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Re: 'Ministers say Yes to more People living on Canals


Smudge38

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Hi All,.

Mine is just a general view on an article I seen this week in one of the weekly Canal boating Magazines.

In a small article it says that now MP's have been looking at the Canals as a soultion to shortage of Housing problems they have now said 'Yes' and intend to back the move to help more people out onto the Canals.

To me this is great News & I am astonished that a MP's can actually be forward thinking for Once!! and use some they grey matter sense.

I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home. Why barge? Well, simple I can not affrord get anywhere near the Property Ladder even if working &slog my Guts out..

To me this is good news and I am sure giving people like me some New hope and a senseof security in a different way of living. I am just worried now if I go ahead & take leap of purchasing boat to live on that certain places along canals (Ie. Marina's) will take to much advantage of all Boaters & start charging rip off prices. I don't think this would be fair or help anyone on canals & put New boaters off.

Well, that it.. I am sure some you will get me on this topic.. but I just wanted know some thoughts.

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I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home.

One wonders how many people need to be encouraged to live on a boat before an "alternative way of living" just becomes "a way of living" and prices rise accordingly.

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To my mind there is a serious danger of attracting people to live on the water as a cheap way of getting on the property ladder. I think the number one prerequisite for taking up the boating lifestyle is actually enjoying this lifestyle we choose. I can foresee a lot of very disillusioned people shivering in dark boats with overflowing toilets and no drinking water simply because they have been told that a boat is a viable alternative to land based accommodation without being fully informed of the implications of living afloat.

  • Greenie 3
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"I am astonished that a MP's can actually be forward thinking for Once!! and use some they grey matter sense."

 

I remain as cynical as I always have been with regard to politicians. Ask youself first, why are they doing it? Politicians always think up schemes only in order to gain some advantage. One example: Those of us who get involved in the scheme instantly become subject to council tax and they'll almost certainly bang it up higher as well. Assuming you claim council tax benefit with housing benefit, should you later become employed, you'll be fawking out council tax rates and pay the same rent as a flat.

Not only that but State benefits are unstable anyway. All my research to date tells me those on benefits are facing obligatory work programs to be introduced and scores of jobseekers have had their money stopped and flooding CAB offices with cases.

My take on it is if being on a boat allows some means of self sufficiency and privacy and a lower cost of living, keep well away from the State. That's my mantra these days.

 

 

 

Hi All,.

Mine is just a general view on an article I seen this week in one of the weekly Canal boating Magazines.

In a small article it says that now MP's have been looking at the Canals as a soultion to shortage of Housing problems they have now said 'Yes' and intend to back the move to help more people out onto the Canals.

To me this is great News & I am astonished that a MP's can actually be forward thinking for Once!! and use some they grey matter sense.

I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home. Why barge? Well, simple I can not affrord get anywhere near the Property Ladder even if working &slog my Guts out..

To me this is good news and I am sure giving people like me some New hope and a senseof security in a different way of living. I am just worried now if I go ahead & take leap of purchasing boat to live on that certain places along canals (Ie. Marina's) will take to much advantage of all Boaters & start charging rip off prices. I don't think this would be fair or help anyone on canals & put New boaters off.

Well, that it.. I am sure some you will get me on this topic.. but I just wanted know some thoughts.

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It's bloody idiotic, shortsighted and nothing but lip service anyway.

 

eta: I forgot to mention incredibly ill thought out.

 

 

Got to agree, the network has enough issues at the moment, just imagine what it would be like if it were part-managed by a housing association, an association that has a few problem families it needs to house.

 

On the bright side it may leave the way for more planning applications for moorings with residential use being passed.

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To my mind there is a serious danger of attracting people to live on the water as a cheap way of getting on the property ladder. I think the number one prerequisite for taking up the boating lifestyle is actually enjoying this lifestyle we choose. I can foresee a lot of very disillusioned people shivering in dark boats with overflowing toilets and no drinking water simply because they have been told that a boat is a viable alternative to land based accommodation without being fully informed of the implications of living afloat.

thanks grahame

you have saved me writing a rep;y which would have been very similar to yours.

 

i have lived afloat for most of my adult life because i enjot doing so.

 

NOT because it is CHEAP HOUSING

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Hi All,.

Mine is just a general view on an article I seen this week in one of the weekly Canal boating Magazines.

In a small article it says that now MP's have been looking at the Canals as a soultion to shortage of Housing problems they have now said 'Yes' and intend to back the move to help more people out onto the Canals.

To me this is great News & I am astonished that a MP's can actually be forward thinking for Once!! and use some they grey matter sense.

