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NABO News April 2017 Editorial
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Editorial
From dark arts, via 100 feet-wide locks, to volunteer lock-keepers
Editor Peter Fellows introduces a packed issue
We emerged from hibernation in March and a group took our shared narrowboat out for the first time this year, to introduce a new shareholding family to the joys of the cut. Although it was a fine, warm(ish) day, there were very few moving boats - possibly just as well while the new family got to grips with the tiller! I was surprised at the amount of floating debris in the Coventry Canal, presumably from storm Doris a few weeks before, and we had several stops to clear the prop. CRT contractors had also been out on the job, removing large trees that had fallen across the canal. In her column, Chair Stella is also emerging from the winter, with a myriad jobs that need doing come spring.
Editorial February 2017
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Consultation and funding - a lack of both for some
Editor Peter Fellows compares navigation authorities
Following the complaints throughout last year over lack of vegetation management on the South Oxford Canal, it is good to see that CRT is spending the winter putting the situation right. And it is also good that CRT is consulting widely on a proposal by Birmingham City Council to pay for widening of the towpath through Edgbaston Tunnel. This would reduce the width of the canal, enforcing one-way passage of boats through the tunnel. In NABO’s view, it is totally unacceptable to compromise the navigation in this way and disadvantage boaters (who pay for the waterways’ upkeep) for the benefit of speeding cyclists (who pay nothing) and who could simply be told to dismount and walk through the tunnel.
‘Peer-to-peer’ boat rentals
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‘Peer-to-peer’ boat rentals
Mark Tizard examines some of the implications of CRT’s proposed new licence category currently under review.
In recent years, it has become increasingly common to read of boats available to rent in Central London and on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and the practice is spreading to other areas. Yet, to obtain a licence to rent a boat out to others, you currently need a hire-boat licence and a hire-boat level boat safety certificate. It is also a stipulation that the boat must have a home mooring.
In the Chair February 2017
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Home comforts
NABO Chair Stella Ridgway offers some tips for liveaboards
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. We certainly did, as my eldest daughter surprised me by arriving from New Zealand for an extended visit on Christmas Eve. As you can imagine when you are surprised like that, there were many tears, hugs and laughter plus lots of catching up; online is good, but nothing like physically seeing someone.