The process of privatisation can be witnessed in various stages on London’s canal network. As visitor moorings become pre-bookable and chargeable moorings become private, the absence of boats on significant lengths of towpath in Central London is testament to the financial exclusion of boaters from these areas.
In 2016 NBTA made it explicitly clear in talks with CRT that public moorings should not be converted to private use. In August 2023, chargeable moorings at Rembrandt Gardens and Paddington Basin doubled in price overnight from £12 to £25. 80m of previous visitor moorings in Paddington Basin and 160m in Little Venice were converted to chargeable also at £25 a night, effectively £50 for two nights with a midday turnaround. Beyond the financial means of most boaters.
Paddington Basin
A Freedom of Information Request reveals pontoons in Paddington are used at half-capacity 49% of the time, bookings made across 1,200 days generated £16,000 in income. At Rembrandt Gardens 584 days generated £6,350. While there has been high uptake of free pre-bookable mooring in Kings Cross and Angel; new chargeable moorings in Little Venice and Paddington are running at 24% capacity and have since August been underused with a total of only 218 bookings and £5,425 in revenue. These moorings are sighted by three rangers (among other duties) at a cost of £100,000.
CRT claim financial exclusion makes the system ‘fair’ for all boaters, giving everyone an equal opportunity. Significant lengths of pre-bookable space; 200m at Colebrook Row in Angel and 220m at Treaty St in Kings Cross may well be more democratic for the time being, but how long will they remain free? As mooring opportunities are reduced to make chargeable space, overcrowding is experienced on other parts of the network. Travelling boaters, already threatened with surcharges for lack of ownership and place are being further marginalised by the introduction of these zones.
CRT’s vision for London seems to be canals without boats.
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CRT would like to start charging ‘extra’ for Towpath Moorings. Normally your licence includes the right to moor on any towpath without extra charge. CRT would like to turn 1.1km of London’s regular towpath into new ‘Chargeable’ Moorings that would cost an additional £84 extra a week. Why? Because CRT believes financially excluding people from these moorings will somehow make them ‘fairer’. Boaters who can afford it will be able to reserve themselves a guaranteed mooring space, at the expense of less wealthy Boaters who will find their mooring opportunities significantly reduced.
Proposed chargeable mooring sites along the London Canal Network
In reality this would financially exclude many residential boaters without a home mooring from 1.1km of the mooring space they rely on for their livelihood. Much like every other CRT Policy, this prioritises Leisure Boating over Residential Boating – CRT have no actual adjustments in any of their strategies that actively support itinerant, residential boating. Perhaps there is a question here – do CRT believe that holidays are more important than homes? Most worrying of all, evidence suggests that these new chargeable moorings will often remain empty and unused.
Paddington Basin, one of the chargeable mooring locations. Pic by Nick Sarebi, Flickr
CRT have conducted an online survey about their ‘Chargeable Mooring’ plans – unfortunately their survey is invalid for the following reasons:
CRT’s survey is invalid because it claims a Pilot Chargeable Mooring Scheme they ran was a great success. In fact, it was only used 25% of the time – the rest of the time it remained empty and unused.
CRT’s survey is invalid because it is based on CRT creating new regular towpath moorings – to replace the ones being annexed off for wealthier boaters. A Freedom Of Information Request revealed that CRT does not know where these ‘replacement’ regular moorings will be. Historically CRT have promised many new mooring spaces that have not materialised – so if CRT do not know where these ‘replacement’ moorings will be, effectively they do not exist.
Boaters in 2017 tried to stop the Gasworks offside mooring in Bethnal Green from becoming private ‘paid’ moorings
CRT’s survey is invalid because it initially misinformed participants that only 40 regular towpath moorings would be lost to this ‘Chargeable’ mooring scheme. Due to another Freedom Of Information request they later had to amend these false figures mid-survey to 1.1km. This could amount to 120 regular mooring spaces being lost, so this survey was initially based on a false premise.*
CRT’s survey is invalid because it is filled with coercive questions that force participants to suggestively agree to things they do not. The question ‘How many times a year should you be allowed to moor on a Chargeable Mooring?’ does not allow me to disagree with the whole concept in the first place – one can only hope that CRT does not ‘cherry-pick’ their data.
CRT’s survey is invalid because when it suggests introducing a ‘no widebeam double mooring’ policy it misrepresents the facts. London’s canals are some of the widest in the country. There are many places throughout London’s canals where you can double moor onto a widebeam and leave an enormous amount of space for navigation. The impact of removing this double mooring capacity will be vast. Yet again – the survey is based on a false premise.
Angel is another proposed site for chargeable moorings. Pic by Alan Firkser
So where does that leave us? A poorly constructed, invalid survey about a poorly conceived scheme, based on falsehoods and prejudice. No Equality Impact Assessment to demonstrate how this will affect family/residential/disabled/older/financially disadvantaged boaters (CRT have promised to conduct one – but only once the scheme is effectively a done deal). Then there is the strange assertion that making something financially prohibitive will somehow make it fairer (- for whom?).
It feels like history is repeating itself. Yet another policy aimed at debilitating the Itinerant Boating Community, founded on a swamp of misinformation, without any form of proper consultation – in particular, no consultation with those it will impact the most. Surely in any proposal worth its salt you would conduct an Equality Impact Assessment before presenting it to the general public – otherwise you risk promoting discrimination… unless, of course, that is exactly what you intend to do.
Regents Canal through Central London.
And let’s not lose sight of the door that is being opened – one where CRT can charge whatever it likes, for any towpath mooring, anywhere. This new CRT Policy could in fact be a step-by-step guide on how to make a public asset financially exclusive.
* This was calculation assumes boats are 60ft each. The number is higher if you assume boat smaller.
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
Join us at our Community Summer event at the end of this month. We are having a picnic at the Walthamstow Marshes on Sunday 26th June 2022 – 12pm start. Click here for more details
A volunteer organisation formed in 2009 campaigning and providing advice for itinerant boat dwellers on Britain’s inland and coastal waterways
National Bargee Travellers Association - London Branch 