Boaters' Update December 2009

Get into the Christmas spirit by
the water
The most magical time of the year is fast approaching, so avoid the urge to spend your Christmas watching re-runs of James Bond and see all the fun that's on offer at your local waterway. There are plenty of activities for the kids and Christmas gift ideas to inspire. Why not jump on board Santa's floating grotto or enjoy a Christmas lunch that’s been prepared by someone else for a change!

See what festive fun and events are in your area.

Check out your local waterside shopping centre for inspiration.

Government welcomes third sector debate for waterways
The UK Government has ended recent speculation about the sale of BW’s property endowment in England and Wales by announcing its preferred approach is to "consider alternative models for the business as a whole, such as mutual or third sector structures."

The new approach, contained in the Asset Portfolio which accompanies the Smarter Government White Paper, confirms and builds on the conclusions of a previous Treasury report in April 2009 which concluded there was no financial or economic case to sell off the property assets and a sale of the property endowment would not achieve best public value.

Find out about the UK Government’s preferred business model for the waterways

Read more about BW’s proposed new strategy to create a sustainable future for the waterways in the newly published ‘Setting a new course: Britain’s waterways in the third sector.' The report, produced by a team of third sector experts, looks in more detail at how a move from the public to the third sector might work for BW.

www.britishwaterways.co.uk/settinganewcourse

Have you signed the Downing Street petition yet?
Whilst the UK Government announcement is good news, the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) stress there is no room for complacency as there is still some uncertainty in the statement and a serious funding gap. The IWA encourage everyone to continue to publicise and support the Downing Street e-petition calling for the Government not to sell BW’s property endowment. At the time of publication almost 20,000 people had signed the petition and it was the eighth largest petition from more than 4,500 listed.

Sign the petition

BW’s Towpath Tidy 2010
Some dates for your 2010 diary! BW has announced that next year’s Towpath Tidy will be taking place from 1-14 March 2010. This year saw the most successful Towpath Tidy event ever as more than 1,700 volunteers joined 635 members of BW staff in clearing 149 tonnes of litter, painting bridges, locks, fences and graffiti covered walls, and cutting back vegetation.

Events took place in 110 locations across the UK and volunteers helped on 216 miles of towpath with the support of Campaign to Protect Rural England, Keep Britain Tidy’s The Big Tidy Up campaign and the leading inland waterways charity the IWA, as well as a number of canal societies and trusts.

www.waterscape.com/towpathtidy Watch this space for more information about what's happening in 2010 and how to volunteer.

Find out more about BW’s series of workshops taking place in January for volunteer groups to share ideas on how to maximise the benefits of volunteering on the waterways.

Find more information about volunteer workshops in January

IWA members plan historic ‘Cressy’ cruise
And another date for next year’s diary. You may already be familiar with the Rolt story and the background behind the formation of IWA in 1946. Tom and Angela Rolt left Banbury to cruise the inland waterways with their narrowboat Cressy. Tom’s book, Narrowboat, chronicled their experiences and its publication received so much acclaim that it led to the formation of the IWA.

2010 will be the centenary of the birth of Tom Rolt and to mark these celebrations, Ron and Mary Heritage from IWA Oxfordshire Branch will attempt to re-enact the iconic Cressy cruise. Their journey will begin when they leave Tooley’s Boatyard in Banbury at midday on 24 April 2010, in their narrowboat Heron.

Find further information and details about the cruise

Meet Raj, Lenny, Jade, Milly and their dog Dizzy
WOW - Wild Over Waterways has produced a new waterside safety booklet called Stay SAFE near water in partnership with BW, IWA and The Waterways Trust. The booklet is aimed at young waterside visitors aged between 7 - 11 years and features the adventures and mishaps of Raj, Lenny, Jade, Milly and their dog Dizzy as they learn how to enjoy the waterside environment safely.

If you would like a free booklet for younger family members email wow@britishwaterways.co.uk or visit www.wow4water.net.

The WOW website provides families, group leaders and teachers with all the information they need to organise safe and successful visits to the waterway locations. It has a wealth of interactive games for children, fun things to do, and information on local waterways, wildlife and heritage.

Order the new Stay SAFE near water booklet

Happy Christmas from the WOW Gang

New River Ouse boating guide
Continuing on the safe practice theme a new BW leaflet is available called River Ouse: Guidance Notes for a Safe Passage

The leaflet is advisory and intended to provide guidance for leisure vessels planning passage on the upper tidal reaches of the River Ouse north of Goole.

Download from waterscape.com

BW’s mooring consultations
A reminder that your comments are needed by 11 January 2010 on BW’s short consultation about setting up steering groups for local mooring strategies, and by 31 January 2010 for its major consultation on moorings policies.

Both can be downloaded from www.britishwaterways.co.uk/mooringconsultation09

BW licence fees from 1 January 2010
As reported in the November Boaters’ Update, VAT is increasing back to 17.5% from 1 January 2010. The revised BW licence fee tables from 1 January to 31 March 2010 are available to download here

Read more about BW licence fees from April 2010

Licence evasion reduced by a further 1.5%
BW’s annual National Boat Check took place over two weeks during November. The total number of unlicensed boats has fallen by a further 1.5% during 2009. Despite the harder times of the credit crunch, 94.7% of the 31,400 boats on BW’s canals and rivers are now fully paid up licence holders.

Adverse weather during November meant that some navigations, including the River Avon and River Ouse, were inaccessible to enforcement teams. However, in a year which has still seen 70 boats seized from their owners as the final outcome of enforcement action, evasion rates reduced from 6.8% to 5.3% (down from 10.4% in 2007).

Read more about BW’s 2009 National Boat Check results

Mooring auctions – Christmas notice
During December BW’s mooring vacancies are running for 28 days to avoid auctions ending over the Christmas period. This affects vacancies published between Monday 7 December 2009 and Friday 18 December 2009. The usual 14 day auctions resume from Monday 4 January 2010.

Should you have any queries about this please email mooring_vacancies.enquiries@britishwaterways.co.uk

To view over 30 vacancies currently running on the website please visit www.bwmooringvacancies.com.

Customer services - Christmas notice
The BW customer services team can be contacted on 0845 6715530 until 2.30pm on Christmas Eve. The office will re-open at 8am on Monday 4 January.

The emergency number (0800 47 999 47) will be operating as usual throughout the Christmas break and you can find out about emergency and unplanned stoppages by calling Canalphone on 01923 201 401.

Christmas Quiz
Over the holiday season why not test your knowledge of canals and general Christmas trivia with the waterscape.com Christmas Quiz?
Simply email your answers, including your name and full postal address to editor@waterscape.com by 5 January 2010 to be in with a chance of winning one of three waterscape goody bags!

Take part in the waterscape.com Christmas quiz

Register now for the Boaters' Update
Sign up for your free monthly boaters’ e-newsletter, the weekly waterscape newsletter or stoppage alerts by clicking on www.waterscape.com/signup

Last updated: 17/12/2009