Boaters' Update July 2007

• New Ministerial appointments

As part of the wide-ranging changes made to Government posts since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, the roles of Secretary of State for the Environment and the Waterways Minister have changed.

Hilary Benn is the new Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, replacing David Miliband. Mr Benn is MP for Leeds Central, which means he’s already familiar with BW’s work in regenerating Leeds waterside and maintaining the River Aire, the Aire & Calder Navigation and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Jonathan Shaw, MP for Chatham and Aylesford in Kent is the new Waterways Minister. His constituency doesn’t have a BW navigation in it but does include the EA’s River Medway.

BW look forward to working with both Mr Benn and Mr Shaw in the coming months, including making invitations to them to visit BW waterways and see for themselves the value placed on them by local communities up and down the country.

• The National Festival & Boat Show

The Inland Waterways Association’s (IWA) National Festival & Boat Show is just around the corner, taking place over the August Bank Holiday Weekend 25 – 27 August in St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Don’t delay, adult advance tickets are available from IWA Head Office at £7.50 when purchased before 1 August 2007, simply telephone 01923 711 114 ex28 for ticket details.

Despite the recent freight train incident, the message from the festival team is 'business as usual' and visiting boaters are receiving information about an alternative route to St Ives, using the New Bedford River.

More information about the IWA National Festival & Boat Show

• Tell us if something isn’t working!

BW can’t be everywhere at once, but all of you using the network cover a lot of ground. BW want to know if something isn’t working, that’s why it would like to draw your attention to the National Association of Boat Owners’ (NABO) website for reporting faults to BW (and other navigation authorities). You can also report faults by text message. When you report a fault an automatic email is sent to the relevant navigation authority to inform them of the problem.

More information about the NABO reports boards

• World Canals Conference a success

Over 170 delegates, guests and volunteers attended the 2007 World Canals Conference hosted by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) in Liverpool. The conference, located right on the waterfront adjacent to the Liver building allowed delegates to view progress on the new Liverpool link being constructed some 25 metres away from the conference venue; which is an integral part of the multi-billion pound waterfront regeneration of the city.

More information about the World Canals Conference

• Mooring tenders update

BW’s trial of allocating mooring vacancies by tender is on track with the first vacancies due to be available for tender by the end of August 2007.

At the launch BW forecasts that approximately 30 bankside vacancies from across its network will be available. The tender period for each vacancy will last for four weeks, giving people time to browse the vacancies, visit the sites and submit tenders. The moorings will be allocated to the people submitting the highest tenders. Over the course of the 12 month trial, BW anticipates that 400 vacancies will be allocated in this way.

By mid July, almost 1,400 people had registered online to take part in the trial and a further 200 had registered interest by post.

Anyone who has registered interest online will be emailed a week before the launch – detailing when the first vacancies will become available to browse and full details of the trial – including some simple 'how-to' steps for registering, searching, submitting tenders and receiving notification of suitable vacancies as they arise.

Those preferring the postal option will be required to complete a registration form, selecting their mooring preferences and pay a £10 administration fee. Those who have already lodged an interest will be contacted at the end of July and invited to register. Once registered, people will be sent a full tender pack one week before the launch of the trial (at the same time as the email is sent to online participants). They will then receive details of suitable vacancies in the post as they arise and can use the forms in the pack to submit a tender.

Boaters interested in a BW long term mooring vacancy can register their interest online by visiting www.waterscape.com/bwmooringtenders or can write (if they’re interested in the postal option) providing their name and address to: BW Mooring Tenders, British Waterways, Willow Grange, Church Road, Watford, WD17 4QA.

• Licence evasion update

BW patrol teams have been working hard to crack down on unlicensed boats. During May they recovered almost £56,000 of unpaid licence fee income. BW’s head of boating development, Sally Ash, comments: "Although enforcement action against the owners of unlicensed or illegally moored boats can take some time, those who consistently refuse to abide by BW’s licence terms and conditions are at risk of having their boat seized by BW. Those craft worth more than £1,000 are often sold allowing us to recover our costs or they are destroyed where they have little or no financial value." At the end of the month, Section 8 proceedings (which is the procedure BW needs to follow to eject evaders) were ongoing for 238 unlicensed boats.

• WaterWatch

The second wettest May for over 70 years was a huge contrast to the record breaking temperatures and lack of rain in April. This helped reservoirs to recover across all regions before a further dry spell at the start of June. Then came the floods. BW’s teams were at full stretch across some parts of the network dealing with the problems caused by the recent extreme rainfall. Many worked alongside the emergency services to help those people and communities in distress. Laurence Morgan, general manager for BW Yorkshire commented: "I think it’s true to say that we have not experienced rain as intense as this in a while and the water levels have been wreaking havoc."

More information about the July floods

To subscribe to the latest stoppages and restrictions via email, visit www.waterscape.com/stoppages

• The Falkirk Wheel to appear on the Scottish £50 note

Bank of Scotland is issuing a new series of banknotes in the autumn. The series - the first new complete set of notes issued by Bank of Scotland since 1995 - will feature the common theme of Scottish bridges, including the magnificent Falkirk Wheel. The new notes are designed by De La Rue and celebrate Scotland's major and most recognisable engineering achievements.

More information about the new banknotes

• South east team has moved

BW’s south east waterway unit is settling into its new office just round the corner from Milton Keynes train station. The new address is: 510 - 524 Elder House, Elder Gate, Central Milton Keynes MK9 1BW. All telephone numbers remain the same.

[www.britishwaterways.co.uk/contact/southern/south_east_office.html Full contact details]

• Register now for the Boaters' Update

To sign up for your free monthly e-newsletter, simply email your title, first name, surname and postcode to boatersupdate@britishwaterways.co.uk

Last updated: 22/10/2008