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Busy like bees
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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.
Evidence please
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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.
Carbon Monoxide Alarms Become Mandatory
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- Category: Boater Safety
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From 1 April at least one carbon monoxide (CO) alarm became a requirement on nearly all private and non-private boats in scope of the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) Requirements. BSS Certifications will not be issued to boats without alarms. The new BSS Requirements apply to boats with accommodation spaces i.e. areas within a boat surrounded by permanent boat structure and where carbon monoxide gas may accumulate.
Capturing knowledge
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Capturing knowledge
Chair, Stella Ridgway, is concerned that CRT’s redundancies will result in experience being lost.
Happy New Year, although tinged with sadness as we report the death of our Vice Chair, Paul Howland. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him; his knowledge was always welcome and his advice given freely and always useful. This leaves a place open on NABO Council and, therefore, if you would like to volunteer, please let us know.
I have had a quiet few months, although the Trust hasn’t. It announced the next lot of redundancies just before Christmas and the outcomes should be known before the start of summer. We wait to see the impact of these and how many people will opt for redundancy. But, potentially, this could result in the loss of people with decades of experience of working on the waterways. NABO realises the need for these redundancies, but we hope that the potential loss of knowledge is being captured. The meetings with the North West and North East Waterway Directors have been postponed until next month, and, although this is not ideal, we realise that people are concerned about options and jobs. However, it is encouraging that these meetings are being held and maybe it is true that the Trust wants to listen to boaters and capture the knowledge in that way.