allow people to move immediately if they want to on the 2nd, will mean that no facilities are over-subscribed as movement begins. Of course, we’ll be asking boaters to use common sense and be considerate but hopefully we will have a similarly successful return to cruising as last time

We have to look forward to the time when we can get this vaccine to protect us. If you are not linked to a GP, time to find a friendly one. Then get ready to stand in line. In the meantime, stay safe out there.

Past events

CRT Licence terms. The big issue at the moment is CRT’s proposed changes to the licence Terms and Conditions. Your Council has been active. We have made a formal complaint to the MPs of the APPGW that CRT is, in our view, proposing to exceed its legal powers. The full letter is available on our website here. We have also sent out a press release to Towpath Talk, Waterways World, Canal Boat and Narrowboat World. The latter has just published a pro-NABO comment encouraging readers to invest £25 in joining – well done our new publicity officer, Anne. We are also active on the social media forums. We now have submission documents in draft as we get ready to make our formal response. We will also be tackling some wider concerns on CRT’s data protection policies and the readability of its wider terms and policies. If you have not done so, please do make a response.Our briefing note is here. Please use your own words or it is likely CRT will discard the response as a dulpicate.

The nature of the web response page is such that you are best prepared by writing your responses on a text editor, and cutting and pasting them in. It will be quite hard to make a response on a mobile device. You have received our email sent in November outlining your Council’s concerns, but these are updated and repeated here. The consultation can be found here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/we-are-seeking-boaters-views-on-license-t-and-cs The closing data is 21 December.

If you have experience with writing or operating GDPR systems, we could use your help to review what we have written. Please email David at web@nabo.org.uk.

APPGW. On 10 November, Mike Rodd attended (as an observer – the norm for such meetings) a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways that discussed “Waterways and Net Zero – Sustainable Propulsion”. Most of the group’s MPs attended and there was a really good presentation by IWA’s Bowman Bradley. Then followed a presentation with some really good engineering from Warwick University, a report from a company looking into alterative power sources, and finally a report on an Oxford Council-led project on their work. It was a well chaired meeting, led by a very battery-sceptic and well-informed Michael Fabricant. NABO will now be taking a special interest in this area, led by our new Council member, John Devonald.

Winter stoppages. The CRT stoppage works are now in full swing. If you are still cruising keep an eye on what is going on. The list is here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/report/winter-notices.pdf.

Middle Level. In November, the Middle Level Commissioners notified the licence fees for the period commencing 1 April 2021. These fees are fixed and cover the period up to and including 31 March 2022. This covers the services and facilities available to boats for recreational activities. The charges set for the year are to be the same as those for Environment Agency Anglian Waterways for the full 2020/21 year. See this link for details:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anglian-waterways-registration-charges/anglian-boat-registration-charges-1-april-2020-to-31-march-2021.

There is a 25% discount promised for 21/22 for those with a licence for 20/21, paid for before 31 December 2020.

Canoes in lockdown. We have written to the Head of Boating querying why CRT has authorised canoeists and paddle boarders to use their waterways for a trip out, but not allow boaters to use their boats for a day. Our view was either navigation should be permitted or not.

CRT Water Resources. CRT has just published the latest annual review of their Water Resources Strategy. This is a well written document. You can find the document here:

North East region. Howard Anguish reports that he has been invited to take part in a virtual forum for the Yorkshire and the North East Region, on 12 January. Other local societies have set up Zoom meetings, including a local Branch AGM shortly. Otherwise there is very little happening on local waterways. A fundraising appeal has gone out for the Pocklington Canal to continue with lock restoration work, which would enable work to resume on the last unrestored stretch of the canal. PCAS – the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society – has been unable to run its trip boat New Horizons all season, which has deprived the society of much needed funds. Lack of weed cutting work by EA on the Driffield Canal has caused issues for small craft – especially the local sailing boats.

NAG Vegetation. David Fletcher attended a video meeting of the group on 14 November. We understand that CRT is to undertake an assessment of offside vegetation over the winter, so it can better plan the long-term requirements. There is a promise to ring-fence the offside cutting budget so that it is not raided for other ‘priorities’. It would appear that the barrage of complaints is having some impact. Keep it up! Also, they have allocated some additional funding for the South Oxford to address the problems there. CRT continues to work on mapping the mowing needs. This must be finished by the end of March 2021, to be ready for the retender of the Fountains contract. This is a one-off chance to get your views into CRT.

Hammersmith Bridge. This west London bridge over the Thames remains closed to navigation. The annual Boat Race for 2021 has been transferred to Ely. There is no view on when the river might reopen for navigation. All the London reports talk about foot and vehicle traffic. What about the boats? You can read about it here: here

BSS AC. Alison Tuck and David Fletcher attended a virtual meeting of the Advisory Committee on 3 November. We understand that examinations are proceeding in the Covid situation. No issues are reported. Please let us know if you know differently. The gas retraining for examiners is now complete except for a couple of examiners who are shielding. We explained the new testing in the last NN. These new procedures now apply. It is a good thing.

