Views Sought On Mooring Arrangements During The Cropredy Festival.

[alan_fincher]

Hello anybody who has an interest in this - the subject is as per, title really.

 

I have just received the agenda for next Monday's meeting of the Boaters' Subgroup of the South East Waterways Partnership.

 

An item on the agenda is:

 

Arrangements for moorings at Cropredy Festival 2015

 

but I currently have no more information about intended discussions than this topic title.

 

As have no experience of either attending the festival by boat, or trying to moor anywhere near Cropredy around Festival time, (even if not attending), I am seeking input from anybody who does, and is prepared to share their thoughts, either openly or privately.

 

I'll not influence the topic by making any assumptions about exactly what may get discussed, what people think ought to get discussed, or what views people may wish to express, and, other than asking that you try only to provide constructive input, I'll not participate in the thread myself.

 

If you are happy to let others see your thoughts, please post in this thread, but if you prefer to contribute anonymously, please send me a personal message.

 

I will try and take a balanced view of any feedback received, and pass that on to those attending the meeting.

 

Many thanks,

 

Alan

[matty40s]

ok, my feedback as someone who has passed through and immediately after the festival on more than one occasion/boat, is that some volunteer /CRT involvement needs to be in place in Banbury to organise the chaos with theTooleys section/ bridge and lock when people are leaving......and not just 10-4.

[Ray T]

PM NB Alnwick?

[Kwacker]

Experience last year was all negative. Towpath in poor condition and in need of piling. We got there the weekend before and ended up 1/2 mile south of the village, moored on pins against emergent hawthorn bushes on a crumbling, narrow towpath. Because dogs are allowed at the festival (??????) you had to watch where you walked, and the music was crap too, but I doubt C&RT can influence that. A never-to-be-repeated experience.

[john6767]

We came through on the Saturday this year, a lot of moored boats. My comments are that there should be no breasting up in general, there were not that many breasted up but one (where there is off side mooring) did make passage trickier than it needed to be. Secondly that the lock areas should be kept clear for at least 2 boats to wait for the lock. Cropredy lock was worst, above the lock there was space for one, and below the lock no space at all, the other 2 locks impacted basically had space for one from what I remember. We were going down and were third in line for Cropredy lock so we had to hover mid channel for quite some time.

[cotswoldsman]

I guess it would have been helpful to know some of the thinking behind this. Has it come from CRT, other boaters, or is it just something the Partnership want to medle with.

I have only been once and that was 7 years ago so I am not sure if my experience is completly out of date. It was a bit like organised chaos but it did work it was ensured at all times that there was enough room to allow boats to travel through though maybe with the requirement for some deep concentration by the steerer.

Ok so it is very busy for 7-10 days but hey not a major problem that would need any changes. Everyone had a great time and life went on, no one died, no one drowned. Unless your group have identified some major problem (and I don't mean those on your group that own hire boat companies complaining hirers find it difficult) I would say if it is not broken why repair it?

[alan_fincher]

I will not know for definite before the meeting, but I would think that that this is CRT putting this up for discussion themselves, rather than it having been instigated by anyone on the Partnership or the sub-group. The sub-group is an advisory one, and often what gets discussed has been originated by CRT, and they are simply seeking an opinion - previous examples include the redevelopments at Aylesbury basin, or at Jericho in Oxford, or the possible impacts of introducing a new water "taxi" service in Oxford.

 

Matthew Symonds name appears against the Cropredy item on the agenda, so I think it will be he that presents and leads the discussion on this one.

[jenlyn]

I was going to give some input on this, but Lol, Mathew Symonds? say no more. Attempting to justify his salary and job........again.

[jonesthenuke]

We went to the festival for the first time this year. As a precautionary measure we booked into the marina as we thought the towpath moorings would be full for a long way back from the village. Actually it was a lot better than expected. We arrived a day before the event started and could have moored more or less opposite the marina, though boats were shuffling up the cut as moorings.

 

We did not pass through the village on the boat as we returned north. I spoke to a number of people where were moored closer in to the village and they reported that there was no significant problem with traffic other than some delays but what do you expect.

 

We also spoke to people leaving before the event started who seemed to have tales of "terrible traffic and delays" but I suspect this is from making comparison to normal conditions rather than a real problem. (In my view if you expect to travel through Cropredy in festival week with no delay then you need to be more realistic).

