The Hackney Flotilla on 13th June was a great success with 45 boats and 13-16 smaller boats (tenders, rowing boats) and over 1000 people joining by foot throughout the day at the event.

Our initial goals for the event set out were reached – public awareness, public engagement, community reinforcement and national press.  It was in press such as the Guardian, BBC London radio, Hackney Gazette, Waterway World, amongst other press outlets.

CRT hasn’t backed down yet, so we must continue to campaign. If CRT rolls out the mooring restrictions, we encourage disobey them.

Please encourage others to do the same please sign the pledge: MOORING PROTEST PLEDGE | National Bargee Travellers Association – London Branch (wordpress.com)

A few pictures from the Flotilla

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The anti-Safety Zone campaign was the major theme of Eddie Nestor’s evening drivetime show on BBC Radio London on Friday, 11 July.

Boater Nick Corrigan was invited to speak on how the zones will affect boaters and several boaters rang in to give their views. Nestor also spoke to the CRT’s Matthew Symonds, as well as Ian Henley, from Broxbourne Rowing Club.

Matthew Symonds used ridiculously inflated safety incident numbers, quoting ‘240 incidents’ over the last 6 years, but neglecting to mention that most of those incidents involved rowers colliding with stationary objects, one another and swans. Only 19% of the incidents cited were with powered boats. Why cite the irrelevant 240 figure at all except as a scare tactic?

Ian Henley used language indicating that the rowing club feels a sense of ownership over the waterway, referring to ‘our stretch of river’ rather than ‘this stretch of river’. Boaters don’t claim ownership of the water – our entire way of life is premised on cooperation and sharing.

The NBTA has edited together the relevant parts of the show. Have a listen here.

Nick Corrigan 00:58

Matthew Symonds 18:24

Ian Henley 33:50

Many boaters rang in with excellent points – listen to the whole piece to hear their arguments.

The CRT has published a ‘stakeholder engagement form‘ seeking feedback on the ‘water safety zones’ (after the launch of the zones, let’s not forget). The deadline for filling in the form is Monday 21 June. The NBTA has prepared some draft responses for boaters to use and make their own.

The CRT has attempted to limit responses by refusing to extend the deadline for completion, allowing a window of only 19 days. Also, rather than email the form to all boaters who have signed up for CRT updates, they have emailed it only to boaters who have been sighted on the Lee since 1 January 2021. This raises clear questions as to whether the CRT is deliberately limiting the scope of the consultation.

These late efforts to talk to boaters were launched after we forced CRT’s hand with a campaign of protest. The zones, if carried out, will drastically restrict mooring on the Lee, make the river nearly unmoorable for widebeams, and squeeze boaters into double-mooring zones where single-mooring is currently the norm.

The launch of the form follows stakeholder engagement sessions with liveaboard boaters on 21 and 25 May, led by independent facilitator Hopkins Van Mil. Further sessions will be held with boaters and other stakeholders in July.

This is a success for the campaign and we need as many boaters as possible to fill in the form to voice our objections and make ourselves heard. Spread the word!