BSS TC. Mike Rodd and David Fletcher attended a virtual meeting of the Technical Committee on 14 November. We are continuing the long-running review of the BSS requirements. The timetable for the launch of this package continues to slip for all sorts of reasons and it now set for the 3rd quarter of 2021. We understand that MAIB will shortly report on the consultation for the Hire Boat Code.

Future events.

CRT Council boaters reps. Helen Hutt will attend a virtual meeting on 7 December, mainly to talk about T&Cs.

BSS TC Mike Rodd and David Fletcher will attend a virtual meeting of the Technical Committee on 8 December. This meeting is to review four technical appeals made by boat owners.

BSS MC. David Fletcher will attend a virtual meeting of the Management Committee on 15 December. This meeting is a periodic review of budget and progress.

APPGW. The next APPGW meeting will be held on the 8 December, looking at the important contribution that the inland waterways can make to ‘building back better’ in terms of our economic prosperity and health & wellbeing. NABO will be represented by our treasurer, Helen Hutt.

NINF. On 12 December, Mike Rodd will attend a meeting of the National Inland Navigation Forum, which will be largely targeted at discussions of CRT’s proposed changes to private boaters’ licence Terms and Conditions.

Virtual open days. CRT is running eight virtual open days this winter, which will give behind-the-scenes access to some of its biggest projects. These are in November through to March. Details are here:https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/events/open-days-2020-21

CRT Forums. This would normally be the time of year for these. We have seen announcements for the NW region on 10 Dec and Howard mentions the 12 January for the NE. Have you got one for your area?

Internal matters.

The December issue of NABO News is with the printers now and will be on the mat before Christmas. It is already on the web-site if you sign in.

The next NABO Council will be a teleconference on Saturday 16 January at 10.15. Members are very welcome to take part, in fact we really need you to take part. Please let us know so that we can make arrangements.

The first 2021 edition of NABO News will be prepared after the Council meeting with a copy date of 23 January. Please get your items and some happy towpath stories and pictures in to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

December Bulletin

On behalf of the NABO Council and all our Regional Representatives, our chairman, Mike Rodd, would like to wish all our members a very happy and safe New Year.

He continues: We can only hope that it is better than the past one! It will be, though, a year of great challenges both personally in view of the on-going Covid situation, but also for NABO, given that both the EA and CRT will be getting close to preparing their bids for future government funding. Whilst wonderful words were said about CRT becoming more financially viable as an independent charity, it is painfully obvious that even their present state funding is less than they need to keep out precious canals in good condition, and with the changing political situation, seeking government funding is going to be even more difficult – we will never be high up on any government’s priorities. And it is painfully obvious that the government will look towards moving the EA’s navigational responsibilities away from their present government home and place them into CRT’s care – will huge consequences for the latter’s funding and operations. As always, there is plenty for us to do.

Covid 19 situation. The tiered restrictions of December have not been working well enough to keep hospital capacity at reasonable levels. The cases are on the rise all over the country. The Christmas relaxation was curtailed at the last minute and we expect that the new lockdown will continue through January and perhaps February. Most waterways are in Tiers 3 and 4.

CRT website says: Navigations will be open, subject to the ongoing government guidance. Boaters can stay overnight on their boats and take extended cruises in Tier 1 and 2 areas. In Tier 3, overnight stays outside of the local area are advised against, unless necessary for work or education etc. We would also strongly advise against travelling to or from your boat in Tier 3 areas.

All navigation in Tier 4 areas in England, and in Wales, should be limited to essential use only. Boaters who are not currently occupying their boat should not take short overnight breaks on their boat during the period. Those living aboard are advised to limit their navigation, moving only a minimal amount to access essential facilities or services when necessary. Please moor considerately. Boat licence terms & conditions regarding moving every 14 days will be suspended in Tier 4 and Wales until the restrictions come to an end. If you have any questions, please contact your licence support officer.

The CRT web page is here: here..

The EA requirements are here.

Members are advised to continually check both CRT’s and EA’s websites for advice on cruising and visiting boats during the current Covid crisis. We recommend also checking for winter stoppages as many dates are slipping as works often need to be reprogrammed, and trees down and unplanned events continue to occur.

Winter stoppages. The CRT stoppage works are now in full swing. If you are still cruising keep an eye on what is going on. The list is here..

A major breach has occurred on the Aire & Calder Navigation, a helicopter was used to move 100 one-tonne bags of stone into the breach hole. At the time of writing repair works are ongoing.

