Press Briefing at CRT Hatton Offices 5th November 2014

[Theo]

NOTES OF PRESS BRIEFING AT CRT HATTON OFFICES 5^TH NOV 2014

Led by Richard Parry

Boat licence fees are to be pegged to inflation at 1.6% for 2015 and will increase by no more than inflation in 2016. This is in line with the commitment given by the Trust in 2012 to limit boat licence fee increases, for three years from 2014, to inflation only.

A welfare officer has been appointed and his name will published shortly.

Winter mooring permits are up by 35%

CRT is going to re-think the boaters meetings as the ones in Milton Keynes and Birmingham had become a platform for those with strong opinions.

CRT is to have a National approach to its asset management.

This year £10M has been spent on major works on the network including the Refurbishment of The Weaver Bridge.

£45M is due to be spent in the rest of this financial year including:
Llangollen, Chirk and Whitehouse Tunnels.
Castleford Cut Bridge on The Aire and Calder.
Eastwood Bridge, Rotherham.
Coseley Cutting.
Dog Head Weir on the K & A.

CRT Open days include a behind the scenes look at Ellesmere Port Boat Museum on the 24th January, as well as lock visits

Dates: 8th November Napton Lock, south Oxford Canal South East
16th November Thorne's Lock, Calder & Hebble Navigation North East
22nd/ 23rd November Regents Canal draining, Mile End London
23rd November West Stockwith, River Trent East Midlands
30th November Marple Aqueduct / Lock 2,Peak Forest Canal Manchester & Pennines
13th/ 14th December City Road Lock, Regent's Canal London
17th/ 18th January Lime Kiln Lock, Grand Union Canal, Leicester Central Shires

CRT is to issue smart" Phones to 659 more staff. This will help with time sheets, fault reporting, easier contact for offices to staff and vice versa, stores ordering etc.

HS2
Fradley junction route alignment change accepted by HS2
Fantastic success from joint working with IWA / local groups
Assurances also given to Lichfield Canal Society

CRT has a good relationship with HS2 planners who are now listening.

For the next three years, 14 heritage skills trainees will be recruited each year on a 12 month programme leading to an NVQ level two in Heritage Waterways Management. They will work alongside the Canal & River Trusts staff across the country on essential maintenance work such as lock replacements and bridge repairs. Their training is part of a £811,000 Waterway Heritage Skills project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund Skills for the Future programme (£607,000), the Radcliffe Trust (£9,000), the Norton Foundation (£2,000) and the Canal & River Trust.

CRT now has upwards of 8,000 friends.

Two new (unpaid) Trustees have been appointed, Allan Leiton and Ben Gordon.

CRT is to instigate a long term programme to sort out London Boating moving four odd miles here and there is not acceptable.

In future boat licences will only be renewed if boaters are able to satisfy CRT that they are partaking in bona Fide navigation. A warning will be issued prior to any non renewal of boats seen not to be moving sufficiently. This is for boats that are flagged up on existing recording principles.(CRT boat recording scheme is in the course of revision).

Mooring places map project is on the back burner at the moment work in progress.

This is the third worst year for boat hang ups in locks in 10 years of recording, 2007 being the worst at 15. There were 12 in 2013, with 10 so far this year. The accounting year for this is a calendar year.


Next meeting is scheduled to be February 14th or 15th to coincide with the Hatton Lock No 34 open day. Date may change however.


I was asked by Richard Parry to put these notes on CWDF. He would also like more people from the forum to attend and have their say.

I personally will not get into any discussion on the content of the above notes. I do not want the thread to degenerate into a slanging match or become an anti CRT platform. I am only a volunteer messenger so dont shoot, please. If any further information is required please get in touch with CRT.

I will only be open to questions on the format and location of these meetings.

Thank you.

Ray T

Note from moderator: This is in the nature of an informative notice rather than an invitation for discussion. I have posted it at Ray's request and locked it at the same time. There is, of course, nothing to stop you discussing it in a new topic.


Nick (AKA Theo)

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Discussion topic is here ;
http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=71485

Daniel aka dhutch

[DHutch]

In addtion, please see the below from Fran Read or CRT.

 

 

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Thank you so much to Ray for putting up his notes from the briefing. Theres just one point (which I see has already been pulled up by a couple of posters [in the discussion thread]), about boat licence renewals that Id like to clarify.

 

This point only refers to new boat licence holders without a home mooring. All new boat licence holders are contacted at the start of their licence with clear information about this. We issued a press release on this last January and Ive pasted the related text below.

 

The Canal & River Trust is reminding people taking up a new liveaboard lifestyle on its canals, but without a home mooring, to think carefully about the demands of living afloat through a seriesof awareness-raising measures.

 

In some popular areas, this style of living is on the increase and the Trust is concerned that the newcomers may not be aware of or fully understand the requirement for bona fide navigation and may believe it is sufficient simply to move around within a small area. Some therefore get a shock when they find that they are in breach of the rules, while the Trust is forced to embark on a time-consuming and costly enforcement process.

 

The Trust is working to raise awareness of these constraints amongst home-seekers and boat sales advertisers. It is also aiming to provide clearer information to the floating community so, from January 2014, will be contacting everyone newly registering as a continuous cruiser to ensure they fully understand the requirements. After three months, if there is concern about a boats limited movement, the charity will send a reminder and invitation to contact the local enforcement officer to discuss the cruising pattern. Ultimately if they cant meet the movement requirements they will need to get a home mooring before their licence can be renewed.

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/spreading-the-word-about-the-demands-of-living-afloat

 

Fran