NBTA London statement on Canal and River Trust’s response to the River Lee Water Safety Zones stakeholder engagement exercise.

Yesterday’s climbdown response by Canal and River Trust (CRT) to the stakeholder engagement with respect to the River Lee Water Safety Zones, carried out by Hopkins Van Mil, represents a massive victory for the boating community of London.
Supported and facilitated by NBTA London, boaters in London have come together to organise against CRT’s attempts to remove hundreds of casual moorings on the River Lee. In a little over six months we have succeeded in forcing CRT to abandon their draconian proposals to make life on the Lee more challenging for boaters.
Through a campaign which included leafleting boaters and non-boaters on the towpath, two flotillas in Broxbourne and Hackney, one of which saw over fifty boats cruising the Lee between Clapton and Hackney Wick, and coverage in national and local press, we have highlighted the negative impact of CRT’s unreasonable and misguided proposals on our community.
As the result of our actions, CRT has today retracted their proposals for the “safety zones”. NBTA London would like to congratulate the hundreds of boaters from London and around the country who have contributed to this victory.
CRT still believes that the “safety zones” are necessary in some form or another, so our work on this is not necessarily finished. But now they know our community has the taste of success in this campaign and we shall not just stand by while they make any new attempts to introduce measures which will have a negative effect on our community.
The full engagement report by Hopkins Van Mil can be found here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/44416-010921-hopkins-van-mill-report-on-stakeholder-engagement-on-lee-navigation.pdf

CRT’s response to the stakeholder engagement can be found here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/44417-010921-water-safety-zone-statement-crt-response.pdf

In the recent infamous Zoom meeting in which Canal and River Trust (CRT) attempted to manage the discontent of boaters with the River Lee “safety” zones, Ros Daniels, regional director for London and the South East, referred to those of us who were resistant to their attempts to justify their proposals as “these people”.

It is perhaps tempting to regard the “these people” comment as a slip of the tongue, but it is nearer to the truth that in fact it is merely reflective of how CRT truly regards boaters without a home mooring who cruise the London waterways (and other locations). To CRT, and its predecessor British Waterways (BW), we have always been “these people”. And further more, there has always been too many of us.

In 2011, claiming that boat numbers on the Lee and Stort was too high, BW attempted to impose 6 neighbourhoods covering the whole of the Lee and Stort (4 on the Lee, 2 on the Stort). Boaters would be allowed to stay in a neighbourhood for only 14 days (7 on the Stort and Hertford Union) before moving to the next. Like the CRT’s safety zones, BW’s
proposals were founded on wafer thin evidence, which Sally Ash, BW’s head of boating, said was collected “informally” And like CRT’s “safety zones”, there was no consultation.

Later, in 2014, Sally Ash, now working for CRT and once described as the most hated person in CRT, blamed boaters without a home mooring for spoiling everybody’s enjoyment of the waterways.
The Lee & Stort mooring strategy led to the formation of London Boaters as a campaigning group to defend the rights of boaters in London, and resulted in an humiliating retraction at their hands.

But “neighbourhoods” were not dead. Failing to learn from BW’s mistake, CRT picked up the idea in 2014 and trialled them on the Kennet and Avon. Despite struggling to form anything approaching a legal proposal. Predictably, the trial crashed and burned…until the
next time CRT looked at trying them on parts of the K&A, which along with London, is CRT’s main target for new “policies”, in 2016.
The executives at CRT pay lip service to supporting liveaboard boaters and the benefits of having them on the water; but the examples of how CRT’s continual attempts to justify its existence target boaters without a home mooring could fill a book.

Whether it is mooring plans, boating strategies, number management or “safety” zones, the fact remains that it is we who are affected disproportionately negatively.

That is the price of being “these people”.

Please donate or/and set up a standing order using these bank details here:

Account name: National Bargee Travellers Association London

Account number : 32390422

Sort code:      23-05-80

OPEN-AIR MEETING AND PICNIC

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Recent proposed changes to CRT Terms & Conditions (T&C’s) have provoked the ire of both leisure and live-aboard boaters. 

