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Category: Surveys
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Loss of facilities

The boaters’ facilities at Newbold on Avon on the North Oxford canal have closed and all ex-BWML marinas have now stopped offering free facilities to passing boaters. A statement from BWML Sawley Marina read: ‘Since BWML’s affiliation with The Trust is no longer, we aren’t obliged to provide facilities to passing boaters. However, we will be introducing a charge for cassette emptying, allowing passing boaters to still make use of facilities but at a cost of £2 per cassette. Please also be aware that our pump-out charge will be increased to £20 instead of £15. These charges will come into effect from 1st February 2019.’ NABO would like all members to report details of where you find facilities have disappeared. NABO supports the IWA stance on having a minimum distance between free facilities and would like to build a nationwide picture of the areas that are facilities deserts.

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Category: Boater Safety
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Boat fires

The annual BSS incident report was published in March and provides a summary of the incidents over the last year. A total of 132 boat incidents, based on 124 events, were recorded up until February 2019. In three events, fire affected more than one boat. There were 54 fires and CO incidents on inland waterways, which is the lowest number for three years. In 18 of the reported incidents, the cause is unknown or inconclusive. In 24 of the 54 fire and CO incidents, the boat was used for residential or extended use, but this may be an underestimate as, in a further seven fire/CO incidents, the ‘use class’ is not known. There were three boat fire fatalities, all liveaboards; the highest number in one year since 2012. All victims lived alone on their boats and alcohol consumption was confirmed as a significant factor in two of the incidents. None of the boats is thought to have had a smoke alarm on board.

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Category: NN Chairman's Column
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Busy like bees

Chair, Stella Ridgway, attended the last CRT Council meeting

February was glorious: unseasonably warm and sunny, and both the birds and trees were slightly confused; an early spring followed by (in Manchester) a month’s rain in two days. There were flood warnings for a lot of rivers and hearing the flood alarms going was slightly scary, but the towns that were flooded in 2015 seemed to have put plans in place, banks had been repaired and held, so a sigh of relief for all.

I have had two meetings in a week and this has had an impact on my ability to keep my energy levels equalised. The NABO Council meeting in Tamworth involved a train journey interspersed with a 90-minute wait for a replacement bus service from Grindleford (which has the most delightful station café) to Sheffield. Then, fortunately, the further two connections worked but resulted in my arriving at the meeting over an hour late.

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Category: NN Editorials
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Evidence please

Editor Peter Fellows starts surveys of lost facilities and shallow visitor moorings.

The warming weather means that many of the estimated 50% of boaters who are leisure cruisers start to gear up for their first outing of the year and the other 50% who live aboard come out of hibernation to enjoy the spring sunshine. As usual, Fly reports on a lively meeting of NABO Council in March and much else is going on behind the scenes. I have included a report by Mike Rodd on the last meeting of the National Inland Navigation Forum and I’ve had a read through CRT’s Boater Report 2018, which sets out how boaters support the Trust through licence and mooring fees, and how the Trust spends its income on maintaining its navigations. On a less happy note, I’ve included a summary of a recent BSS report on boat fires. There is also a summary of CRT’s annual lockage report, which shows how the long spell of dry weather last summer affected boat movements, which were down by 11%. Mark Tizard reviews recent mooring developments and there is an article by Anthony Riley, setting out the EA funding issues that are affecting the Thames. With Brexit paralysing the Government, there seems to be little progress in discussions to transfer EA waters to CRT, or developing new ideas to allow the EA to obtain a more appropriate level of funding for the Thames. Howard Anguish looks back at what was happening in NABO 15 years ago. There’s also a short article by Joe Parkin on some of the problems caused for volunteer ‘lockies’ by boaters, and Brian Jarrett has some advice on selecting a composting toilet in Techie’s Corner. Finally, evidence, please! We need hard evidence of boaters’ facilities that have been removed and of designated visitor moorings where lack of depth is an issue. Please send me your observations (with photographs if possible) and the precise location.