Past events:

CRT Terms. Hopefully members will have responded to the consultation on the proposed revised terms and conditions which closed on 20th December. For those in any doubt as to why it was so important to get our views across, the following is an extract from an email sent to a boater from the National Customer Support Manager – Licence Support, who is responsible for managing the consultation: “…We’ll finalise the terms and conditions and begin rolling them out through 2021/2022. Once they’re finalised you can make an informed decision as to whether or not you agree to them for your next licence. If you choose not to accept the T&C’s, your boat won’t be able to remain on waterways owned or managed by the Trust.” Well we always knew it was ‘take it or leave it’. Is this the recommended way for a public service charity to attract and retain customers? You can read the three parts of NABO’s response here.

NABO’s response to the consultation on the proposed changes to the terms and conditions has been received positively based on the response we have seen. It has been extensively discussed across boating social media groups including our own Facebook site. It was well reported in Towpath Talk as well NarrowboatWorld an online magazine. Mike Rodd had a long discussion with Jon Horsfall, Head of Customer Service Support, who thanked NABO for our detailed submission. We look forward to learning whether CRT has listened to our concerns.

Member writes on CRT T&Cs. We were pleased to receive an email from a longstanding member; the following extract neatly sums up the approach of your Council. “…It seems to me that NABO is now the only organisation with a broad-church approach, trying to represent all boaters who wish to see the waterways maintained as a connected system for navigation, whilst retaining the remaining heritage structures and ways of working. The vital words here are ‘connected’, ‘navigation’ and ‘heritage’; all essential to avoid it becoming a series of pastiche boating ponds”.

Mooring on EA waters. Together with other boater representative organisations on the non-tidal Thames, and supported by a RYA legal adviser, NABO has unsuccessfully continued to raise issues regarding many aspects of the EA’s decision to bring in a car parking company to supervise all of its short-term moorings. The terms of the operation require all users, from 4th January, to register on arrival and, whilst the length of stay and charges might vary, almost all provide for the issuing of significant penalty charges if boaters fail to comply. In most cases, the first 24 hours may be free of charge, but there is a requirement to register on arrival and failure to do so may result in a penalty charge of up to £150 being issued. It is also implying that failure to pay could result in the seizure of the boat! Whilst we all accept that the EA does need to sort out some blatant overstaying issues, we are concerned by the aggressive and possibly illegal approach being taken by a company whose sole interest is making money from resulting fines. But the EA has chosen to ignore all the suggestions from its main boating users!

NINF. A full National Inland Navigation Forum meeting was held on 12th December, specifically addressing the proposed revision of CRT’s T&C’s and the decision by the EA to contract the car parking company, District Enforcement, to regulate moorings on its waterways. All members agreed that both issues were of grave concern and resolved to seek a meeting with CRT’s senior management. Unfortunately the follow-up meeting with CRT’s personnel had to be re-scheduled for the new year due to the Head of Customer Service Support having to withdraw due to family problems.

NABO, together with three other boating associations, has written to the EA strongly refuting the rationale behind the issuing of this contract. In the meantime, NABO advises members cruising the Thames to keep a record, and evidence if they can, of their arrival and departure time together of any and all contact with the company involved.

Kickstart. CRT has received funding under the Kickstart programme for 69 placements at an estimated value of c.£500,000. The six-month positions are being offered as part of the initiative, a programme for young people aged 16-24 who are claiming Universal Credit and are at risk of long-term unemployment. The programme will support young people to build up their experience and help them move into sustained employment after they have completed their Kickstart-funded role. In Burnley, Leicester and Walsall, up to 36 young people will gain experience in waterway management and customer service, including canal and towpath care and a range of ‘green’ environmental projects. Another 31 positions are based with the Trust’s construction teams, where participants will learn heritage skills ranging from masonry, bricklaying and carpentry, to canal bank protection and towpath resurfacing. Two further roles are being created in the charity’s digital marketing team.

Harthill Resevoir. A £5 million upgrade to Harthill, which supplies water to the Chesterfield canal, has been announced. Despite the positive PR spin, the main work includes lowering the reservoir levels for a couple of years while work to remodel the overflow spillway is completed. This is no doubt a direct result of inspections following the Toddbrook near-disaster.

CRT rebid engineering term contract. CRT is currently advertising for civil engineering companies to tender for £800 million framework contracts over the next 10 years. Kier holds the current contract.

NAG. David Fletcher attended an all-day video meeting of the Navigation advisory Group on 14th December. On London, CRT reported that they have completed 11 meetings with 200 people taking part. They have a further 500 written responses to consultations. This process will conclude in January. Then there will be a formal consultation in 2021. On Terms and conditions, CRT reported 3500 responses so far, with some good feedback. There was no point by point discussion. (See Helen’s report below.) There was a discussion on the merits of dredging for potential growth of freight traffic on the Aire and Calder. There is no pay-back at the moment, but is this the sort of thing that CRT should do? It would cost £500k one-off and then £120k pa to dredge, receiving only half this in income. Rather topical, given that the canal is leaking at the moment.

