Upton on Severn moorings

[oboat]

AdRem Very informative.

 

It would seem :

 

The town needs or would like boaters to spend cash in it !

 

Trip boaters will not we all (but one) know this!

 

Boats need moorings !

 

Existing moorings are & have not been large enough for some time!

 

Most of you feel BW/CART are incompetent & I feel I must agree!

 

`Why are you all not writing to the town council asking them to build new or improve existing moorings?

 

That way we all benefit.

 

AdRem. Who do people contact at the council? How about a FEW email address, your local member included. No point preaching to each other, we know the problem. Task the members responsible for tourism & employment.

Edited May 17, 2013 by oboat

[Jerra]

Welcome to the forum AdRem.

 

You make a point which I made the the lady at CRT in my email. She mentions discussions with the Council and the Tourist Information Centre but no mention of the town traders.

 

Out of interest do you have a Chamber of Trade and Commerce or similar? If you do they should be lobbying the council and CRT strongly. If you don't perhaps traders sohould be forming some sort of coalition (sorry about using a naughty word like coalition).

[JJay]

Has anyone contacted the local press?

 

This one I imagine http://malverngazette.co.uk

[PaulG]

I'm not a boater but a resident / business owner in Upton and I think that this is just ridiculous. Why is this business being given preferential treatment from C&RT's? Did anyone from C&RT's actually come down and carry out a site visit, checking the facts about the new flood defence & road layout altering the working practice for this business? There never has been any coach access to the Avon Belle mooring it has always been accessed by foot, nothing has changed. This same operator tried to get the same rights to the Old Bridge Abutment public mooring in Upton but was refused by the Town Council who know the area and problems caused by the lack of moorings.

 

I hope that all you boaters out there stand your ground and moor your boats where you want to and continue using our great town without being pushed off what is your public mooring. We need visitors to Upton and this will just drive people away because they will be forced to move their boats.

 

I also don’t understand and question C&RT's argument that it will help the business in Upton? Surely having the people dropped off at the car/coach park and then having them walk through the town, past the shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants would be of more benefit to the towns traders? If C&RT's get their way visitors will be dropped off in the car park, walk straight onto the boat and then after their trip straight back onto the coach, I cannot see this being any help to the well being of the town.

 

Let us all hope that common sense prevails and the C&RT's reverse this hasty and idiotic decision.

 

In reply to "dor" who posted that we don't want the boaters here in Upton I can assure you that the vast majority of us traders welcome you with open arms and wish that there were more facilities provided for you to moor here. Not less which is all this C&RT's decision will create. There will always be a bit of small town mentality and jealousy in any small town across the country but please don't let that taint your view of the rest of us, we realise the great effect that the boating fraternity have on our small town and long may it continue.

Hello AdRem. Welcome, and thank you for your comments. I live just down the road in Tewkesbury, and have long been an admirer of the way that Upton has promoted itself to visitors over the years. I know that many of our local traders wish that the "authorities" here were as proactive!

 

I've just read through Susie's "interim response" again, and she says that she will consult with the Town Council and the Tourist information centre. Perhaps it would be worthwhile making your views known to these two organisations?

 

The crux of her argument seems to be that visitors moorings are provided for "visitors" and that persons in coach parties are "visitors", just as we boaters are (or would like to be!).

 

However, I beleive she is missing the point.

 

In my view, visitors moorings are provided for visiting boats. A trip boat with a perfectly serviceable permanent mooring in the same location is not a visiting boat.

Edited May 17, 2013 by PaulG

[PaddingtonBear]

The town council will only have advisory powers. Tourism is usually the province of the local district level council. Good idea to widen the debate and involve the various stake holders. Magpie Patrick is once again dead on the money

[dor]

Hi AdRem. Just the sort of post I was hoping to stimulate!

 

I'm am sure traders in the town are more than pleased to see narrowboaters mooring up. My reference to "the town turning its back" was aimed at the town council who appear to have done nothing in the last couple of years to encourage boaters to the town. Indeed the impression I had was that many of the moorings that had been available had been lost with no attempt to replace them. The "steps" by the bridge look ok when the river is low, but are potentially dangerous to narrowboats when the river level is rising and falling quite quickly which it was doing when we were there.

 

Unfortunately Ms Mercer has a fast-increasing reputation of not being very helpful to boaters. I think the best action for the businesses in the town is to take up the subject with the Town Council and try and get some action and awareness of what different types of boaters can mean to the town.

[Tuscan]

This is exactly the thing the local waterways partnership was set up to address I suggest AdRem contacts hem ASAP. Good luck . NABO is also lodging an objection.

[matty40s]

This is exactly the thing the local waterways partnership was set up to address I suggest AdRem contacts hem ASAP. Good luck . NABO is also lodging an objection.

 

Is this not the area where the local Waterways Partnerships now operate as a series of single 15 minute appointments to discuss individual issues rather than the group meetings.?????

[Tuscan]

 

Is this not the area where the local Waterways Partnerships now operate as a series of single 15 minute appointments to discuss individual issues rather than the group meetings.?????

This is the user group, can still approach the chair of the partnership by email I believe. I have to admit my knowledge of how they work is weak,

[Jerra]

Would it be useful for AdRem to provide us contact details for the council so that they can be left in no doubt as to the effect this will have on the number of visiting boaters.

