All posts by stopboatlicencediscrimination

Campaign against the surcharge on boats without home moorings

Article, Campaigns, Legal, Local issues, News

Boaters left out in the cold over the Energy Bills Support Scheme

April 21, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination 1 Comment

At the time of publication, itinerant boaters have still not received an energy grant from the Government, or been offered a user-friendly way in which to attain this grant. Most households across the UK are now into their sixth month of receiving help towards extortionate energy bills, yet the Government are still dragging their heels when it comes to itinerant boaters and other off grid communities.

All households in the UK were promised the £400 grant back in March last year, and an article published on the 1st April 2022 on the gov.uk website clearly states:

“If you live in a park home, houseboat or off the grid…The government has confirmed that further funding will be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the 1% of households who are not eligible for the discount. This includes households without a domestic electricity meter and a direct relationship with an electricity supplier, for example if you live in a park home, houseboat or you live off the grid.”

Depending on how the above is interpreted, itinerant boaters could be included under either the “houseboat” or living off grid examples. Either way, it seemed like we were included as we obviously do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an electricity supplier and therefore meet the criteria.

Since then, the Government have released several announcements regarding the EBSS, including an additional £200 Alternative Fuel Payment for those not using mains gas. However, none of their literature has directly referred to itinerant boaters, leaving us with a vague assumption that we will receive it at some stage in the future, via some unknown means.

In an attempt to find a good solution on how and when itinerant boaters will receive the EBSS, the National Bargee Travellers Association have been in talks with the relevant Government bodies for some time, and thanks to their efforts, a work around solution is now being trialled.

Unfortunately, the best solution the Government could offer was a perplexing arrangement whereby the applicant applied for the energy grant, knowing it would be rejected as it would not meet the criteria needed, then uses this rejection to apply for another grant from their Local Authority. This convoluted approach failed however, as Local Councils were neither informed nor consulted, with many simply replying as such, adding they had no budget for it

Therefore, we still do not have a definitive answer on how or when the majority of itinerant boaters will receive the energy grant. With many boaters spending upwards of £200 a month on heating this winter, the EBSS could relieve the difficult choice between heat or food that numerous folk may be facing.

As the winter months dwindle off into Spring, we are left wondering, will we ever get help to heat our homes?

NBTA London needs your support to carry on our work. Please get in touch here if you would like to volunteer with us. Alternatively your donations are vital to us supporting boaters with their legal case work, campaign banners and other printed material as well as events. You can help us with your donations online here

Events, News

Boaters’ Spring Fayre 2023

April 19, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

Boaters’ Spring Fayre
Next to the Clapton S Bend in Hackney
Ain’t No Party like an S Bend Party

We are proud to announce the Boaters’ Spring Fayre community event on Sunday 14th May starting at 12 noon in defence and celebration of our way of life. All boaters and non-boaters are welcome.

We are holding this event of music, acts, stalls and more at one of the key sites the Canal and River Trust (CRT) are trying to erase us from.

At one point CRT called these areas ‘water sports zones’; they then renamed them ‘water safety zones’. These designated ‘zones’ are a part of CRT’s strategy to remove places where boaters can moor. The renaming is part of a PR exercise, the restrictions they are attempting to enact inside the zones have nothing to do with safety.

Initially CRT had plans to get rid of 550 mooring spaces along the River Lea where people can stay up to 14 days at a time. But following the magnificent efforts of events, activism, resolve and resistance from the boating community to push back against the designated zones, CRT relented on the full threatened 550 mooring spaces. However, they continue to try and eliminate 295 mooring spaces, including the Clapton S bend. Boaters are making CRT feel the continuous pushback of our community by ignoring the ‘no mooring’ signs erected by CRT and on Sunday 14th May we will be celebrating our community’s resolve at this key site of resistance. All are welcome

Please say your going on the facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1237083010552732

North Millfields Recreation Ground,
Clapton, London E5 9PB

News

Don’t let CRT price us off the water

March 13, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

The Canal and River Trust (CRT) has produced a consultation survey in which they ask boaters whether people without home moorings should pay more than people with home moorings, as well as other leading and divisive questions. If CRT gets away with pricing boats without home moorings differently, they would be able to price us out of existence while not charging boats with home moorings the same amount.

