The Floater May 2018

Stop asking us questions demands C&RT

May 2018 - From the beginning Canal & River Trust has claimed it wants to be open and honest with boaters and others. The Floater's Allan Richards has spent days trying to extract information through formal Freedom of Information requests that C&RT is now insisting are vexacious – even going as far as to claim that exposing the failures of its staff is somehow harrasment. Allan now reports on the hazardous occupation of reporting errors and omissions in C&RT’s Board papers.

May 2018 - EDITORIAL – THE VIEW FROM THE WATER. By Peter Underwood Editor of the Floater.

It is not difficult to understand why Canal & River Trust is rebranding, restructuring and attempting to persuade anyone who will listen that it has the answer to everyone's problems – if only they will stroll by a canal now and then.

It is even easy to sympathise with the position the Trust has got itself into. Many of the promises made by trustees and management when it was established five years ago have turned to dust.

May 2018 - A leaked letter from a junior Tory minister with reponsibility for waterways at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, reveals that she has set up a group to, 'find appropriate solutions that balance the needs of waterway users against those who chose to live on our inland waterways' Peter Underwood reports there is now widespread speculation that boaters' rights under the 1995 Waterways Act may be under attack by government.

May 2018 - Richard Parry has assembled the team he hopes will win him the gamble of changing the Canal & River Trust from a waterways charity, due to lose it's government cash in a few years, to a charity focused on something completely different – 'enriching the lives of millions of local people with waterways on their doorstep.' Peter Underwood looks at his attempts to get C&RT back on the Treasury gravy train.

May 2018 - The Canal & River Trust has been granted planning permission for 16 new residential moorings in Millwall Outer Dock, and they look to be targeted at those looking for a home rather than becoming a boater, as Peter Underwood reports.

C&RT itself describes the moorings in Millwall Outer Dock on the Isle of Dogs in East London as 'providing new homes for those seeking life on the water', and it seems the new moorings will be clearly pitched at the well-off, with prices likely to be at least £10,000 a berth.

May 2018 - The Information Commissioner has responded to a complaint that the Canal and River Trust breached section 77 of the Freedom of Information Act in the process of responding to an information request. Samantha Coward, Senior Case Officer states 'My decision can only be based on evidence and there is no evidence to confirm for definite that a plan or document was removed from the website during the time period alleged.

May 2018 - A canal restoration abandoned by British Waterways before it became Canal & River Trust has moved a significant step forward with a Heritage Lottery Fund development grant, reports Charles Alberts.

Cotswold Canals Trust and Stroud District Council picked up the baton after the old British Waterways dropped the restoration and it has become a £23.4 million project to connect Stroud and Stonehouse to the nation’s inland waterway network at Saul Junction.

May 2018 - The Government's approval of a new road has put plans for a new broad waterway, linking Bedford and Milton Keynes in serious jeopardy and the Trust promoting the route is asking boaters to lobby their MPs to persuade the Secretary of State for Transport not to blight the route, as Peter Underwood reports.

May 2018 - Developers have withdrawn plans to knock down the iconic music venue, The Flapper, in central Birmingham and replace it with a block of 66 flats up to 12 floors high – but it doesn't mean the pub is saved, or that Cambrian Wharf, on which it stands, will not still face dereliction and redevelopment, as Peter Underwood reports.

The Floater May 2018

Stop asking us questions demands C&RT

There is another way - and it's by boat

Liveaboard law changes feared as minister looks for 'solutions'

Meet the new C&RT regional directors

New residential moorings for London

C&RT blames junior member of staff twice more over fake document

Stroudwater Canal hopes raised by lottery grant

Transport Secretary Grayling puts new waterway at risk

Plans for The Flapper dropped – but pub still set to shut

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The Floater May 2018