The Floater July 2018

As one breach opens…

July 2018 - Canal & River Trust has some good news for northern boaters with the announcement that the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Melling should be reopened by mid August, clearing the route into Liverpool after nearly two months of closure, Peter Underwood reports.

After weeks of preparation, work has begun to repair a collapsed culvert beneath the Leeds & Liverpool which, drained a long section of the canal in the middle of June.

July 2018 - Boaters on the The Thames, the Medway and the East Anglian Rivers are facing massive increases from the Environment Agency as it strives to get boat owners to pay more as the Treasury starves it of cash for navigations, as Peter Underwood reports.

July 2018 - When C&RT demanded The Floater stopped asking it difficult questions back in May it is fair to say we didn’t exactly do as the charity demanded. Allan Richards gives an update on the struggle to get the Trust to honour its legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

July 2018 - Just at the time when C&RT’s whole future is balanced on it being able to show it improves the well-being of more and more non-boating canal visitors there is a distinct downward trend in numbers visiting the system, as Allan Richards has discovered.

July 2018 - The Canal & River Trust is celebrating what it describes as “some of the fantastic work carried out by its staff and volunteers over the past year” with the presentation of its annual Waterways Alive Awards at the Anderton Boat Lift, as Peter Underwood reports.

Chief Executive Richard Parry announced the winners the award for Best Operations or Works went to what the Trust describes as “the £2.5m Marple Makeover which saw major repairs to an entire heritage lock flight and aqueduct.”

July 2018 - The National Bargee Travellers Association has become the first boaters organisation to come out and condemns Canal & River Trust’s London Mooring Strategy – disputing claims it will make it easier to moor in London and condemning it for ‘social cleansing’, as Alec Wood reports.

The National Bargee Travellers Association’s London branch says the strategy will make it harder to moor in London and Greater London, making many people’s lives impractical or impossible.

July 2018 - The Canal & River Trust’s annual survey of a third of its boating customers always gives the charity’s public relations team a bit of a problem digging out something positive and this year they have had to resort to as claim that boaters say mental and physical well-being were both the biggest motivation for, and benefit of, boating. A useful echo of the Trusts switch of focus from navigation to general ‘well-being’ - even though there is nothing in the press release to justify the claim. Peter Underwood and Allan Richards have been taking a closer look.

July 2018 - Perhaps boaters, especially experienced, full-time, boaters, are slightly paranoid about attempts to bind them with ever more restrictions – but it does sometimes feel Canal & River Trust is drawing the net of rules ever more tightly. Peter Underwood muses about creeping restrictions on life afloat.

The Floater July 2018

As one breach opens…

Environment Agency seeks inflation-busting licence increase

Partial C&RT climb-down on vexatious claim?

NUMBERS OF VISITORS ARE NOW FALLING

As canals close down C&RT celebrate ‘fantastic work’

NBTA FIRST TO CONDEMN LONDON MOORING STRATEGY

BOATERS’ SURVEY – THE REAL NUMBERS

A question of control?

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The Floater July 2018