Many of us will know that CRT misspends and wastes money. The idea that CRT wants yet more money from us is abhorrent. However, the most horrendous tactic of this CRT survey is the use of very leading questions that appear to have been designed to divide the boating community. We must be united and not allow CRT to divide us.

We have gone through the survey and made suggested answers to help people orient themselves though CRT’s leading and biased questions. Please, fill in the survey CRT has emailed you. It may be hard to find in your emails, so please search in your emails including your spam for ‘Canal & River Trust – Consultation Survey on Boat Licence Fees’ from a company called DJS Research. If you haven’t received a link to the survey, or a postal version if CRT don’t have your email address, phone CRT customer services on 03030 404040 to request one.

Download pdf here:

nbta-london-answers-for-crt-consultation-sheet1-3_compress-1-1 Download

Article, nbta london, Newsletter

CRT SELLING OFF ASSETS…

March 13, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

Ever wondered where to go to buy second hand industrial grade machinery? No, not just Stanstead Abbots summer bootsale, you could try Industry Asset Services Ltd (iaservices.co.uk). And were you to visit this industrial equipment auction site, you’d quite quickly find plenty of recognisable CRT equipment sold or on sale. Mainly boats; Piling Workboats, craning boats (and the cranes), rubbish barges, even the CRT patrol boat usually moored at Enfield Lock. But the CRT own much more than just boats, and it seems that if it can be sold, it IS being sold. There’s been diggers, trailers, even replacement beams for lock gates sold off through this site.

Well why would CRT sell this stuff? The only explanation CRT gave when questioned was

that it: “would usually be the case that these boats and items are surplus to the Trust’s requirements or are no longer required in general.”

Which sounds more like, to make/ save some money. Seems fairly reasonable. Any organisation responsible for physical work and upkeep is going to need specialist machinery, tools and vehicles, and those assets will need maintenance themselves, and in some cases re- placing from time to time. So CRT are selling these things because they’re buying new ones right? Well, no. They are simply out- sourcing work in many cases. No need to have a patrol boat if you just pay more money out to a 3rd party company to do your patrols for you…

Events, News

Boaters’ Spring Fayre 2023

January 21, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

Boaters’ Spring Fayre
Next to the Clapton S Bend in Hackney
Ain’t No Party like an S Bend Party

We are proud to announce the Boaters’ Spring Fayre community event on Sunday 14th May starting at 12 noon in defence and celebration of our way of life. All boaters and non-boaters are welcome.

We are holding this event of music, acts, stalls and more at one of the key sites the Canal and River Trust (CRT) are trying to erase us from.

Please say your going on the facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1237083010552732

North Millfields Recreation Ground,
Clapton, London E5 9PB

News

Sticker

January 20, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

Here below is a sticker design, please free to print and stick on your boat

Article, History, nbta london, News, Newsletter

HISTORY OF THE RIVER LEA

January 5, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

The River Lea has long been a multi-use space, shared by all kinds of craft. In recent years, however, the Canal and River Trust has emphasised the rights of some river users over others. This is especially true as the Trust attempts to force through bans on mooring on the site of its “Water Safety Zones”, which will prevent itinerant boat dwellers from mooring in these locations for the 14 days which applies elsewhere on the waterways.

The Trust claims that more “no mooring” sites are necessary for the safety of other canal users, such as rowers and kayakers. This is despite scant evidence that moored boats cause collisions and the fact that the Lea Navigation is among the widest waterways of the country.

Moreover, boats and large barges have been using and mooring on the Lea for many years, including in places where the Trust is calling to ban moored boats. The inset photos show boats and industrial barges moored at some of these very locations.

