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Join NABO because together we boaters can use our knowledge and watchfulness to protect the UK's wonderful waterways lifestyle and heritage. There is strength in numbers!
Go to the Join Us menu and sign up, please!
Heritage has not been a main stream campaign issue for NABO, but we do get worried when we see important canal heritage buildings or workshop sites go under the hammer in the name of 'improvement'. We have worked in the past on resisting some of the BW and CRT excesses, like Marsworth, Marple and Bulbourne. The current building at risk is the Stop House in Braunston. CRT have offered it for lease, but we suspect that the cost makes it non viable. Will this unsuccessful offer now provide the excuse for sale, or even demolition? Is this the right way for CRT to balance the budget? You can read the latest here. Our persistence has paid off in the past. Please come and help.
Crime prevention
The Regents Canal and surrounding area is experiencing increased robberies and burglaries and the Bow West Safer Neighbourhood Team, CRT and the Metropolitan Police have issued the following advice to boaters, which is applicable in any urban area:
Don’t make your boat attractive to thieves
Thieves are always on the lookout for easy targets.
Editorial
From the Middle Level to the high seas
Editor, Peter Fellows has a diverse edition for Spring.
I was pleased to see that CRT has suspended the sale of the freehold to Blowers Green Pumphouse (see January’s NABO News), but wish that the relevant advisory groups could review such proposals before they go ahead. CRT has published the results of its licensing consultation, reviewed by Mark Tizard. Most narrowboaters will have to pay about 5% more for their licences year-on-year, so the exercise was not exactly ‘revenue-neutral’ – at least not for boaters. Widebeam owners will have to pay more, but not as much as many feared. During the review, many boaters didn’t see the need for any changes, so with no majority agreement to change anything much, CRT can claim to have listened to its ‘customers’. However, it is difficult to see how the outcome will reduce CRT’s licensing costs, as the system now seems to be more complicated, rather than the intended simplification.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new EU law that will come into effect on 25 May 2018, to replace the current Data Protection Act. It's the biggest overhaul of data protection legislation for over 25 years and it will introduce new requirements for how organisations process personal data. It means that we have to revalidate our permission from members to hold and use personal data, and also to communicate with them. We are now starting a campaign to address this law. All members who have given us an email address have been contacted, and those who rely on snail mail will be covered by NABO News distributed in May 18.
We need all members to take action to accept the new requirements by logging in to the web site and amend their profile, or writing to us confirming acceptance.
The main changes are:
To cover the regulation, we have updated the Privacy Policy and this was approved by Council in April. You can read it here. We have not changed the Terms and Conditions and you can read them here.
The following is my report - I have used some notes from Andy Tidy’s report (mostly the finances as he explains it better than I could) As these are my recollections from notes they are not designed as an exact record and are not minutes. Therefore , they should not be accepted as such.
We were invited to York this year. Owing to constraints of dialysis, I opted to do a long day - getting up at 4.45am, getting a train at 6am and arriving at York at 8.15am, where we were met by two young ladies from the Leeds Office with a sign and everything. Once everyone that was coming by train arrived, it was a short stroll to the bus taking us the 6 miles to Naburn Lock - a fascinating place - Kenny, the Lock keeper has been there over 30 years - his cottage is flooded on average 5 times a year and he remains remarkably sanguine about this fact.
