There has recently been clarification from CRT regarding the distance CRT expects boaters to travel during the term of a six month licence and NABO notes that the guidance has changed. It used to be CRT’s policy that boaters issued with a reduced licence were still expected to cruise the 20 mile plus range that full licence holders are expected to do and indeed this is what NABO advised its members. CRT has now confirmed that this has changed and that boaters who have been issued with a six month licence are expected to cruise a pro rata distance of 10 miles (16km) within the time period of their licence.
For more information regarding CRT’s expectations around the issuing of reduced licences, please read on as Matthew Aymes, CRT’s Customer Support Manager has responded very fully to a query raised by CRT Council Boaters Rep Dave da Costa via this email:
At a short, combined CRT Council and AGM in November, last year’s annual report and accounts were accepted. Topics of particular note included:
In spring 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement spurred CRT into commissioning Dr Jodie Matthews, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, to undertake literature research into people who had made their wealth through the slave trade and invested the profits in canal building. She also investigated canals that were built specifically to carry goods derived from the exploitation of slaves – especially tobacco, cotton and sugar – and how these canals led to the development of cities such as Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester. Examples cited in the review are: 1) Moses Benson, a Liverpool slave-trader, who owned a ‘palace mansion’ in the city and invested in canals, leaving 230 shares in the Lancaster Canal in his will; 2) Lowbridge Bright was a wealthy Bristol West India merchant who sat on the Committee of the Thames and Severn Canal Company; 3) George Hyde Clarke, who inherited a sugar estate and 220 enslaved people, was a promoter, shareholder and committee member of the Peak Forest Canal Company; 4) Robert Milligan was a prominent Scottish merchant and slave-owner, who was the driving force behind the construction of the West India Docks in London.
The review can be found at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk > search ‘transatlantic slavery’.
Updated 30 November 2020
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. It is now time to have your say. The consultation closes on 21 December 2020.
Your recent AGM and Council meeting reviewed the consultation and is now drafting the Associaiton's formal response. We have the benefit of legal advice. 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:
This is a snapshot notes from the online CRT Council Meeting on 23 September 2020. Complete Minutes will be available in a week or so at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/meetings/42458-23-september-2020-19th-council-meeting