Figure 1: Hackney Power Station, Millfields 1950-69

Figure 1, from between 1950 to 1969, shows barges unloading at Hackney Power Station, near Millfields Park in Clapton, now the site of a recycling centre. Two stretches of canal here are threatened with restriction under the Trust’s “Safety Zones”, where previously widebeam barges have moored for access.

Figure 4: Hackney Power Station, Millfields
1950-69

Figure 5: Hackney Power Station, 1950-69

Figure 6: Hackney Power Station, 1950-69

Judging from other photos from this period (Fig.4, 5, 6), this section of the navigation near the former power station has been used by considerably larger boats than tend to operate on the river today. Not only this, but Lea Rowing Club, some of the most vocal proponents of the “Safety Zones”, operated on the navigation during these years, when timber and coal barges were evidently on the water too. The waterways have been shared for some time, and it’s unreasonable that this should change now.

In a later photograph from 1973 (Figure 2), a barge is visible moored on the inside of the shallow bend leading round to Milllfields Park. Across from the Princess of Wales pub, where the CRT is proposing no mooring sections, figure 3 shows barges double-moored on the offside. Before the Lea Bridge was constructed, the river was crossed at this site by Jeremy’s and Smith’s ferries as early as 1747, according to A History of the County of Essex: Vol. 6. Passenger boats were therefore mooring at this site as long as over 200 years ago.

The scene in figure 7 will be familiar as the view from the eastern bank of the river in Hackney Wick, opposite Omega Works and looking north toward Barge East. This photo also dates from between 1950 and 1969, and shows wide-beam timber barges moored at a site which the Trust considers unfit for mooring of boats which are homes, but perfectly suitable for more lucrative restaurant boats and water sports landings.

The Canal and River Trust continues to claim that canal boats and liveaboard boaters have not been able to moor in its “Water Safety Zones”, for the benefit of other users. Clearly, there have been large craft sharing the river with others for some decades now.

Article, Local issues, nbta london, News, Newsletter

NEW ECO MOORING PLANS

January 5, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination Leave a comment

Westminster council have just held a consultation period for a new eco mooring zone in Paddington. If plans go ahead this will be the third eco zone in London. The other eco zones are either side of the Islington Tunnel and in Kings Cross in the borough of Camden.

In the Paddington eco mooring plans they contextualise the need for eco moorings and how it can benefit boaters and residents. They also mention pollution has caused the hospital ward near the canal to close on occasions. The council said they could not share any details about the cause of the pollution due to GDPR reasons. NBTA London is in the process of finding out more about the hospital ward closures and the reasons for them by means of a Freedom of Information request.

Paddington Basin, picture by Marc Barrot/Flickr

One particular aspect of the plan is appealing. They have presented the idea of giving grants to boaters to cover the costs of converting boats so they are able to use the electric points (total of £1445 per boat for wiring, fixtures, consumer unit, electrical appliance). However, this mock costing does not consider labour costs and is vague so we can’t be sure whether it’s suitable for all boats. How they would decide which boaters receive the funding is also not clear. As stated in the pamphlet, these conversion grants are not guaranteed. The council will have to apply for funding but there is a worry that the conversion grants idea is tokenistic.

NBTA London met with Westminster council to ask for more details about the eco zone plans. Present at the meeting were 2 members of K&A consultants, a member of Westminster council and a member of CRT. The Westminster council member played the politician and gave no real answers to our questions stating that the plan is dependent on the results of the consultation and available funding. It was clear the council didn’t want to commit to anything. However, we did propose some ideas on how they could make the eco moorings suitable for more boaters which were received positively:

Provide electrical heaters that can be borrowed by boaters.

This would mean boats with off-shore power hook-up wouldn’t need to adapt their boats and they could plug the heaters into their existing plugs.

Integrate a battery charger into the electrical point.

This would mean boats wouldn’t need to run their engines or diesel generators and they wouldn’t need to buy any extra appliances to fulfil their electrical needs. Especially as not all boats will be suitable for conversion.