I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home. Why barge? Well, simple I can not affrord get anywhere near the Property Ladder even if working &slog my Guts out..

To me this is good news and I am sure giving people like me some New hope and a senseof security in a different way of living. I am just worried now if I go ahead & take leap of purchasing boat to live on that certain places along canals (Ie. Marina's) will take to much advantage of all Boaters & start charging rip off prices. I don't think this would be fair or help anyone on canals & put New boaters off.

Well, that it.. I am sure some you will get me on this topic.. but I just wanted know some thoughts.

 

Plain idiotic why not promote alternative housing such as provided postwar, would be more pratical. We have much more brownfield sites than mooring space and why put accommodation on the water in the first place with all associated infrastructure problems if they are at all serious about cheap housing (probably not just spin) i.e. power sewage etc.

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Got to agree, the network has enough issues at the moment, just imagine what it would be like if it were part-managed by a housing association, an association that has a few problem families it needs to house.

 

 

 

Keep problem families off the canal, lets start an e-petition, don't want anyone with problems on our lovely canals...............should go to a referendum

Edited by cotswoldsman
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I don't believe "problem families" come into the equation - I don't see any evidence that funding will be given to purchase boats, and I would be surprised if this has much appeal to the Buy to Let sector as the depreciation on a boat is rather more substantial than on bricks and mortar and the investor would never own the water the boat is moored on....plus, there is always the possibility your investment may sail away and end up being melted down in some dodgy scrapyard! For the same reason, I suspect it would not have much appeal to those trying to get onto the property ladder as their investment would be continually eroded, reducing their chances of upward mobility in the housing chain. I would think it would be far harder for investors to get finance, too.

 

Mobile/Park homes would represent a better investment and even this would be fraught with complications given that most sites do not have 12 month "first home" licences. Neither would it be wise to try and force families onto the water - the outcry which would follow the first drowned child would be deafening, I suspect.

 

I think it's just something coming off the top of Shapp's head without an awful lot of thought probably egged on by BW who see a few more licences and marina berths in it.

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I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home. Why barge? Well, simple I can not affrord get anywhere near the Property Ladder even if working &slog my Guts out..

To me this is good news and I am sure giving people like me some New hope and a senseof security in a different way of living.

 

What ever happened to people thinking of rented property as home? They do on the continent but that went out the window in this country in the late 80s & 90s when the law was changed away from tenants' rights and in favour of landlords. Property ownership then became part of the national psyche and culture, resulting in Brits acting like property monsters and gobbling up real estate all over Europe & the world. Even the word "property" has become misappropriated to mean house or flat.

 

Anyway, plenty of people have been living on boats for years without the sense of security that you seek. Indeed, perhaps for some of us the very lack of security and the freedom that this engenders is what they find attractive about the lifestyle. So, many of us are concerned about the increased regulation that these changes may bring.

 

 

I am just worried now if I go ahead & take leap of purchasing boat to live on that certain places along canals (Ie. Marina's) will take to much advantage of all Boaters & start charging rip off prices. I don't think this would be fair or help anyone on canals & put New boaters off.

Well, that it.. I am sure some you will get me on this topic.. but I just wanted know some thoughts.

You're too late, they've been charging rip-off prices for years. If you're only interested in living on a boat because you think it's going to be cheap you're in for a shock on two counts. 1) Of course you can buy a boat cheaper than a house or flat, but if you need a mooring then that's where the economic advantage ends. 2) As others have said, people who aren't genuinely interested in boats don't usually last long.

Edited by blackrose
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Got to agree, the network has enough issues at the moment, just imagine what it would be like if it were part-managed by a housing association, an association that has a few problem families it needs to house.

 

On the bright side it may leave the way for more planning applications for moorings with residential use being passed.

 

 

Agree with you here,We sold our house and moved onto our boat to get away from the hustle and hassle of living in a house in a street that was near a street that probably housed all the dregs of Bedfordshire in. WE love the peace and quiet of being surrounded by 'like minded' people who WANT to live on their boats and enjoy the freedom. There are no kids on the marina and that is a great bonus, don't get me wrong I love it when the son and siblings visit but I am happy when they go so that we can relax in peace and harmony with our lovely boating neighbours...

 

Perhaps they could ease the housing problem by allowing people to buy an old scrapyard and relax planning regulations so they can live there legally.

 

Oh, hang on...

 

 

 

LOL good call Carl

 

Keep problem families off the canal, lets start an e-petition, don't want anyone with problems on our lovely canals...............should go to a referendum

 

 

with you on this one!

