July 2017 - Boater Paul Morris, who describes himself as Captain of LifeAfloat and gives his address as Coventry Canal, West Midlands, has launched a website designed to facilitate and encourage the rental of liveaboard boats and even buying boats to let them out, as Peter Underwood reports.

His new website has been launched hard on the heels of a Canal & River Trust crackdown on boat rentals and the introduction of a new static boat rental licence, as well as the promise to remove licences from boats rented out without the new licence.

July 2017 - Last year and this has seen the Environment Agency attempting to crack down on overstaying boats using public mooring sites on the Thames and the National Bargee Travellers' Association is attempting to work out what's happening, as Alec Wood reports.

The Thames is a hotch-potch of private, council and Environment Agency (EA) moorings that means boaters rarely know whether they will be charged for a night's mooring but in the last two years both local authorities and the EA have been trying get rid of liveaboard boaters in certain areas.

July 2017 - The minutes of a meeting about facilties for boaters in London, between a National Bargee Travellers delegation led by Marcus Trower and a group led by Matthew Symonds, C&RT's boating strategy and engagement manager have finally emerged three months later, as Peter Underwood reports.

Marcus Trower and the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) in London have long been arguing that the Trust needed to keep existing water points, elsan disposals and rubbish bins in better order and invest in more.

July 2017 - Having previously offered to put our Allan Richards in contact with a member of a working group set up to look at the results of the 2016 Boat Owners’ Survey, Canal & River Trust now says it is unable to provide that persons name.

In fact, as Allan reports, the Trust is now unable to provide names of any members of the group. The U-turn follows a further information request.