canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat February 2018 11
NEWS
A PARTNERSHIP between Scottish Canals and three
hireboat operators based at the Falkirk Wheel,
announced in Spring 2017 as a way of avoiding the
disappearance of hire craft from the Lowland canals
when Capercaillie Cruisers announced its intention to
cease operation, has now been agreed.
Black Prince, ABC Boat Hire and Marine Cruises all
formerly ran their Scottish operations in partnership
with Capercaillie; so its decision to pull out (citing
increased charges) led to fears that they would
disappear too – depriving more than 4,000 holiday
boaters a year of a chance to cruise the Union and Forth
& Clyde canals. However the new deal has meant the
continued operation of 19 narrowboats – and saved
seven jobs.
Scottish Canals’ Katie Hughes said the deal would
“ensure the award-winning hire boat fleet on the
Lowland Canals continues to offer holidaymakers a
unique way to explore Scotland”, adding that SC was
looking into ways to build on the success of the
business, while ABC’s Haley Hadley said that the Falkirk
Wheel was “one of our most popular destinations”, on a
waterway which customers came from around the
world to enjoy.THE London Boat Show is due to open within a few
days of this issue of Canal Boat being published, on
10-14 January – and the organisers promise more for
inland boaters than for a few years, especially those
interested in holiday hire.
It isn’t exactly back to the glory days of the early
years at East London’s ExCeL, when a central feature
of the show was a display of narrowboats and cruisers
for sale – but following several years of almost no
inland waterways presence at all, there is a dedicated
feature based around a mock-up lock and a real pub,
the Lock Keeper’s Inn.
Aqueduct Marina, ABC Leisure Group, Fox
Narrowboats, France Afloat, Kris Cruisers, Napton
Narrowboats, Richardson’s Boating Holidays, and
Hobbs of Henley are all exhibiting as part of the display,
and the replica lock will feature two contrasting inland
craft, historic narrow beam tug Sandbach and a 38ft
Broads cruiser. Finally, the Inland Waterways
Association will be present, as they have been at every
London Boat Show.
For information and tickets see londonboatshow.com.Scottish hireboat deal agreed
CONTROVERSIAL plans to install
paid-for pontoon moorings in part of
what is currently the free temporary
mooring provision in London’s
Limehouse Basin have been agreed,
following negotiation between the
Canal & River Trust and its marinas
subsidiary BWML (which operates
the marina in the basin) – but local
waterways supporters are still
unhappy.
The Inland Waterways
Association’s London Region
objected on the grounds that:- The pontoons would restrict the
channel to the entrance lock from
the Thames, in an exposed area
where craft are liable to be blown off
course- The basin forms a safe refuge off the
tideway, so it is important not to lose
any space - The existing linear mooring allows
‘rafting up’, optimising space for
flotillas using the lock - A lack of short term space might lead
skippers to enter the tideway in
adverse conditions rather than
waiting
BWML responded to these points,
saying that that the proposed moorings
do not encroach on the navigation
channel; that craft would not be
refused access in an emergency; that
experience does not support the
contention that there are many large
flotillas; and that with two pontoons
being free of charge, the total length of
free mooring would remain the same.
BWML added that (following
discussions and some changes to the
plans) CRT has given its support, and a
planning application will follow shortly.
However a London IWA
representative said he felt that BWML
was “still trying to go too far” and
“putting extra revenue over boaters’
facility” – and that a better site for
BWML’s new moorings would be above
the first lock on the Regent’s Canal
instead.Limehouse mooring plans to go ahead
Inland feature for Boat Show
TOWPATH
TELEGRAPH
LANCS ADOPTION CANCELLED
The Canal & River Trust has confirmed that
it has cancelled the Adoption Agreement
between CRT and the Owd Lanky Boaters
Group on the Lancaster Canal, following
issues regarding aims and objectives and
the issuing of press releases. A CRT
spokesman told Canal Boat that the Trust
was ‘disappointed’ but felt that there had
not been a spirit of mutual understanding
between the group and the Trust.IRISH CANAL FATALITY
An employee of Waterways Ireland has
died in an accident on the Shannon-Erne
Waterway. Patrick Moffatt was examining
a lock near Leitrim village and failed to
return home after work. Emergency
services were called and his body was
found in the canal. He is understood to
have been wearing a lifejacket.AWARD FOR FOXTON
Foxton Locks in Leicestershire have won a
prize as the best free-to-enter attraction in
the county. The flight of ten locks on the
Grand Union Leicester Line was voted top
in the Leicestershire Promotions Tourism
and Hospitality Awards.OXFORD CANAL CORRECTIONS
Our thanks to Canal Boat readers for
pointing out a couple of corrections to our
Oxford Canal guides in the December and
January issues. The Napton Bridge Inn is
now closed; and the lighting in Newbold
Tunnel is no longer operational.BEDFORD-MK PLAN BOOSTED
The Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway
Trust’s proposal to build a new waterway in
the form of a ‘waterway park’ linking the
Grand Union to the Great Ouse have been
boosted by a recent planning report. The
plan for economic growth in the Oxford /
Cambridge / Milton Keynes corridor
stresses the importance of green space’,
and says “projects such as the established
Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Park
could offer such an opportunity to create a
green infrastructure asset”.Hireboat at Falkirk