BSS TC. Mike Rodd and David Fletcher attended a virtual meeting of the Technical Committee on 8th December to review appeals from four boaters. These do come up from time to time, and highlight the difficulties of managing the rather loose requirements of the RCD, the ever changing international standards and the longstanding BSS requirements. It was reported that the gas training is complete. A few examiners have elected not to take part and they will retire in April 2021. If you are having an examination done, ask the examiner whether he/she is trained for the latest requirements.

BSS MC. David Fletcher attended a virtual meeting of the Management Committee on 16th December. We understand that the long awaited training programme for new examiners will commence in February 2021. This is very welcome as recent years have seen a steady decrease in the number of examiners available. BSS has published its accounts and you can see them here. The income is predominantly from examinations, and varies from year to year as the number of boats requiring renewal is not the same every year. The main costs are staff and subcontract activities. More on this in the next NN.

CRT Council, boaters reps. Helen Hutt attended a virtual meeting on 7th December, mainly to talk about T&C consultation, which closed on 20th December. CRT plans to make some amendments, considering comments made by respondents (mostly regarding sections on home moorings and craft dimensions); there will be another internal meeting to review this in January and new T&Cs will be issued in April. CRT is trying to hold discussions with the Boat Builders Association on craft dimensions but with little success. CRT feels that 10% response, 3000ish, was good considering the topic. It didn’t accept that readability was an issue! They appear to have taken on board the user-unfriendliness of the consultation process and agreed the platform used was not good. Most criticisms/comments were batted away.

London management. Nine Zoom sessions have been held, involving 150 people (mostly boaters) plus 400 survey responses. Main issues raised are: lack of mooring space in quieter areas, facilities, validity of data, more boats = greater security, growth of wide beam numbers – data not clean. Suggestions from respondents include charging for some services, bookable moorings, fixed charges, more short-stay moorings, banning triple mooring. The final Zoom session is on 8th January after which findings will be presented to the Boater Reps.

APPGW. Helen Hutt attended the MP and Lord’s meeting on 8th December. An interesting meeting chaired by Michael Fabricant MP. Three good presentations from Richard Parry, CRT; Adrian Main, Avon Navigation Trust; John Packham, Broads Authority, all focussing very much on widening the appeal of the waterways and all emphasising how much more money is required to keep them in good shape! Helen has asked for copies of the presentations and will share them if she gets them.

Lord Dolar Popat asked RP, on behalf of a constituent, why Cumberland Basin, Regents Canal, had not been dredged despite numerous promises; no real answer but it just illustrates that this is a good forum if you can get to the right person. Tony Lloyd MP raised the issue of vandalism; it was generally agreed that getting more people to use and love the waterways (initiatives like Let’s Fish) was helping to combat this. Lord Bradshaw said that, with new housing in the Thames Valley, there would be water shortages. A proposal is to install a Severn-Thames pipeline but he asked whether the Cotswold Canal could be completed and used instead, with many additional benefits. M Fabricant thought this should be the topic of another meeting. Andrew Denny asked what was happening with shortage of water on the Rochdale Canal and the potential opening of the Rochdale Town Arm. RP explained the challenges and hoped the canal would re-open before next summer. He and Tony Lloyd will discuss the Arm project separately. Roger Stocker, British Cycling, commented on the lack of diversity on the waterways (ironic considering that all those at the meeting except Helen were men, mostly white and of a certain age).

Future events:

BSS TC. Mike Rodd and David Fletcher will attend a virtual meeting of the Technical Committee on 26th January. This meeting is to continue to review the revised examination requirements.

CRT Forums. This would normally be the time of year for these. We have seen an announcement for 12th January for the NE. Have you got one for your area?

Internal matters:

The CRT terms consultation has given us some welcome publicity. We have had several mentions from Towpath Talk, and they continue to publish Mark Tizard’s articles. Narrowboatworld has covered our concerns about the T&Cs and the EA Thames mooring charges quite thoroughly We also wrote to Canal boat and Waterways World but any comment will appear in the next issue. On social media the Canalworld forum has had long running threads where NABO highlighted its work on the potential problems and Facebook with its many boaters’ pages has also been a useful media site.

The first 2021 edition of NABO News will be prepared after the Council meeting with a copy date of 23rd January. Please get your items and some happy towpath stories and pictures in to the editor.

Web Master on behalf of NABO Council

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BOAT OWNERS

Listening to boat owners, Speaking out for boat owners, Representing boat owners.