Boaters' Update March 2010

You’re in good company
Britain’s historic canals are becoming ever more popular. As well as being home to over 30,000 boats, last year an astonishing 13.1 million adults (aged over 16 years) visited BW’s waterways – up 4.5 percent on 2008 and almost 15 percent on 2007.

BW’s research manager, Angela Groves said: “It’s great that people are getting out and about enjoying the waterways. Our canals and rivers provide wonderful health, social and leisure benefits to communities, as well as important environmental habitats. This growing trend in popularity beyond boating demonstrates the value the network provides from the grant it receives from government. The canal bank holds an enduring and growing appeal for visitors, from boaters to families on days out and commuters choosing a greener way to get to work.”

It’s good to talk
BW holds regular community meetings to discuss local waterway matters. The 2010 dates and times for all such meetings are published on the BW website at: www.britishwaterways.co.uk/listening-to-you/meetings/cal. These are open meetings where anyone interested is invited to attend. For further information or to attend please contact the local waterway office.

Work in progress - 2010/11 winter stoppage programme
With Easter almost upon us and the winter stoppage programme nearing completion, attention has turned to 2010/11 programme of major engineering works and improved means of consulting with boaters on the plans as they develop. Work is underway to change waterscape.com’s presentation of stoppage information, and from late April, this will include an option to interrogate winter 2010-11 plans as well as the usual information on current restrictions. There’s to be two separate phases for consultation - late April to end of May for version 1 and the first three weeks of July for version 2. After each of these periods, our local works planners and major works engineers will consider all feedback submitted via the website and make adjustments where it’s sensible and practical to do so. Plans will be presented in several formats including maps. The final programme will be published by the end of August.

BW’s head of boating, Sally Ash comments: “While maintenance closures are inevitable when caring for a 200-year-old working network, we want to improve our scheduling so as to minimise disruption to boaters as much as possible. By publishing draft schedules in good time, we hope boaters will be able to contribute, particularly to decisions on the timing of the different works. This kind of involvement is only practical by use of the internet, so we’re encouraging anyone interested but without a computer to find themselves an ‘internet buddy’. Printed copies of the material will be available on request from customer services, but I’m afraid we don’t have the resources to process comments submitted by post or telephone."

Bridging the gap
BW is asking speeding motorists to slow down when crossing the 200 year-old hump-back bridges that span the nation’s historic canal network. Each year, BW spends up to £2.5million fixing the damage caused by irresponsible drivers, diverting vital resources away from maintaining the 2,200 miles of canals and rivers in its care.

The majority of hump-back bridges were designed in the 18th and 19th centuries to carry horse-drawn carts over canals and are synonymous with the inland waterways. BW looks after 1,800 historic bridges and estimates that at least two are struck every week by modern vehicles, which are much faster and often larger than the traffic that engineers such as James Brindley originally designed them for.

BW’s head of heritage, Nigel Crowe explains: “Whenever you go over a hump-back bridge in Britain you are likely to be going over a canal. Often officially listed as being of special architectural or historical significance, these bridges have to be painstakingly repaired at considerable cost.

“We’re working with the County Surveyors’ Society and local authorities to improve signage and road markings, but frankly, if motorists just slowed down a bit and took more care and attention then we’d not be defacing our heritage in this way on a day-to-day basis.”

In practice, having hit the bridge, most drivers leave the scene without reporting the accident meaning that BW cannot recoup the cost of the damage from the driver’s insurance company. Nigel concludes: “Every inconsiderate driver who ‘hits and runs’ in this way is costing Britain’s valuable heritage dear.”

Read more about speeding motorists damage historic canal bridges

Boat checker update
Last month website users reported 19 sightings of unlicensed boats via the BW website. Of these 26% have subsequently relicensed and a further 53% were already in BW’s enforcement process. 5% resulted in new cases being opened for action, and the remaining 16% 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 online boat checker

To be continued - BW’s Explorer Licence online
The current consultation on boat licence fees closed at the end of February. It’s expected that analysis of feedback and final decisions will be taken by the end of April on the proposed changes to payment discounts and credit card surcharges. Following some valuable help from a volunteer who, along with several other Waterway Explorer customers, lodged a passionate defence of this flexible short term licence, the decision has already been taken not to withdraw it.

BW’s head of boating, Sally Ash comments: “Despite only low level take-up in previous years, we have managed to map out a method for integrating this odd little licence into our now streamlined enforcement system and I am pleased that we will be able to continue making the Explorer Licence available over the internet. This and other short term licences can be purchased at www.britishwaterways.co.uk/licensing, making it much easier for boaters on other navigations who want to make often spontaneous visits to BW waters.”

