Boaters' Update May 2007

• Crick Boat Show Offer

The UK’s premier inland waterways event is just around the corner and promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

Crick Boat Show takes place over the May Bank Holiday Weekend, 26-28 May, alongside the Grand Union Canal at Crick Marina in Northamptonshire (just off M1, junction 18, see map)

The show offers something for everyone: new and historic boats, strolling performers, real ales, great food and live entertainment. There’ll be over 260 exhibits displaying boating equipment, arts and crafts, clothing and collectables. Plus helpful seminars on maintenance and boat safety.

Boaters’ Update readers can claim a FREE Show Guide, with every online or telephone booking. Just use the code CBS 6 when ordering tickets via www.crickboatshow.com or when calling the box office T 0870 060 3791.

More about Crick Boat Show

• Mooring Tender –twelve month trial

Starting Summer 2007 British Waterways will trial what it believes to be a more open, transparent and efficient way of establishing long term mooring prices. Mooring customers themselves will directly influence the value of BW’s long term moorings by tendering for those that become available.

Customers will be able to submit tenders free of charge through Waterscape.com and, following feedback from boating interest groups on BW’s initial proposals, there will also be a trial postal tender option running simultaneously. A small charge (approximately £10 - £15 for 12 months) will be levied to cover the additional postage and administration costs of the postal option compared to the online option.

Typically around 600 BW long term moorings become vacant in a year and are intended to be allocated in this way.

Read full story

• Wildlife survey launched

BW launched its fourth annual wildlife survey and is calling on you to help identify what wildlife lives on its historic canal network. This year’s focus is on one of the most colourful birds in the UK, the kingfisher, frequently seen as a blur of electric blue as it darts between tree boughs and reeds in its tireless search for food.

BW says that this popular survey is important because it helps record the health of the nation’s waterway wildlife. Dr Mark Robinson, national ecology manager at BW comments: “Boaters’ eyes and ears are so important in helping us manage the precious wildlife that lives in our canals, rivers, hedgerows and trees.”

And remember to keep your camera close to hand, if you’re lucky enough to catch the flash of a kingfisher on camera, why not enter BW’s photographic competition to win £100. Simply submit your image during this year’s wildlife survey on or before 30 September 2007. The winning entry, along with a selection of runners-up entries, will be published on the website.

See what you can spot on your next trip and submit your results online at www.waterscape.com/wildlife.

Please be careful: kingfishers are a protected species and must not be disturbed on or around active nests. Please take care not to go too close to a nest as this may cause parents to abandon eggs or chicks.

More about the wildlife survey

• Tidier towpaths

‘Towpath Tidy’, the annual waterways spring clean, was another success this year. BW wants to thank the 585 volunteers who joined forces with BW staff this spring to clear 152 tonnes of rubbish, equivalent to the weight of around 21 adult elephants – ahead of the start of the boating season. Groups covered around 180 miles of towpath clearing the usual array of crisp packets, drink cans and plastic bags along with a staggering 123 shopping trolleys.

Look out for details on how to volunteer for next year’s Towpath Tidy in future editions of the Boaters’ Update.

More about Towpath Tidy

• Moor of it

BW issued a paper explaining its aims to reduce online moorings over the coming years. It follows last year’s package of measures to encourage new investment in offline moorings, including the Inland Marina Investment Guide, and the establishment of the New Marinas Unit. The policy briefing includes a commitment to remove one online mooring berth for every ten new offline berths created, and explains the criteria that BW will use to select sites for closure in order to meet this commitment. It also puts a freeze on the creation of new online moorings, subject to specified exceptions.

More about BW mooring policy

• Service prepayment cards

The price of BW’s pump out is being reduced from £12.10 to £10 from Monday 18 June.

The move follows strong representations from boaters over a price increase which came into affect last November. Head of boats and boating, Sally Ash explains: "November’s price rise was triggered by the increase in the price of BW’s electricity contract. The assessment at the time showed that the old price of £6.30 was potentially anti-competitive, since private operators find it difficult to offer a commercial service for less than £15. However, since then BW has weighed up the arguments and accepted that because its pump out service is self operated and not always as reliable as it should be, the price should be dropped to £10."

The lower price will be introduced by reducing the number of credit units required by pump out machine card readers. The new 25 unit cards costing £10 will be available from 18 June and will be usable for both pump out and electricity supply.

BW’s current pump out card containing 30 units will be withdrawn from sale, but will still be usable for a pump out or in BW electricity bollards. Cards with five units of credit left after one pump out can be used for drawing power from BW’s electricity bollards, but they will not work in pump out machines. Until 31 October 2007, BW sales outlets will allow credit against part-used 30 unit pump out cards by taking them back in part exchange for a new 25 unit card – i.e. if there are five units left on the card, credit of £2 will be given.

Read more

• Licence evasion update

During the first three months of 2007, BW’s patrol teams collected over £270,000 of overdue licence fee income. Twenty-six boats were removed from their waterways following Section 8 proceedings. And at the end of March Section 8 proceedings were underway on a further 226 boats.

Two quite unusual boats were seized including a motor fishing vessel from the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal and a schooner from Gloucester Docks. Patrol staff don’t know until the day of removal what they are going to encounter on board the boat being seized. The schooner had an array of hazardous items found included gas bottles, fuel cans, unknown liquids and flares. The local Fire Brigade Station kindly took the two containers of flares with a local contractor disposing of the other items.

• Business is buoyant down at the water’s edge

Independent market research amongst consumer facing businesses on BW’s canals and rivers shows that commerce is alive and well at the water’s edge. The results of the research mirrors the general resurgence of the nation’s historic waterways with businesses optimistic about the future and affirming the waterways as an important contributor to local, rural and urban economies.

Over 800 waterside businesses took part in the survey, ranging from hire boat companies and boat yards to pubs, cafes and visitor attractions. 2006 was a good year with four out of every five businesses surveyed saying trade was either stable or improved on two years prior and one in two forecasting busier trade for the year ahead.

More about commerce on the canals

• BW’s Customer Service Centre

BW’s Customer Service Centre’s telephone opening hours will be 8am-6pm Monday-Friday and 9am-1pm Saturday from 4 June 2007.

Jenny McMellon, customer service team leader, explains: "Our telephone stats over the past two years show us that we are receiving on average only two or three calls an evening, after 6pm. It also confirmed that the majority of our calls come in between 9.30am and 11.30am. This switch in opening hours will enable us to have more people on the phones in the mornings, when most of our customers call us."

BW’s Customer Service Centre T 01923 201120
E enquiries.hq@britishwaterways.co.uk

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