 

I do agree with some of the statements above. Some better control of mooring near locks would be helpful. Similarly the bank is not the best and could be improved.

 

Overall I would say that we will be going back, the conditions in no way put us off.

[cotswoldsman]

 

 

Matthew Symonds name appears against the Cropredy item on the agenda, so I think it will be he that presents and leads the discussion on this one.

 

 

I think I am starting to dispair there is a problem in London with rental boats, there is a problem with boats not moving, some parts of the system are in urgent need of attention, I personally think enforcement is not fit for purpose, we have groups all over the place advising CRT at a great cost. We have employees withing CRT now sitting all day wondering what they can do next, what they can tinker with and they come up with "lets look at a one week period in Cropredy"

Someone needs to get to grips with all this crap that is going on within CRT, we have had the 48 hour mooring purge where moorings that were fine have now been changed, we have people going for drinks in pubs and deciding to change the moorings, in the meantime Rome burns.

[jenlyn]

Blissworth, Rickmansworth (festivals), or stoke bruerne (theme park), crick etc etc. They all get busy, is that not the idea?

Why do they need micro managing when they actually work perfectly?

So a few have to struggle and moan whilst they cruise through, mumblings of discontent because some boaters are enjoying themselves.

Come on, get real. Or nanny state comes to the canal....

[Guest]

I think I am starting to dispair there is a problem in London with rental boats, there is a problem with boats not moving, some parts of the system are in urgent need of attention, I personally think enforcement is not fit for purpose, we have groups all over the place advising CRT at a great cost. We have employees withing CRT now sitting all day wondering what they can do next, what they can tinker with and they come up with "lets look at a one week period in Cropredy"

Someone needs to get to grips with all this crap that is going on within CRT, we have had the 48 hour mooring purge where moorings that were fine have now been changed, we have people going for drinks in pubs and deciding to change the moorings, in the meantime Rome burns.

That's Mr. Parry's job isn't it?

[Detling]

Having passed southward through Cropredy on the Saturday we were able to moor about 1 mile south of the festival site. We had no problems with the locks but we were the first boat of 3-4 boats. (we were following a young couple who had just bought their boat and needed to be trained on using locks from Fenny. They stopped above the first lock so we now lead). The water point and services had two boats moored on it. they were still there 3 hours later when we walked into town.

There we no real problems otherwise but it was tight in places. The reason we went on that Saturday was to get past the crush on Sunday, despite being the last boat out southward and setting off at 7:00 am in pouring rain we were not the first boat boat down. We stopped in Banbury and a boater who moored behind 4 hours later said that Crorpedy was chaos that day. Of note the water did appear to be polluted but maybe it was sheep do-do, I certainly wouldn't suggest swimming.

[Tuscan]

Simples , as the festival is over a weekend , make all the moorings 48hrs with £25 penalty charge. All you need are a few signs and you can leave in place all year ready for the next one.

 

Practical suggestion would be for CRT not to get involved at all beyond reserving a stretch of towpath for concert goers , get the organisers to run a booking system which they can manage themselves via a couple of wardens. Seems to have worked at other festivals.

[jenlyn]

Simples , as the festival is over a weekend , make all the moorings 48hrs with £25 penalty charge. All you need are a few signs and you can leave in place all year ready for the next one.

You forgot the pub. For the recipe to work, you need all the ingredients.

[DaveP]

I took my boat to the festival for the first time this year (although I've been before). Rocked up on the Friday before the start from the South and moored in the rough about 200m south of Old Mill Field Bridge - I was the 4th boat south (CRT were repairing the bank for the first 120m; they finished on the day before the Festival and the bank filled up on that evening and Thursday morning). During the weekend I walked both South and North - South, the boats didn't even extend to Slat Mill lock (which they have on previous occasions) and North they went up to Elkinton's (which they have before).

 

The boats either side of me were moored up and then left, the owners only returning for the festival itself. It was clear than this was true of most of the boats which turned up the weekend before the festival.

My mate has a slightly shorter boat and we talked him into a 'vacant' spot on the permanent moorings - Apparently there were two empty at the time; CRT should think about very short-term lets for a similar situation in the future (and the workboat mooring near the water point).

 

We departed on the Monday heading North - Sunday was a washout - no particular holdups except at the first lock. I suspect with the heavy traffic, one numpty crew will cause a whole load of backup, which is what people moan about, rather like a phantom traffic jam that has no obvious cause.