 

The dear lady from CRT seems to think there are coach loads of visitors who have stayed away from Upton because of a short walk to the mooring. At least that is what she implies to me when she says:

 

"Coach parties bring many visitors to the town – usually around 53 of them at a time. Many coach operators build their offer around a combined boat trip with time to have lunch and shop in the town. We feel that encouraging additional coach parties in this way will benefit the local businesses."

[Tuscan]

We have a holiday home in Cromer, here the coach turns up late afternoon deposits the elderly passengers at the Hotel de Paris (so not!) for a room and evening meal , maybe bingo, then leaves on its tour the next morning. The town gains nothing apart some part time hotel work.

[upton]

Upton Town Council: http://tinyurl.com/cn99z7h

[PaulG]

Thanks "Upton"!

I see that their Clerk's email address is:

 

uptontowncouncil@btconnect.com

 

(Just in case anyone feels like contacting them on this subject!)

[mattlad]

Hi "AdRem" and Upton, welcome to the forum and thanks for your input! I have frequented the Blues Festival for several years and thoroughly enjoy myself there along with many friends that I meet and have made there. I'd love to arrive by boat but I feel that with the state of the moorings it is not possible for the foreseeable future, I don't want to travel down by boat only to find there are no moorings, have to travel past and end up missing the festival..........

 

Better book my camping I suppose.........

 

Edited for typo.

Edited May 17, 2013 by mattlad

[Tony Brooks]

The Mayor has been emailed.

 

Bother - the email bounced to the town website is not up to date.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Tony Brooks

[PaulG]

By the way, I found that a day's mooring at the Marina would cost me £28.

Excellent alternative to the visitors mooring, Ms Mercer. Thank you very much for the advice.

[jami dodgers]

Just slightly OT. If one arrives at somewhere on a river with limited pontoon space, like Upton and not able to moor, can you anchor (obviously not mid-channel) and go by dingy to a suitable landing spot, tie up and go ashore?

[Chris Pink]

That part of the Severn is pretty unique in my experience in that there is absolutely no opportunities for casual mooring anywhere but, of course, you can anchor and use a tender (not forgetting to set a light if it's dark).

And you would still need to be within rowing distance of a suitable landing spot.

[jami dodgers]

Thanks for the reply Chris. I didn't express myself very clearly did I.

 

I should de-clutter the question:-

 

When on a flowing waterway, ie a river are there any regulations that forbid me anchoring away from the bankside?

 

Provided of course that I choose the spot with care so as not to cause any likely inconvenience to other boaters.

 

And I avoid anywhere that signage advises me of the presence of underwater cables or obstructions etc

 

Having anchored can I then propel a dingy, by whatever means with my wife and myself in it to a public landing spot such a steps or pontoon and go ashore?

 

 

Edited to say I have decided to open a new thread to ask this question so it doesn't clutter up this thread by taking it off topic.

Edited May 17, 2013 by jami dodgers

[Chris Pink]

an uncluttered answer:

 

no, yes

[jami dodgers]

An edit to my edit. Thank you. I don't need to take it any further.

[Ray]

Snip

 

"Coach parties bring many visitors to the town – usually around 53 of them at a time. Many coach operators build their offer around a combined boat trip with time to have lunch and shop in the town. We feel that encouraging additional coach parties in this way will benefit the local businesses."

 

Avonbelle appears to have a capacity of only 40 passengers according to their website. What do the other 13 people on the coach do? Don't modern coaches carry more than 53 people?

[keble]

I have belatedly sent Susie an email:

 

This is probably a bit late but I hope my views can be considered.

I am based on the G&S canal at Saul - and several times a year we take a trip up the Severn to get to somewhere else.
Upton is our most convenient stop on the way north - and I'm sure you are aware that there aren't many other stops in that area.

We have used both the Visitor Moorings and the marina in the past - but C&RT's change at Upton now makes this much less of a choice (and therefore more expensive as the marina is not free!).

You will appreciate that if we arrive before 4pm and the marina doesn't have space, or we don't want to pay, then we will have to push on further. I think the next visitor moorings are at Diglis which is about 3.5 hours from Upton.

An alternative is to moor at Tewkesbury which is about 1.5 hours south of Upton (I hope you don't go changing anything there).

The net effect is that we have to make a rather short or very long trip on our first day from Saul, unless we time it just right. This timing isn't easy when the Severn is so prone to flooding, debris and other hazards (sunken boats).

So I think your action has been rather unfair to boaters. I urge you to reconsider this decision.

And, to save the best till last, Upton is a beautiful place. We have always enjoyed the town - its pubs and shops. Please consider the impact on the town's traders who are truly great folk.

[Gillie]

I sent her a mail..but doubt it will make any difference..sorry for sad pessimism re boaters being bottom of the heap

[PaulG]

I emailed the Town Clerk of Upton Council and received a very prompt reply.

They have already received quite a lot of correspondance from individuals and organisations. The issue has not been discussed by the Council as yet, but I am informed that it will be shortly.

 

Keble - as far as I am aware, the visitor moorings below Avon Lock (i.e. on the Severn level) at Tewkesbury are under the control of ANT, not C&RT.