Moor of it
Both BW’s consultations about mooring policies and the development of local mooring strategies have now closed. A total of over 300 responses were received and BW thanks all who took the time to submit their views.

The consultations are now at the review stage and BW will use two methods to assess the responses. For the consultation on mooring policies which attracted some 200, often lengthy responses, volunteer assessors have been recruited to help summarise the feedback. The summaries will be discussed by a panel of representatives of national boating organisations along with some of the volunteers and BW’s moorings staff and on the basis of this, recommendations prepared for BW’s executive board, during April or May, depending on the complexity of the picture that emerges.

In the meantime, the simpler consultation about the process for creating local mooring strategies is being reviewed in house and an interim report on the subject will be published around Easter time.

’Moor’ on offer in Leeds
BW has announced a 10% reduction in price for both the leisure and residential berths within the development at Clarence Dock, just off the Aire & Calder Navigation in the centre of Leeds.

For more information about the type of berths and facilities available at Clarence Dock

The Clarence Dock mooring auctions with reduced guide price will start to go live on 18 March 2010. Further details and pricing can be found from www.bwmooringvacancies.co.uk or by calling the BW moorings manager on 07789 278956.

‘Take care with portable petrol engines’ says the Boat Safety Scheme
Boaters who use petrol generators and other petrol-engined power tools may need to raise their game to avoid the dangers of petrol vapour and exhaust fumes says the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS). The numbers of incidents on inland waters linked to petrol and petrol engines rose for the second year running from one in 2007 to nine in 2009.

The BSS team is worried that some boaters, and especially new entrants, may not appreciate the nature of petrol vapour and the bucket-like quality of a boat hull. They are keen for boaters to understand that if petrol spills, drips or leaks, it will vaporise and, like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the vapour will sink in still air and gather in the lower parts of the boat with potential for an explosion if there’s a spark or naked flame it reaches.

For more details about the dangers of petrol vapour

For the BSS leaflet, 'Avoiding Fire Afloat – Safe Use of Petrol’

Or see the BSS website: www.boatsafetyscheme.com

Waterways alive with the sound of music
To mark the centenary of the birth of waterway pioneer Tom Rolt, BW is teaming up with the IWA and The Waterways Trust to deliver a programme of music-led workshops for young people this summer.

BW’s chief executive, Robin Evans comments: "The publication of Tom Rolt’s book Narrow Boat together with his formation of the IWA was unquestionably the turning point for the salvation of the nation’s canals and rivers. Engaging the next generation in our waterways has to be a fitting legacy for such an influential man.”

Waterways Action Squad youth volunteers will organise a series of themed workshops in the run up to the IWA’s Tom Rolt Centenary Rally in Chester on 26 and 27 June 2010 – working with various groups of young people and professional musicians to write pieces of music inspired by Tom Rolt and the waterways.

The Waterways Action Squad is run by BW and The Waterways Trust, and is funded by v, (the national charity for youth volunteering) and the Bank of America. The project aims to encourage young people aged 16-25 to get involved in the care and promotion of canals and rivers in the North West.

Read more about Tom Rolt

To find out more about celebrating the life of Tom Rolt in music

Find more events to celebrate Tom Rolt's centenary

Make an exhibition of yourself at Crick Boat Show
Exhibition space for Crick Boat Show and Waterways Festival 2010 (29 – 31 May) is selling fast with just under three months to go to the event. Over 200 trade stands will be there with an anticipated crowd of 20,000 boating customers.

If you want to be part of the biggest waterway event in the calendar – selling, demonstrating or just good old fashioned entertaining then please contact Jim or Vicky at Richmond Event Management on 0871 700 0685 or email crickboatshow@rem-events.com. Exhibition space is priced to suit all budgets so book now to avoid disappointment.

For further information on the show visit www.crickboatshow.co.uk

Wishing on a star
And finally, employees within BW who go above and beyond the call of duty can now be nominated by colleagues or customers for a Special Thanks and Recognition (STAR) Award.

Recipients of the first awards include: a BW employee who rescued a boy from the canal after he had fallen through the ice; bank staff nominated by an elderly boater following the help they provided after the Caldon Canal breach; and a further nomination by a boater who said he “owes his life” to the quick-witted BW employee who pulled him out of the canal after he had slipped from his boat.

Anyone can nominate a BW employee for special recognition by getting in touch with their local waterway office www.britishwaterways.co.uk/contact-us or by emailing enquiries.hq@britishwaterways.co.uk.

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Last updated: 10/03/2010