The Floater February 2018

C&RT hunts money experts as Trustees

February 2018 - For the third time since Christmas, C&RT is advertising in the Sunday Times. Following its advert for Regional Advisory Board Chairs and Regional Directors, C&RT is now seeking to two new Trustees. Allan Richards reports.

With a closing date of 12 March 2018, C&RT is advertising for two Trustees. In the short term this will increase its number or Trustees from 10 to 12. According to the Sunday Times advert:

February 2018 - It takes a certain type of genius to block off access to the heart of the canal network from virtually every direction but Canal & River Trust appears to have done exactly that until it decrees the start of the 'boating season' in mid March. Peter Underwood has been checking it out.

Despite the fact that C&RT boasts Birmingham is the 'heart of Britains canal network on signs across the city, the vast majority of boaters are now unable to get in or out of the city – and that will the case until the middle of March.

February 2018 - It seems another council is seeking to drive boaters away as Fenland District Council, a small local authority proposes to use local bye-laws to fine any boater who stays more than 36 hours on moorings in March and Whittlesey, as Alec Wood reports.

Moorings on the River Nene are few and far between and local towns with mooring benefit considerably from the trade brought by boaters but it seems we are unwelcome if we want to stay more than a day and a half.

February 2018 - Boaters on the River Nene – now to be operated by the Environment Agency for the foreseeable future - are writing to the government department demanding a refund of their licence fees as charges go up and facilities shrink. Boater Anne Husar has recently returned to the waterway and was shocked at the decline.

Arriving back from Europe with our narrowboat last March, we were put back in the water at Wisbech and prepared to re-visit the Nene using our 8 year old Imray guide.

February 2018 - Whilst the Canal & River Trust spends millions trying to project a positive image and makes a fetish of the number of volunteers it recruits, the way it treats and attempts to control canal enthusiasts is a true measure of the institution and the sad saga of the way it has dealt with one 63-year-old boater and his thousands of supporters shows that it has a long way to go before it can be trusted, reports Peter Underwood

February 2018 - Letters to the editor are a time-honoured feature of local and national newspapers – a natural home for the disgruntled and those who want to draw attention to issues others may not have noticed.

If you have a 'Disgusted of Cheltenham' lurking within, then email the editor – editor@thefloater.org – and we will run a collection of your missives when there are enough of them or when we need to fill some space.

We will give priority to the controversial, the funny and the well-written.

February 2018 - In what can only be described as a surprise move, C&RT will replace its six remaining Waterways Managers with six Regional Directors, writes Allan Richards. Having advertised for Regional Advisory Board Chairs who will replace Waterway Partnership Chairs, the Trust now appears to have decided not to promote existing Waterways Managers to Regional Directors but to make new appointments, with all the additional costs of recruitment.

February 2018 - The Canal & River Trust has finally replied to a complaint regarding its handling of a Freedom of Information request - and denial is the name of the game. That has now led to a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner by The Floater's Allan Richards, who made the original Freedom of Information request. He explains what is happening.

February 2018 - Complaints by some that the smokeless fuel Excel was not as good as it once was, and seemed to burn cooler as well as producing much more ash, have resulted in the brand owners suggesting that boaters may be being mis-sold another product under the Excel name, as Charles Alberts reports.

When a London boater calling himself Peregrine Hamer Byrne on Facebook became so frustrated with the way Excel was burning on his boat he wrote to the manufacturer, Oxbow, asking if they had changed the product.

February 2018 - Canal & River Trust's decision to impose £150 'fines' on boaters using its long-term moorings when they are vacant – and handing enforcement over to a commercial car parking firm - is still causing anger and opostion amongst boaters, six months later, as Alec Wood reports.

Boater John Williamson complained on Facebook: “More incompetence by CRT. They have just put warning signs up on our moorings threatening an "overstaying charge" of £150 per day for boaters who do not have an agreement.”

February 2018 - On 17 October, C&RT wrote to Waterways Minister, Therese Coffey, setting out terms for transfer of Environment Agency Waterways. More than three months later, on 25 January 2018, a meeting of C&RT’s board of trustees were told that the bid had failed. Allan Richards asks if we are now at the end of the road, and all hope of C&RT getting the Environment Agency's navigations has dissappeared?

February 2018 - After finding it faced a united front of opposition from boating and canal organisations in Birmingham, Canal and River Trust may be about to make a U-turn on its plans to sell the freehold of the historic Blowers Green Pumphouse, as Peter Underwood reports.

C&RT's bid to sell the freehold was first spotted in early January when a tiny laminated notice- posted just as the Christmas break began - was seen near Blowers Green Pumphouse, in Dudley.

The Floater February 2018

C&RT hunts money experts as Trustees

Birmingham cut off by canal closures?

Another council wants to 'fine' boaters

Give us our money back Nene boaters tell EA

Boater-restorer tells C&RT to stick its grass cutting – 'we have a vision if you don't'

Want to get it off your chest? Tell us all about it

What will become of the Waterways Managers?

Complaint to Information Commissioner over fake document as C&RT blames junior member of staff

When is Excel really Excel?

Use of car park enforcers still angers boaters

Failed bid may be end of the road for EA waterways transfer

Blowers Green U-turn by C&RT?

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The Floater February 2018