Thames moorings U turn for EA

The Thames EA have issued an update regarding the Thames moorings management contract with District Enforcement.

The Environment Agency’s contract with District Enforcement, will be brought to an end from 30th September 2021. They say that this decision has been taken following a review that subsequently identified issues with our internal procurement processes, rather than as a result of any fault by District Enforcement.

District Enforcement will cease operations under the contract on 31st August 2021, with the following four weeks being spent removing their signage from our sites. We expect to look into options to retender for this work in the future but in the meantime moorings will be managed by the Environment Agency’s Waterways staff.

NABO with other boating organisations has been very active in criticism of the way in which this contract was awarded. EA have for a long time refused to acknowledge that there had been a problem. We are delighted that they have now seen some common sense. Our view is that enforement should always be carried out by Navigation Authorities alone.