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New Year, New Faces?
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- Category: NN Editorials
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Editor, Peter Fellows has a plea for members to help the association operate effectively.
As 2019 fades into winter with deluges raising river levels across the country, NABO says farewell to Chair, Stella Ridgway and East Midlands Rep., Joan Jamieson, who we thank for all their work over the years. I have also said goodbye to NABO News proof-readers, John and Marion Pearse and Janice Steckerl, who I thank for all their help in correcting my wayward grammar. If you are able to spend a couple of hours, three times per year, proofreading an issue of the magazine in the comfort of your favourite armchair, please get in touch.
Reading Howard Anguish’s Rewind from 15 years ago, support for NABO Council by members was an issue then – and it still is. The Council needs more support for its work in 2020, outlined by Mark Tizard and Mike Rodd as they look at what is likely to arise next year, especially with CRT and the EA. As you will see from the new list of councillors on page 2, many have multiple roles and need help to share the workload. There are also four vacancies for regional reps., to keep an eye on what’s happening in a particular waterway area. The role involves attending local forums and letting the Council know when something important is happening. Again, please consider helping.
CRT Boat Licence costs for 2020-21
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- Category: Canal and River Trust
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The Canal & River Trust has announced that headline private and business boat licence fees will rise by 2.5% from 1 April 2020.
As previously announced, in March 2018, following the Trust’s national boat licence consultation, a number of changes will be made to licence fees over five years.
From 1 April 2020, a 2.5% ‘prompt payment’ discount (reduced from 5%) will apply for those who pay on time in full, and a new 2.5% discount will apply for those who manage their payments online including, for the first time, for boaters paying by direct debit. This means that boaters who may not be able to afford to pay in one lump sum will also be able to benefit from a small discount on the full licence fee.
In addition to the current length-based pricing, from April 2020 the Trust will start the phased introduction of additional pricing bands for boat widths over 2.16m (7ft 1”), as announced in March 2018, with a surcharge of 5% applied until March 2021 (when it will increase to 10%). This means that boats over 2.16m wide will be subject to an increase in licence fees of 7.6% overall from 1 April 2020.
Meeting of Thames Navigation Users Forum (TNUF)
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- Category: EA and others
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On Tuesday 29th October 2019 I represented NABO at the well-attended meeting of the above Forum which brings together representatives of a wide cross section of users of the Thames, largely through the 8 River User Groups (the RUGs) and representative user groups, together with relevant EA personnel. Chaired by EA's Thames Waterways Director, Julia Simpson, and the Waterway Manager, Barry Russell, this 5-hour meeting proved to be most valuable and it is clear that the new-look EA is making every effort to consult with to its key river users and so move its navigational responsibilities forward over the next 5 years.
EA’s Strategic Review of Navigation Charges Customer Workshop
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- Category: EA and others
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On Monday 21st October Mike Rodd represented NABO at the first of a series of workshops run by the EA to get input from users before finalising charging proposals for consultation in spring 2020. The aim of the exercise is to simplify the charging, introduce consistency (where possible) across EA’s waterways and (of special interest to NABO) to look at adopting similar principles uses by other Navigation Authorities.