Boaters opposing changes to T&Cs are in agreement in challenging the lack of consultation and legal basis for changes, which seem to clearly infringe on boaters’ rights outlined in the 1995 Waterways Act.  These latest T&Cs define 2 separate types of licence; one for leisure users, and another for ‘Continuous Cruising’ (CC-ers). The accompanying granularly detailed restrictions seem like overkill at best, and at worst appear to be targeting and further marginalising those CC-ers who are less affluent (ie. towing restrictions).  In yet another instance of duplicity, CRT T&Cs say it “may provide your relevant personal details to anyone who we believe has a legitimate interest to have the details”, whilst also claiming it can’t engage with boaters directly via email (to consult on issues) because of GDPR. 

NBTA’s solicitors have sent a second legal pre-action protocol letter to CRT over our belief that at least parts of CRT’s T&Cs are unlawful. CRT then made minor changes. These changes included removal of:

‘10.10: The Boat must not display an association with, or advertise, any company, business or service without Our (CRT’s) express consent in writing.’

However there are still a lot more clauses like this in their new T& C’s.

Over 12 years ago some boat dwellers without home moorings in the Reading area pulled themselves together to form the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA). This was in response to extra enforcement in the Reading area. Their campaign against increased enforcement forced the authorities to back down.

Over the following years, NBTA membership would expand and so would its achievements. The resulting NBTA campaigns ensured that CRT followed the Equalities Act 2010, and helped to get boat dwellers into an Act of Parliament where Local Councils are required to do needs assessments for boat dwellers in their local area.

Throughout its existence, NBTA has helped to stop individuals being evicted and ensure they are able to get access to healthcare and education for their children. When necessary, NBTA sets up campaigns, varying from fighting against mooring spaces being taken away, to campaigning to get more boater facilities, to organising the community against boater evictions.

However, it must be said NBTA wouldn’t exist without people being a part of it. When we say NBTA did this or did that, the reality is that these things are being done by boat dwellers just like you; they might even be moored next to you. We believe more can be changed or protected when we work together as an organisation. The more people working together in the organisation, the more that can be done.

So if you’re not already, why not consider being one of the people who does something to protect our way of life?

Our meetings take place on the last Sunday of each month at 4pm. Our next meeting is on Sunday 25th July.

Due to Covid, meetings take place on line. You can also join by phone. Here are the joining details:

https://8×8.vc/nbta/nbta

Alternatively, you can use the dial in details:
Dial-in: +44 330 808 1706 PIN: 45925961#

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The second stage of the “Safety Zones” consultation has opened and will take the form of a “bilateral mediated discussion” between two boater representatives and two CRT representatives.

We requested that various boater constituencies with specific vulnerabilities be represented and we requested a direct discussion with the rowers but neither of these requests have been heeded.

Instead of asking boaters to nominate two representatives, two boaters were nominated by Hopkins Van Mil, the facilitators of the consultation. We have indicated that this is unacceptable and have nominated two boaters to represent us, who were voted on by the NBTA.

We have responded to the invitation to the second stage of the consultation with the following questions:

• What is the objective of the bilateral meeting?
• Will the CRT provide granular data concerning safety incidents prior to the meeting?      
• Will the CRT be putting forward new policy proposals in the meeting?
• Will new policy proposals be developed as a result of this meeting? 
• If yes, will feedback on those proposals be sought from stakeholders?  
• What other bilateral meetings are scheduled?
• Will a facilitated bilateral meeting between rowers and boaters be held?
• Will the feedback from the stakeholder engagement form be shared prior to the meeting?
• Will the meeting be audio recorded?
• Will minutes of the meeting be publicly available?

Because the CRT has not provided detailed evidence regarding the alleged safety concerns, or undertaken any genuine investigation, these discussions are unlikely to be fruitful. In order to make progress on this issue, we have proposed that the CRT develop a new proposal that is supported by evidence and based on a dialogue between the affected groups.

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

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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!