London Boaters

Trouble on the cut at Corbridge Crescent

Photo of boater campaigners at Corbridge Crescent

Campaigners vow to block Gaswork moorings amidst ‘gentrification’ claims

Boater campaigners and the National Bargee Traveller Association London Branch have come together to ‘defend community space’ in the face of plans to develop and charge rent on a previously free mooring site on the Regents Canal in Tower Hamlets.

Photo for London mooring consultation article

The promised London Mooring Strategy consultation with London boaters and other canal ‘stake-holders’ appears to be spreading its tentacles with a ‘sounding board’ for invited boaters being launched by the Canal and River Trust on the 14th March at an evening session at The Pirate Castle in Camden.

In an invite email - seen by London Boater News - CRT say that the ‘London Mooring Strategy Sounding Board’ will be asked to “discuss the direction of the strategy and the strategic, headline proposals being considered.”

River Canal Rescue, a commercial marine breakdown service, has said the “explosion in live-boards” in London is putting “pressure” on its business.

In a press statement released this week, RCR managing director, Stephanie Horton, said that the number, standard and condition of boats in London is causing “frustration for our engineers.”

London Boaters is launching a news and information online platform to revive its website and to promote it as a community resource. The news service – called London Boater News – will be publishing news articles, comment and opinion on the recently revamped London Boaters website. A spokesperson for London Boater News said that the news service was intended to complement London Boaters Facebook group, as well as provide a service for non-Facebookers, and encouraged boaters to become involved.

About Renting a boat in London

If you are thinking of hiring or renting a boat privately, offering your boat for hire, or buying a boat to rent-out, The Canal and River Trust has recently published the following statement about privately renting boats:

Register to vote in the 2015 General Election

Have you registered to vote in the General Election on 7 May?

If you live on a boat, you must register by 20th April and before every election to be eligible to vote.

Live aboard boaters in Hackney can register to vote by declaring a local connection. The declaration of a local connection form can be requested by calling 020 8356 3232 or by collecting a form in person from Electoral Services at Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, London E8 1EA.

CRT "Places" Maps defy Law and Geography

National Bargee Travellers Association statement: Canal & River Trust "Places" Maps Defy Law and Geography.

Registering with a GP

Boaters sometimes have difficulty registering with a doctor because we can’t provide a home address in the surgery’s catchment area.

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Pages/NHSGPs.aspx

Generally, a surgery is only obligated to take you on if “you live within the catchment area and it is accepting new patients”.

This means that ultimately it is down to the discretion of the practice whether they agree register you as a permanent patient.

Boaters' Tips - Security

These are tips and ideas from boaters on safety and security on the water:

If you do have something stolen, set up Ebay and Gumtree alerts for them. Valuable items like bikes and generators sometimes come up for sale.

Try to take a picture of suspected burglers. Not only does this help identification, sometimes even just pretending to take a photograph can frighten them off.

Be secure, but don’t make a fortress you can’t escape from in a fire.

Don’t be daft (e.g. using your MacBook Pro with the curtains open, in Hackney, at midnight).

Operation Whistleblower

Boaters whistles are a community initiative to deter burglers and warn other boaters of an attempted break-in.

If you see someone acting suspiciously, for example looking through boat windows, or if you actually see a crime taking place, BLOW YOUR WHISTLE to alert your neighbours and CONTACT THE POLICE.

EMERGENCIES - Call 999 if the crime is taking place. If the crime has already happened and the perpetrators are gone, call Project Kraken on 101.

How to use your whistle:

Please don’t cry wolf! Don’t play with whistles or use them when no crime is happening.

Project Kraken

This is the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Unit. They have jurisdiction of the canals and rivers in London.

Email: project.kraken@met.police.uk

Telephone: 101

The police advise that we familiarise ourselves with the local area each time we moor somewhere new, so they can get to us quickly if a crime does take place.

Look for a street sign or memorable sight and calculate approximately how far you are from, it in which direction.

Angel Visitor Moorings Proposals

Some proposals arrived at by CaRT (largely Sorwar) and LB (largely me) in response to the fraught situation with local residents at Angel (largely Noel Road). Most of this has been raised in meetings and on the list, but the final documents are still open for comment - please email the list before October 4th and i'll put together any feedback for Sorwar.

Andrew

Whatever Happened to the Cowley and Uxbridge Community Boaters Group?

A document in several parts, including an account of the meeting on 24th April with Sally Ash &co, a 'brief introduction' that explains why CUB buckled under the pressure of enforcement, the 'provisional proposals for the roving permit' apparently drafted by CUB (with CaRT help?), the CaRT questionnaire for CC'ers on the GU, the 'place' map, and a document provided by the Waterways Chaplaincy discussing housing benefit generally, and in the context of the RMP.

London Boaters

for all boaters in London

Trouble on the cut at Corbridge Crescent

Some hands to the deck at the Pirate Castle for the London mooring consultation

Too much pressure? – River Canal Rescue wade into London boaters

London Boaters launches News service