Boaters' Update June 2010

Tom Rolt Centenary Rally
This year marks the centenary of the birth of Tom Rolt, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) and author of the hugely influential book Narrow Boat. To commemorate this, the IWA’s Tom Rolt Centenary Rally is to be held in Chester, the city of his birth, on 26 - 27 June 2010. Over 70 boats have already confirmed their attendance, including several historic craft. The event will feature a vintage car display, angling taster sessions and Wild Over Waterways children’s activities.

The showpiece will comprise a series of Tom Rolt inspired musical workshops and performances led by Waterways Action Squad youth volunteers. The group was formed in 2009 to engage young people in the future care and management of our waterways. Learn more about the life of Tom Rolt at www.ltcrolt.org.uk.

For more information about the IWA’s Tom Rolt Centenary Rally, visit www.waterways.org.uk/events.

Canals highlighted in Demos report
Disused urban railways and underused canals are in the spotlight as the think tank Demos calls for an urban 'Right to Roam' similar to that introduced to the countryside 10 years ago. Demos would like to see this extended to towns and cities in order to regenerate run-down and recession hit areas.

It believes that guaranteeing the public access is the first step to opening sites up to creative re-use and has released a publication called Resilient Places, which argues that heritage infrastructure can play an important part in addressing the challenges of today.

The publication calls for "old, disused infrastructure to become heritage that is characterful and meaningful to people" and uses a number of waterways examples to illustrate what is possible. Demos believes support should be given to communities to help them use such sites for leisure and events like festivals.

BW supports the report, which very much reinforces proposals for moving the waterways into a charity with greater public involvement. Chief executive, Robin Evans commented: "Forty years ago we tore down the fences that prevented local people from using and enjoying their waterways. The results have been astonishing. Communities across Britain now use their canals, rivers and towpaths in ways that their original builders could never have foreseen."

Read more about the Resilient Places report from Demos

BW and the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust pilot third sector
As part of plans to establish a 'national trust' for the nation’s canals and rivers, BW and the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust (KACT) are piloting an innovative approach to managing the 200-year old Kennet & Avon Canal. The initiative aims to give the people who use and enjoy the waterway and the communities that live alongside it a much greater say in how the canal is managed.

Following discussions with representatives from the IWA and the KACT, a new Waterways Partnership Board will be set up for the canal. Members will be drawn from the highest level of the five local authorities and other key stakeholders who came together and led on the canal’s restoration.

Commenting on the pilot David Rees, chair of the KACT, said: "If we are to ensure and safeguard the future of the Kennet & Avon Canal, and create a model for other waterways, it is essential that decision-making and engagement comes closer to the people and organisations which it serves and is more integrated into local communities. A key feature will be the drive to attract more volunteers to the canal. We can achieve this by offering new opportunities and demonstrating that it's worth getting involved because there is a real chance to make a difference."

Read more about the Kennet & Avon Waterways Partnership Board

Changes to BW’s boat licence fees 2010
In November 2009 BW published a short consultation paper on proposals for changes to boat licence fees for 2010. There were 57 responses to the invitation for feedback, including 14 from organisations representing boat licence holders. Based on this feedback, decisions have now been made on changes to BW’s boat licence fees and the payment process:

• From August 2010 an across-the-board increase in all licence fees of 1% will take effect. This change replaces the proposal to reduce the size of the prompt payment discount which was decided to be unfair to those customers who pay on time. The prompt payment discount will therefore remain at 10%. See revised BW long term boat licence fees from August 2010

• To encourage boating customers to pay by debit card or direct debit payments, which carry much lower transaction fees, from August 2010 a fixed charge of £7.50 will be introduced on payments for BW’s licences and mooring permits settled by credit card. The charge will only apply to payments by credit card, not debit cards.

• From 2011, BW’s Waterway Explorer Licence will be available only when purchased using the online system or by telephone to its national customer service team on 01923 201120. This decision replaces the proposal to withdraw the Explorer Licence altogether but ensures that BW’s enforcement process remains cost-effective.

• BW will continue to develop significant cost savings from use of the internet for transactions with customers and publishing information. See www.britishwaterways.co.uk/license-it. Money saved in this way means more for maintenance and repairs to the waterways. However, BW will continue to maintain alternative methods for people for whom the internet remains inconvenient or unavailable. BW is now consulting with boat clubs and local licensing agents over a new method of reward for their continuing support of BW’s licence enforcement, in an environment where renewals are conducted online.

BW’s head of boating, Sally Ash, says: "These decisions have been made after careful consideration of consultation feedback from our boating customers and their representative organisations. We regret the need to apply a small general increase to licence fees, but are now confident that this is what the great majority of customers would prefer to the alternative contained within our original proposals.

"When the financial climate was more stable, BW was able to offer longer term certainty over the level of licence fees. It is our sincere hope that more secure funding for the waterways will emerge from the proposed move to the third sector, helping us in time to return to more predictable licence prices."

