12 November 2017 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk
NEWS SPECIAL
LICENCES & LONDON MOORINGS
Pointers to the future
Licence review – final stage is delayed again
THE CANAL & RIVER Trust has published the report
from the regional meetings which formed the
second stage of its boat licensing review – but as
we went to press there was still no sign of the final
stage, the open consultation with all boaters which
was originally promised for August.
The regional meetings, attended by around
100 boaters from those who applied, produced a
large amount of output from the discussions (which
CRT said was the cause of the delay in the process)
expressing a range of opinions, but some common
themes emerged:
- Charging by area (length multiplied by width)
rather than length of boats: there was
widespread but not universal support for this. - Congestion charging: there was a general
rejection of the idea of regional pricing to tackle
overuse of particular areas. - Charging by usage: there was opposition to the
idea of making boats that are more heavily used
pay more, or penalising specific types of boating
with higher rates. - Timescales: introducing changes gradually
(perhaps over as long as three to five years)
was favoured. - Simplicity: a system that was fair, intelligible and
easy to enforce was supported. - Need for change: some didn’t see why the
present system need changing.
Many participants were clear that boaters with
different patterns of use should not be set against
each other – especially with respect to those
without home moorings. They felt that the choice to
cruise continuously “should be respected by the
licensing system”, rather than changes being driven
by “the few bridge-hoppers” – which they felt was
an issue for enforcement, rather than licensing.
Concerns were also expressed about the need
to keep the diversity that forms “the colour of the
canal”, about whether any changes might lead
to future steep fee rises, but also whether a
manageable increase was preferable to the loss
of canals if trade-offs need to be made.
There was some regional variation in opinions, for
example with those at the Devizes meeting being
sceptical of the need for change, participants at
Hatton being particularly keen to avoid penalising
“genuine continuous cruisers”, “heated”discussions at Newark regarding CRT’s powers to
impose minimum travel distances, set mooring
times and impose penalties, and concerns in Milton
Keynes that CRT is already seeking to “force
continuous cruisers off the canals”.
The third and final stage of the review will see all
boaters contacted by email or post and given a
chance to respondor comment on what CRT has
told Canal Boat will be a definite set of proposals to
be taken forward (based on the results of the early
stages), rather than offered a choice of
alternatives. However, three weeks after the stage
two report had been published, the Trust still could
not give a date for when this would happen.ALTHOUGH THE FINAL detailed proposals resulting
from the Canal & River Trust’s London Mooring
Strategy project have also been delayed, the Trust
has produced a list of nine ‘strategic headlines’
indicating which direction it will take.
At the same time, CRT has acknowledged the
possibility that boat numbers in the capital will
continue to increase to the point where further
work might need to be done – ultimately including
limiting boat numbers.
Development of the Strategy has been prompted
by the large numbers of boats moving to London in
recent years and putting pressure on mooring
space and facilities.
In 2016 CRT reported that 1,300 more boats had
arrived in the capital in the previous four years, and
almost 400 without home moorings in just 12 months.
This has led to double- and even triple-mooring on
London towpaths, and to boaters from the rest of
the country being put off visiting London by fearsthat there will be nowhere for them to stop.
Measures already taken to try to deal with the
problem include paid for pre-bookable visitor
moorings, extra mooring rings, bankside dredging
and new long-term berths. The Strategy’s nine
points aim to expand on this with:- Creating new long-term moorings in outer
London - Encouraging development of long-term moorings
by commercial and not-for-profit organisations
London strategy ‘might not be enough’ to tackle issues
Should the widebeam pay more than the narrowboat?