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Hi All,.

Mine is just a general view on an article I seen this week in one of the weekly Canal boating Magazines.

In a small article it says that now MP's have been looking at the Canals as a soultion to shortage of Housing problems they have now said 'Yes' and intend to back the move to help more people out onto the Canals.

To me this is great News & I am astonished that a MP's can actually be forward thinking for Once!! and use some they grey matter sense.

I have been looking into a alternative way of living for a while now & partically at the Barges as a place I can call my 1st full time home. Why barge? Well, simple I can not affrord get anywhere near the Property Ladder even if working &slog my Guts out..

To me this is good news and I am sure giving people like me some New hope and a senseof security in a different way of living. I am just worried now if I go ahead & take leap of purchasing boat to live on that certain places along canals (Ie. Marina's) will take to much advantage of all Boaters & start charging rip off prices. I don't think this would be fair or help anyone on canals & put New boaters off.

Well, that it.. I am sure some you will get me on this topic.. but I just wanted know some thoughts.

 

Which magazine was that?

 

In my experience, when MP's look into anything they usually have no understanding of the issues or the wider implications of their ideas.

 

Who will provide the funding for new moorings for all these residential boat dwellers? There is currently a big shortage of residential moorings.

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Which magazine was that?

 

In my experience, when MP's look into anything they usually have no understanding of the issues or the wider implications of their ideas.

 

Who will provide the funding for new moorings for all these residential boat dwellers? There is currently a big shortage of residential moorings.

 

I would think that they would pick a wide section of a towpath in a town, put up a few black and white 'residential mooring' signs, put in electric points and water points (relatively cheap in a town area), then provide an unpowered boat with the basics aboard. A sanitary block with shower would be essential, but looking at the costs (bare in mind the look of the boat would be irrelevant, no roses and castles or swims or even a nice shape), a square shaped, possibley even GRP for no maintainance and mass production, would probably be much less than that of a 'council house' (or housing association or whatever they are called these days).

 

If it is the government that are funding this then planning, mooring permissions, everything would be pretty irrelevant, and they have 2000 miles of linear space to put these things in.

 

As has been mentioned, they would probably end up like your average council estate so no walking along that stretch of towpath at night or your shoes would probably be stolen, but I can see it happening.

 

May be the government see the big grant in aid as a 'way in' as they are already spending the money. On the flip side of this, perhaps if it is coming anyway, we could use it as an excuse to demand more funding from the government for canals. It may even create a new 'residential licence' class at a lower rate if you do not (or are not able to) move, ie non-powered residential licence.

 

I can picture the scene, and it definately needs monitoring, but perhaps if it is using the 'ropey' areas of canals where we do not moor anyway but just cruise past (most towns have such an area), and the provided accomodation is unpowered, then we could turn this to all our advantage, and you never know, it may encourage newcomers to come to love the canals as we do, and it may even allow me to afford to come back to the canals in force like I used to be!!

Edited by GRPCruiserman
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I would be interested to know in which of the Canal boating Magazines the article appeared, and see the content of the alleged suggestions. I would also be interested to know if BW have commented upon how the proposals would impact upon their current policy of reducing On Line mooring.

 

Even if someone has put forward a proposal, I doubt that the idea will get very far. It has been my experience, after some thirty years in Local Government, that Civil Servants often come up with strange suggestions (usually put forward by a minority interest group), which some ill informed minor Minister took up and publicised, only for it to disapear without trace within weeks. The consequence of which was that that the idea was dead for another twenty years under the " We thought of that before and it won't work" principle.

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I hear that there's a big hole in the ground near Barby that could be used for cheap moorings.

 

 

Who will provide the funding for new moorings for all these residential boat dwellers? There is currently a big shortage of residential moorings.

I think that, with the looming relaxation of planning legislation, we will see a rush to legitimise liveaboards on non-residential moorings.

 

This will allow Schapps to say "Look! there are now "x" thousand people living on boats that weren't there before. My policy is a success."

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To my mind there is a serious danger of attracting people to live on the water as a cheap way of getting on the property ladder. I think the number one prerequisite for taking up the boating lifestyle is actually enjoying this lifestyle we choose. I can foresee a lot of very disillusioned people shivering in dark boats with overflowing toilets and no drinking water simply because they have been told that a boat is a viable alternative to land based accommodation without being fully informed of the implications of living afloat.

Agree,it may be cheaper to buy a boat than a house, but living costs and attention to aforementioned tasks may not be within all capabilities or desire.It is not a move to give a leg up the ladder,more a shove along the gangplank.

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