CRT extend customer services opening hours

Canal and River Trust have just announced that from 7 July 2019, customers will be able to get in touch with customer service team seven days a week. The customer service team will now be responding to enquiries from 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat, and 10am-4pm Sun.  All contact channels will be open across telephone, web […]

Brief Notes on EA’s National Navigation Users Forum: 12th June 2019

Held in London, this meeting was well-attended and proved to be most intriguing. Chaired by Robert Gould, a member of the EA Board, the main purpose was to provide an update on the significant changes taking place within EA in terms of support for their navigational responsibilities. The underlying driving factor was the Government’s decision […]

CRT’s North West forum

North West David Fletcher at CRT’s North West forum   I attended the forum in May at Anderton, being the second of two meetings for the region. The NW is a big area, from Kendal in the North, Audlem in the South, western halves of the Pennine routes and bits of the Llangollen in the […]

Welfare guidance

Welfare guidance CRT’s welfare guidance is a support service intended for Trust staff and volunteers who have concerns about the welfare of boaters. If you come across a boater who you feel needs assistance, the following information may be useful. The guidance ensures that the Trust signposts them to the most appropriate agencies that can […]

New boater surveys

New boater surveys   CRT’s annual Boaters’ Survey has been shortened and renamed the ‘Perceptions of the Trust’ survey, which was sent out to a third of the Trust’s leisure boat licence holders at the start of April. It has also introduced a monthly ‘Waterway Experience’ survey of boaters to gather up-to-date feedback on the […]

Cruising restrictions

Cruising restrictions   Following the dry winter and spring, CRT has started to impose cruising restrictions to save water and there are a number of infrastructure failures that are also restricting passage. Here’s a summary of those in place at the beginning of May (all ‘until further notice’):

Community involvement

Community involvement Chair, Stella Ridgway, meets the North West Regional Director. I am going to offer apologies in advance – I have not been well – the downside of chronic kidney disease and renal failure is the body’s inability to shake off infections, and I have had one since late February. I managed to go […]

Warming climate and relationships?

Warming climate and relationships? Editor Peter Fellows detects changes that could affect boaters both negatively and positively. It’s not yet summer and there are already boating restrictions in place because of damaged or failed infrastructure and low reservoirs, the latter following the lack of winter and spring rainfall after last year’s record-breaking dry summer. In […]

National inland navigation forum meeting in February

National inland navigation forum meeting NINF met at the St. Pancras Cruising Club in February with all but one of the member bodies represented. This forum continues to be a useful meeting point, bringing together navigational bodies involved with CRT, EA and other navigation authorities. There was much discussion surrounding issues relating to the possibility […]