King’s Cross, Regents Canal, picture by Diamond Geezer/Flickr

All London boroughs have clean air plans to meet clean air targets because illegal levels of air pollution are still being recorded in London, including in the city of Westminster (levels of nitrogen dioxide have been recorded up to 50% higher than legal levels in various areas across London). Despite the pollution from boats being negligible in comparison to the pollution caused by road transport and domestic/commercial heating systems, where we can, it’s good to reduce our emissions. However, in order to transition, boaters need time and support. Stoves and diesel engines are crucial to heat boats and to supply enough power during the Winter months, and are necessary for the majority of the waterways that are without electrical charging points. Then there is the issue of space and money to make boats suitable to use the electric points.

Article, nbta london, News, Newsletter

Together we can stop the boat cull!

January 5, 2023 stopboatlicencediscrimination 1 Comment

As many of you know, when CRT first proposed the full details of the Water ‘Safety’ Zones we calculated that 550 mooring spaces would be lost in Broxbourne, Tottenham and Hackney. As part of this CRT proposed introducing a number of ‘no mooring’ sites in areas which had been moored on and off for years, plus a ban on double mooring and wider boats in many areas.

Following the magnificent efforts of the boating community to push back against these ‘Safety’ Zones, CRT initially appeared to desist from their implementation, in favour of a navigation forum of stakeholders. Unfortunately CRT are still attempting to impose the most extreme part of the original ‘Safety’ Zones outline – the new no mooring sections. CRT has been claiming the ‘no mooring’ sites are based on preexisting rules and regulations, while making up new rules to say the sections have always been ‘no mooring’. This flies in the face of the fact that many of these ‘no mooring’ sections have been moored on for over a hundred years.

Boater’s resisting the ‘Safety Zones’ on the lower River Lea

We in the NBTA have been attending the navigation forum of stakeholders over safety, the Lea Navigation Forum. In this CRT had tried to not talk about the ‘no mooring’ sites, however, we have again and again been putting forward our disagreements over the many ‘no mooring’ sections. This has been done alongside collective boaters’ action to keep mooring in places which we are challenging. CRT in return has announced a reduction of ‘no mooring’ restriction by a total of 157 metres. These include near or under pedestrian bridges and a few other places, often just an extra metre here or there. CRT has now admitted that there are no safety concerns for boats to moor near or under many of the footbridges. Therefore, along with mooring spaces CRT isn’t openly planning to implement such as ban on double mooring etc, so far we have saved 263 mooring spaces out of 550 CRT first wanted to get rid of. While it is good news that CRT seems to be seeing sense on some restrictions, there are many enforced ‘no mooring’ sections which still make no sense in terms of general safety. To see which restrictions we are challenging and CRT’s and our own claimed reasoning, we have put together a clear and concise document which can be found at: https://nbtalondon.wordpress.com/2022/10/14/nbta-londons-position-on-the-water-safety-zones-explained-in-this-handy-pdf/

CRT ‘No Mooring Sign’ in one of the ‘Safety Zones’

CRT ‘No Mooring Sign’ in a ‘Safety Zone’ on the Lower Lea covered over with a bin bag

Most importantly, we must continue as a community to keep mooring on the ‘no mooring’ sites. NBTA will continue to attend the forum meetings and offer legal assistance to boaters, however, what will win this will be the hundreds of boaters who continue to resist and temporarily moor on the safe ‘no mooring’ sites. If you’re in the above areas and see a safe ‘no mooring’ site, please moor there for up to two weeks. If CRT sends you a notice saying you are breaching Condition 12.2 of the T&Cs or that you are entering the improper mooring process, ignore these. You have the full support of the NBTA to do so.

National Bargee Travellers Association – London Branch

All posts by stopboatlicencediscrimination

Boaters left out in the cold over the Energy Bills Support Scheme

Boaters’ Spring Fayre 2023

Don’t let CRT price us off the water

Boaters’ Spring Fayre 2023

Sticker

A volunteer organisation formed in 2009 campaigning and providing advice for itinerant boat dwellers on Britain’s inland and coastal waterways