Hastings

If Richard and WW can plug their maps, can we plug our website www.canalbookshop.co.uk, where you will find a very wide selection of canal maps and guides, including harder to find ones such as First Mate (not a canal guide as such, more a facilities guide), and Richlow (Lincolnshire and the north east Midlands/Yorkshire. We also have loads of canal books, probably the widest selection anywhere. Most are also available to callers at our shop, Audlem Mill on the Shroppie.

I understand that the house has now been emptied, more or less, and presumably will revert to BW to do what they will with.

Best of luck with selling your painted ware. Just a word of caution from a large canalside retailer ... there's not a very high demand for painted ware at the best of times, and we don't sell a great deal. You won't make a fortune, but you will certainly enjoy doing it. If you feel you are good enough, consider joining the Waterways Craft Guild, as that cachet certainly helps to sell pieces. Best wishes

Many of the recent posts are getting away from what this thread was about - paying your way. In this society, everyone has a duty to pay for all services, whether or not they use them. This is done through income tax, VAT, Council Tax etc. Whether you can afford to pay is completely irrelevant. If you can't afford it, you will be entitled to relevant concessions and/or state benefits, which will cover some or all of them. Boaters have to pay a licence fee, and (unless they move around all the time) must have a home mooring, which they pay for (unless they have a good friend). You can't legally opt out of these costs, and why should you? If you do, it's unfair on the majority (of everyone, not just boaters) who contribute to the British economy. They may not want to contribute, but democracy is like that. The majority determine the rules that apply to all of us. Back to boating - I have no problem with people who don't pay a mooring fee. All I ask is simple - they move round the canal system, or much of it, every few days. Moving up and down a short stretch of canal is bucking the system, and is patently unaccepatable. To quote the meerkat - simples!

I agree that for purposes of using state/community facilities such as police, health, rubbish disposal, etc., there is no real distinction between resident boaters who genuinely continuously cruise, and those who reside in one place or area. But no-one has invented an administrative way of charging CCers Council Tax, as they can be in one Council area one day, and three or four more within a week! Realistically, as estimates suggest that there's probably only a fairly small number of CCers who do continuously cruise all over the place, is it worth the bureaucratic effort of trying to get them to pay Council Tax. We'd need new laws, and it would have to be paid into Treasury funds, not local authority. Not worth the effort for the perhaps £2m to £3m involved.

The situation seems quite simple to me. In respect of the recent County Court case, there appear to be two main categories of boater: 1 Those who don't live on their boat 2 Those who do live on their boat. Re those who live on their boat, there seem to be these categories: 3 Those who have a paid for permanent mooring, either direct from BW or a marina/riparian owner, and stay on the mooring all or most of the time; 4 Those who continuously cruise; 5 Those who don't have a paid for permanent mooring, but stay in one place or small area all or most of the time. The judgment has nothing to do with the first three categories, as almost without exception, such people have a permanent paid for mooring. Categories 4 and 5 are similar only in that neither has a paid for mooring (though I accept that many CCers pay for a winter mooring for a few months). The main difference is that genuine CCers move round the system (all, or a substantial part of it) every year, and most, from discussions with many, move several times a week by a few miles each time. So they will only be on one particular canal for at most a week or two. Category 5 are people who have a reason that they have to be in a particular area, e.g. work, friends, school etc. If they want to stay there, the issue is simple. They obtain and pay for a permanent mooring, so contributing as a by-product to the provision of local canal amenities and canal maintenance. I can see no reason why people who live in one area on a boat should be noticeably different from those who live in a house. It's the lifestyle that they choose, not whether to opt in or out of society and their obligations to it. And of course, all liveaboards (except genuine CCers) should be paying Council Tax too. I'm not arguing that from a legal point of view, as the legal position here is somewhat obfuscated, but from a social obligation angle. If you use the services, you should pay for them.