Winter mooring prices rise
September 2018 - As Canal & River Trust makes it’s annual announcement of the location and costs of winter moorings it is clear prices are rising and locations are not always where boaters want them to be, as Charles Alberts reports.
The Trust has created a Premier League of winter moorings in London where the monthly price demanded for a 60ft boat would just about secure a full residential marina mooring elsewhere in the country, working out at £3,888, if translated into an annual cost.
Meanwhile boaters are already complaining on social media that there are no winter moorings in places they would like to spend the winter. Past experience has shown that C&RT creates winter moorings in the most inconvenient or inappropriate places and that those spots are subsequently ignored by boaters.
Matthew Symonds, boating strategy and engagement manager at the Trust, is careful not to suggest boasts should not cruise in winter but tries hard to encourage the use of winter mooringds. He said: "Cruising in winter can be a wonderful experience, with bright blue skies, frosty foliage, and the feeling, on many stretches, that you’ve got the waterways to yourself.
“However the weather can be harsh and, every year, many boaters decide that they want the security of staying in one place and choose to take a winter mooring, from the Trust or the many other mooring providers.
"Sites are spread across the country so boaters can have as wide a choice as possible, including sites near facilities, as well as more secluded spots for boaters who want a bit more peace and quiet."
C&RT’s winter moorings are to be available from 1 November 2018 to 16 March 2019. A list of the sites and prices can be found at canalrivertrust.org.uk/winter-moorings. All winter mooring permits will be charged at a ‘per metre, per month’ rate, and the most expensive come in at a massive £18 per metre for a bankside site without power or other facilities. Boaters will be able to book the spots in increments of one month, or 16 days in March 2019.
The winter moorings are divided into five price bands that, according to C&RT, reflect “each site’s relative attractiveness, for example location and facilities, and to ensure we stays in line with the pricing of both private mooring operators and its own long-term mooring sites”.
This year the Trust has decided the London and Kennet & Avon market is good for a price hike and has added an additional upper band (band 0) for five of the most popular sites – Kensal Green and Brentford in London, and Dundas West on the Kennet & Avon – that saw extremely high demand last year.
In addition 16 other sites have also moved up to a higher price band and the four other mooring price bands (bands 1 – 4) have had priuces hliked by three per cent.
In an attempt to increase revenue, both continuous cruisers and boaters with a home mooring will be able to take up a winter mooring but C&RT warns that: “... boaters who are not meeting their licence requirements may not be eligible”.
Bookings for winter moorings open at 6am on Wednesday 3 October and can be made through the Trust’s recently breached licensing site: https://licensing.canalrivertrust.org.uk/Account/Register.
Boaters will be able to look at sites on the online booking system from Monday 10 September.
Photo: Iced in at Apperley Bridge.