 

I don't particularly think there's an awful lot CRT should do about regulating the moorings for the week; lots of people want to go and demand will always outstrip supply, but everyone seemed to fit within a mile of the site. I heard reports that the new marina had accommodated a fair few boats as well.

 

But ensuring that the bank and towpath are in good order would probably help a bit, the boat ot the south of me had their pins ripped out repeatedly from the crumbling bank, and there were a few spots where the towpath vegetation was so thick it was not moorable.

 

I spoke to one of the local hire firm bosses who expressed annoyance that the 48-hr moorings weren't being policed and kept clear.

[The Toad in the Hole]

The advice on the fairport convention website for arriving by boat could probably do with updating

 

http://www.fairportconvention.com/faq.php

[cotswoldsman]

 

 

I spoke to one of the local hire firm bosses who expressed annoyance that the 48-hr moorings weren't being policed and kept clear.

That explains it all wonder what pub the drinking was done in?

[Guest]

The advice on the fairport convention website for arriving by boat could probably do with updating

 

http://www.fairportconvention.com/faq.php

nice link to a Cara Dillon video on there cheers.

[IanM]

Funnily enough I was only thinking last night that maybe it might be an idea to go to Cropredy next year by boat so this thread has been a great source of information

[jake_crew]

I have been by boat, and a friend often goes by boat.

 

No particular problems.

 

Yes its busy but its just the same as Stoke Bruerne on a Bank Holiday, or Braunston during the Historic boat fest.

 

I agree it seems to be micro-management of a brief period when things are busy.

 

Self regulation seems to have worked up til now.

[BD3Bill]

This is a bit fishy.

 

Nobody ever bothered about the Festival being a problem.

 

A brand new marina opens close to the village and suddenly it's a topic for discussion….. mmmm

 

Very fishy

[homer2911]

We've been going every year for 8-9 years. We always arrive about a week before it starts, and it's quite noticeable that there has been an increase year on year in the number of boats moored and left - even on the moorings immediately above the lock - until the show starts. We've got used to it, and moor where we can, always north of the lock. There were indeed vacant bits of towpath opposite the marina this year, but to use them would have impeded the access into the two marina entrances.

 

There is a suggestion elsewhere in this thread that its a bit fishy that this topic has only arisen shortly after the marina opened - all I can say is that when I went in for a pump-out the day after the festival finished, I was told that they had around 30 boats on short term lets during the festival - good business!.

 

I do have some sympathy for hirers, who can't get near Cropredy during that week, so maybe there should be a 24hr enforcement on a handful of moorings during that period. Otherwise, leave well alone I say. Don't moor, as one late-coming festival-goer did this year, on a lock landing - he was there the entire weekend, selfish swine. Also don't breast up where passing boats will be forced into the trees on the far bank. One of the culprits this year actually had a full-time mooring in the marina, but he told me he had brought the boat out to moor on the towpath because it was easier to walk to the pub - know the bloke from previous years, and I don't think he ever goes near the Fairport field, preferring to enjoy the excellent fringe events.

[cotswoldsman]

Hello anybody who has an interest in this - the subject is as per, title really.

 

I have just received the agenda for next Monday's meeting of the Boaters' Subgroup of the South East Waterways Partnership.

 

An item on the agenda is:

 

Arrangements for moorings at Cropredy Festival 2015

 

but I currently have no more information about intended discussions than this topic title.

 

 

Alan

Just out of interest when they arrange these meetings do they not give any more information than that. How do they expect people to discuss a subject when they do not know what the plan or problem is?

Alan I appreciate in this case you have been proactive and given us as much information as you have but do not understand how members of the group are supposed to research a topic for discussion without the full information.

[ditchcrawler]

Simples , as the festival is over a weekend , make all the moorings 48hrs with £25 penalty charge. All you need are a few signs and you can leave in place all year ready for the next one.

 

Practical suggestion would be for CRT not to get involved at all beyond reserving a stretch of towpath for concert goers , get the organisers to run a booking system which they can manage themselves via a couple of wardens. Seems to have worked at other festivals.

Don't they relax mooring restrictions for a couple of weeks before, or do they just turn a blind eye.

This is a bit fishy.

 

Nobody ever bothered about the Festival being a problem.

 

A brand new marina opens close to the village and suddenly it's a topic for discussion….. mmmm

 

Very fishy

Wasn't that one of the selling points for planning consent, visitor moorings for the festival?