Monthly Archives: July 2025

News

Licence Review Survey Results: What the Data Really Shows

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The other week CRT’s Licence Review Commission published the results of their ‘engagement survey of Canal and River Trust waterway users’, carried out between March and April of this year by independent consultants Campbell Tickell. The survey – which many respondents have reported as being ill-conceived and biased – has nevertheless returned results that will make difficult reading for CRT.

Results showed that more than 8 in 10 are frustrated with the day-to-day management of CRT waterways in the UK. Over 60% of respondents were frustrated about maintenance – including of towpaths and banks, management of water supply and a lack of investment in infrastructure – making this the biggest issue raised in the report. Despite CRT scapegoating the rise in itinerant boat dwellers, only 1 in 20 surveyed saw overcrowding on the waterways as an issue. 9 in 10 did not support legislative change, despite CRT’s recent emphasis on this possibility.

Scapegoating itinerant boaters

The survey forms part of CRT’s ongoing ‘Future of Boat Licensing Commission’ which caused outrage earlier this year when it described the itinerant boating community as an ‘operational, financial and reputational challenge’ and lamented how legislation like the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010 were limiting the charity’s ability to take enforcement action against boaters, which includes forcing people into homelessness via eviction proceedings.

The total amount of itinerant boats is only around 7000 across CRT waterways. Yet CRT continues to target this small community with a controversial fee surcharge, a decline in services, punitive enforcement including of families, pensioners and disabled boaters, and multiple attempts to remove historic mooring spaces altogether.

Questions about the survey data 

The National Bargee Travellers Association, requested the raw data of the survey in a meeting with CRT, but to date has received nothing, shedding doubt on the Commission’s promises of “clarity” and “fairness”.

A Freedom of Information Act request has now been lodged, but CRT continues to deny the boating community its own data.

Failing on the basics

Despite CRT’s continued scapegoating of boaters, the numbers show a convincing rejection of legislative changes that could have decimated England’s boating community. 

More worryingly for CRT, they also indicate a range of stakeholders’ overwhelming level of frustration with its day-to-day management of the waterways, including financial mismanagement, a decline in facilities and anger over the inflating wages of CRT executives

News

Licence Review Update – opportunity for understanding undermined by biased report

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A brief hint of understanding emerged in a meeting between the Licence Review Commission and the National Bargee Travellers Association — but this was quickly dashed by a follow-up report released by the Commission; a report that misrepresents survey data in support of Canal & River Trust’s discriminatory agenda.

Canal & River Trust’s (CRT) Future of Boat Licencing Review, led by a CRT appointed Commission, is now fully under way, and the Commission’s recommendations are due in November.

In a recent meeting with the National Bargee Travellers Association, the Commission admitted that CRT’s premise for the review only reflects a CRT-viewpoint, and requires fact-checking. They also noted CRT’s own data shows a decline in overall boat numbers – casting doubt on CRT’s claims of congestion and network strain. The additional context of CRT’s empty chargeable moorings, and CRT’s ongoing persecution of itinerant boaters was also discussed. The Commission agreed these factors would all need to be checked, as they do provide a different narrative to the one provided by CRT.

Paddington Chargeable moorings, boat cull

The NBTA urged the Commission to put aside CRT’s biased premise for the review, in favour of a neutral starting point. However, the Commission declined, only offering assurance that all perspectives would be “considered”.

The NBTA also asked for an itinerant boater representative within review discussions. The Commission expressed interest—but made no promises. This is despite the fact that the review is clearly focused on licensing for itinerant boaters.

This refusal to challenge CRT’s narrative or formally include those most affected – itinerant boaters – raises concerns. The Commission offered lip-service to the notion of a truly fair and neutral review – but without any actual change to a fundamentally hostile review premise and structure. 

Weeks later, the Commission released a survey report so skewed it contradicts its own data, reinforcing CRT’s anti-itinerant stance. This biased report clearly promotes CRT’s agenda to change licensing legislation, yet the actual survey data tells a very different story (see more details below). 

With Campbell Robb, former Shelter CEO, announced to take over as CRT’s Chief Executive, some in the boating community have hoped that this signals a more empathetic direction. If Campbell Robb really does want to make a positive change, this example of institutional bias clearly shows he has a lot of work to do.