6 January 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk Licence shake-up: final stage Winter work
Marple shut till spring EA licence fees rise
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Tell us you news, email [email protected]NEWS
A SWITCH-around in the senior ranks of the
Canal & River Trust has seen the departure of
one director and changes in the responsibilities
of another four - with more changes promised.
In the reshuffle which aims “to simplify how
the Trust works”:- Julie Sharman (formerly head of Asset
Management) becomes Chief Operating
Officer, responsible for day-to-day operations
and maintenance, local waterway teams and
boating. - Stuart Mills (Property Director) will be Chief
Investment Officer, taking on museums
and fundraising in addition to his existing
responsibilities.- Heather Clarke (Strategy & Planning Director)
adds marketing and public affairs to her
existing responsibilities, under her new title of
Strategy, Impact and Engagement Director - Simon Bamford (Asset Delivery Director)
becomes Asset Improvement Director,
responsible for delivering long term works,
through contractors and CRT’s own services.
Between them they now cover the former role
of Ian Rogers (Customer Service and Operations
Director) who will therefore be leaving CRT after
three years.
Three directors remain in the same positions
(Chief Executive Richard Parry, Finance Director
Sandra Kelly, and People Director – the new
- Heather Clarke (Strategy & Planning Director)
title for his existing role of Human Resources
Director - Mike Gooddie), which means that
following the departure of Sophie Castell earlier
this year, the executive team has been slimmed
down from nine to seven.
In a letter to staff Mr Parry said that in the
coming weeks “the respective directors will
lead the work to develop the roles and new
structures”, adding that CRT would “commence
consultation with the trade unions and other
relevant bodies concerning any changes as and
when appropriate”. When asked by Canal Boat,
the Trust could not confirm whether or not this
implied that there would be redundancies among
the 1600-strong CRT staff.CRT reshuffle at the top
BY the time this appears in print,
there will be just a couple of weeks
left to respond to the final stage of
the Canal & River Trust’s consultation
on its review of boat licensing – and
both the Trust and national waterways
organisations are calling on as many
boaters as possible to give their views
by the 18 December deadline.
As we went to press over 6,
responses, representing almost 20
percent of boat licence holders,
had already been received, which
the Trust’s Acting Head of Boating
Jon Horsfall described as “a great
response to the consultation”. But he
added that for those who hadn’t yet
contributed, “it’s important to let us
know what you think”.
As described in our news story
last month, the consultation asks for
various models for future licence fee
calculation to be ranked by preference- including options which would see
higher charges for wide beam boats,
or for those without home moorings.
The latter has led to criticism:
the National Bargee Travellers
Association said there was “no legal
justification” for this, and that it
would “drive some of our community
off the water and into homelessness”.
The National Association of Boat
Owners also criticised the inclusion
of this “divisive” option. NABO said
that in the earlier stages of the
consultation, intended to inform
this final stage, “There was a
majority view that there should just
be one licence charge (regardless
of whether a boater had a home
mooring or not)”, that this had again
been rejected at a special meeting
of CRT’s Navigation Advisory Group,
and that “it was agreed that licensing
cost should not be used to address
congestion but that this was the
function of enforcement.” Both of
these bodies urged their members to
respond to the consultation. As we
went to press the Inland Waterways
Association had yet to submit its
response, but it too urged everyone,
not just boat licence holders, to
respond.
CRT expects to be able to analyse
the responses in time to announce
the final decisions in the spring, but
will not be implementing any changes
before April 2019.Despite a delay caused by
the general election, the
parliamentary process to
introduce boat licences on the
Middle Level Navigations is
back on track.
Up to now the navigations
which provide the route
between the canal network
and the Great Ouse system
have been completely free to
navigate. As such, they have
avoided the Boat Safety Scheme
and insurance requirements
of the Canal & River Trust,
Environment Agency and
most other waterways. Toilets
emptying into the waterway are
still permitted, and the Middle
Level Commissioners have no
powers to remove sunken boats
or to charge for overstaying.All of these were set to be
brought into line with the EA
and CRT by the Middle Level
Bill – but it was lost when the
election was called. However
following a vote by MPs, it will
proceed in the new Parliament.
Some oppose the Bill: the
National Bargee Travellers
Association says the waterways
are “an option for boat dwellers
who cannot pay the licence
fees or keep to the terms and
conditions demanded by other
navigation authorities such as
CRT.” On the other hand, the
Inland Waterways Association
says it will enable the authority
to “run its navigations
effectively”, and that fees can
fund more boater facilities,
which are currently very sparse.Licence fee shakeup:
last chance to respond
Middle Level licences on the way
On the Middle Level at Benwick