Boat checker update
During May, website users reported 116 sightings of unlicensed boats via the BW website. Of these, 11% have subsequently relicensed and a further 55% were already in BW’s enforcement process. 15% resulted in new cases being opened for action, and the remaining 19% were boats which were not identifiable through a valid boat index number but the details have been passed to BW’s enforcement teams for further investigation.

Visit the online boat checker

Waterway crime stoppers
Thankfully, crime hot spots on BW’s 2,200 miles of waterways are relatively rare, but where they exist, they can make lives of boat owners and towpath users very unpleasant. There is no national waterways security service, so we’re all dependent on support from local police forces. Crime mapping is an important tool used to help with police planning, so to ensure that waterway crime hotspots are well understood by local police, BW collates its visitor incident report data and shares this with local forces when significant concentrations of crime reports occur.

As well as being downloadable from the BW website at www.britishwaterways.co.uk/visitor-incidents, visitor incident report forms are available from waterway offices and many boatyards around the country. And now, since June 2010, two further methods of reporting have been added by telephoning or texting 01908 302502, witnesses to crime incidents can log key information to support future crime prevention strategies.

BW is asking boaters to store this number in their mobile phone contacts as 'waterway crime stoppers' and use it for either text or telephone messages detailing the time, date, place and nature of criminal incidents witnessed. Please note that this is not a response service – for assistance at the scene, always telephone the police. Its purpose is to build up a database of incidents for analysis and sharing with local police services.

It is not to be used for reporting unlicensed boats: for this, please use our online boat checker at www.britishwaterways.co.uk/boatcheck

Update on winter stoppages consultation
The first phase of consultation is now closed. BW’s works planners and waterway engineers are busy working through the feedback on version one of the plans and aim to publish version two at the end of June. The comment facility on www.waterscape.com/proposed-stoppage will then be re-opened for feedback on the revised programme up until 19 July 2010 with publication of the final plan scheduled for mid August 2010.

Water resource investigations
BW has to manage water supplies very carefully to ensure the reliability of the system during the busy summer months. An essential part of this work is the gathering of accurate data at key locations and BW will be carrying out planned 'site trials' at key locations over the summer and into the autumn to do just this.

You may well see these measurements taking place at various points on the canal network and BW has tried to minimise the affect this will have on boating by restricting navigation as little as possible.

Most investigations have been planned for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and/or Thursdays to avoid impacting boating either side of the weekend. Work has been scheduled to start early in the morning (often from 6am) but, to work efficiently, several sites must be measured in one day. Consequently, although most sites will be finished by 11am, some restrictions may be needed until 1pm. In other situations, stoppages will be overnight, using automatic monitoring equipment (so you may not see anyone actually working through the night) but key lock flights need to be closed to improve the accuracy of the trials.

Also during the morning you may not see anyone working at a particular lock which is closed for one of these trials, please understand that each time a lock is filled and/or emptied it creates a 'surge wave' of water that moves back and forth along the whole canal pound, even if it is many miles in length. This wave affects the accuracy of flow measurements being taken elsewhere on that canal pound.

Whilst BW understand that these investigations are likely to cause inconvenience, it hopes you will appreciate the longer term aim for the canal system to be more reliable. BW’s technical staff doing the site trials will be happy to explain more about their work if you meet them.

Find more background information about BW’s water resource investigations

For more details on planned water resource investigations see www.waterscape.com/stoppages

Make sure you sign up to receive stoppage alerts from Waterscape to ensure you can plan your cruise with minimal disruption.

'Keep a close eye on your bullseyes' warns the Boat Safety Scheme
Whilst you enjoy the summer sun, boats with domed-decklights, better known as bullseyes, could be at risk from fires breaking out in strong sunlight warns the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS).

Each year there are a handful fires or close escapes where sunlight, focussed and intensified by the domed-decklights, scorches fixtures or objects lying in the focal path of the lens.

Fixtures around bullseyes will now be checked as part of the BSS examination. Any signs of overheating, scorching or charring to the material around a bullseye and the boat will not pass the examination.

Boaters are urged to check any surfaces around their bullseyes for signs of overheating or damage and to keep any loose objects at least 300mm away from bullseyes.

There is more information with photographs to illustrate the risks at www.boatsafetyscheme.com/fire

Leeds Waterfront Festival
Plans for this year’s Leeds Waterfront Festival are taking shape, with the event expected to be bigger and better than ever before. The event takes place along the Aire & Calder Navigation and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal on 17 - 18 July 2010 and will feature craft markets, live music, fun water activities, decorated canal boats, Radio Aire and much more.

There is still room available for moorings, although bookings must be made in advance as boats will need to be assigned a suitable space. For more information on moorings contact Simon Henry on 0113 281 6822 / 07789 178506 or simon.henry@britishwaterways.co.uk

Read about the Leeds Waterfront Festival

New look for Waterscape.com
You will by now have noticed a new look for waterscape.com. Natalie Bhogal, web content editor, says, "The new design was relatively easy to implement. It brings the site in line with the look and feel of the nationwide campaign to encourage more people to use canals and rivers as part of their everyday life. This means that the huge number of people seeing posters, leaflets and even our vans will see a seamless look when they go onto the website."

Read Natalie’s blog

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Last updated: 21/06/2010