September 2017 - Once again the Inland Waterways Association is berating the Environment Agency in the East of England, this time over the sale of assets as Peter Underwood reports.

The organisation wrote to Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of EA, to ask him to withdraw the sale of three lengths of moorings in Ely ahead of the advertised closing date for sealed bids of 8th September. A plea that seems to have been ignored.

September 2017 - Rickmansworth's annual festival is a high spot every year for hundreds of boaters rumours have been rife that its famous boat Tug of War would not be happening in 2018 but Peter Underwood – himself a big fan of the event – has some reassuring news.

It was the announcement of the retirement of Adrian Bull and Chris Bennett as boat-roof commentators at the tug-of war event that triggered all sorts of suggestions that the tradition of pitting one historic boat against another at the Rickmansworth Festival would come to an end.

September 2017 - Has C&RT mislead us regarding the number of boaters who attended stage 2 licence consultation workshops? Allan Richards investigates and finds discrepancies in the figures given the Trust and Involve, the charity who ran the workshops. He also takes a look at the delayed Involve report and asks why there are no stage 3 proposals yet.

September 2017 - The Waterways Ombudsman, currently financed by Canal & River Trust, with two out of five committee members appointed by them, is now aiming to extend itself to other waterways despite boaters' doubts about independence, as Peter Underwood reports.

C&RT tries to maintain the idea that this committee is independent and the rules of the Committee require there to be a majority of independent members and for the Chair (who must be an independent member) to have a casting vote in the event of a deadlock.