Boaters' Update October 2008

New Waterways Minister appointed
As part of a cabinet reshuffle, Huw Irranca-Davies, MP for Ogmore in Wales, becomes Under Secretary of State at Defra and takes over responsibility for Inland waterways. Huw replaces Jonathan Shaw MP, who had been the waterways minister since July 2007.
Find out more about Huw Irranca-Davies

BW’s Annual Meeting and debate about future strategy for waterways
60 years since the waterways were nationalised, BW’s Annual Meeting took place this month in Birmingham and offered some fascinating points of discussion in an historic anniversary year. The meeting started with a video message from the new Waterways Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies MP, followed by presentations from BW’s chairman, Tony Hales and chief executive, Robin Evans. The morning concluded with a question & answer session.

The meeting was followed by an afternoon debate called Waterways for the 21st Century, focussing on future strategy for the waterways. Tony Hales chaired the session and was joined by panel members: Rt. Hon John Gummer, MP; John Edmonds, chair IWAC; Richard Fairhurst, editor, Waterways World and Carole Souter, chief executive, Heritage Lottery Fund.

The panellists presented their thoughts for the future strategy for the waterways before the debate was opened up with a number of questions taken from the floor. The afternoon session included debates on BW’s funding gap, engaging volunteers and extending the appeal beyond the typical boating groups to include other waterway users. The debate also considered how the waterways should look to the future including the role they can play in regeneration and in tackling climate change.

Find out more about the Annual Meeting & Waterways for the 21st Century debate

New BW licensing pages and Online Boat Checker
A new area of BW's website, www.britishwaterways.co.uk/license-it, now includes a complete guide to boat licensing replacing the old fees and conditions booklets and contains all the information and BW forms required to boat on BW’s canals and rivers.

The Online Boat Checker is a new feature which you can use if you see a boat that appears to be unlicensed and would like to check its status. Simply enter the boat’s index number and the ‘sightings’ database checks it against the database of licensed boats. If the boat is not licensed, you will be able to report your sighting. Each completed form is logged and assigned a priority for action.

To find out more about BW’s new licensing pages and online boat checker visit www.britishwaterways.co.uk/license-it

Moorings consultation – the way ahead for BW moorings
Conclusions and decisions following the public consultation on pricing and vacancy allocation at BW moorings have been published. The main decision is to convert the trialled tendering system trialled over the past year into an open auction. This will make it much easier for people to decide how much to bid whilst still providing BW with data to inform its pricing for existing customers.

Read the full moorings consultation report

BW’s new licence conditions and use of phosphate-free detergents
Amongst a number of changes to BW's licence terms is the strengthening of the Navigation Rule about discharge of 'grey' water from boats. It asks boaters, particularly those using on-board dish washers or washing machines, to use only phosphate-free detergents. Find out why phosphates are bad for our waterways and how boaters can ‘do their bit’ to help.

BW has always allowed boaters to discharge 'grey water' (waste water from sinks and showers) overboard. It is perfectly legal, and has not caused any problems to date. However, the number of boats using BW’s network is growing, and there is also a trend for some to have dishwashers and washing machines, with the waste water plumbed into the grey water system. This means that the amount of pollution from boats is gradually increasing, and at a time where other forms of pollution are being better controlled.

There are an increasing number of green products on the market, many of which will be phosphate-free (it will say on the label). BW has produced a list of example phosphate-free products and it refers boaters to The Green Directory website for products and services which claim to be more environmentally sensitive.

Find out more about phosphates and their impact on waterways, and how to buy the right detergents

Mon & Brec update
The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is getting ready for next year’s main summer season – fully repaired and with a clear vision. The anniversary of last year’s breach – 16 October – has been used to showcase the extensive progress made on repairing this waterway, which plays such a vital role in the regional economy. Work is now firmly focused on the two-mile breach site at Gilwern, where the canal bed is being re-lined, bridges repaired and culverts upgraded.

BW Wales & Border Counties General Manager, Julie Sharman, said the waterway remains on course to re-open for the main visitor season in March 2009. "We have invested £7.5m immediately to bring the canal back into use and enable it to once more play a key role in the continuing development of the tourism industry in Wales. The challenge now is to secure the long-term future of this waterway, which represents far more than a leisure amenity for boaters and anglers. The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is a major tourism magnet which contributes £17m annually to the economy of Wales."

Read more about securing the future of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

Tempted to hire out your boat?
In these hard economic times, BW is anticipating – and beginning to observe – an increase in reports of boat owners advertising their boats 'To Let', often via the internet. While this might seem like an attractive option to help defray boating expenses, it's important to weigh up the risks. BW has published an advice note setting out the issues. The risks are not trivial – if your customer has a serious accident, you would be responsible. And if you go ahead without the required consent, your boat could be at risk from enforcement action. BW is not saying 'you can’t do it' – it's saying 'do your homework and get the consents before you go ahead'.

Waterway volunteers pick up award
BW is celebrating the diversity and importance of the volunteering that takes place across its canals and rivers by recognising ten projects that have been particularly successful in the past 12 months. Ranging from heritage recording and ranger services to physical construction works and encouraging community engagement, BW is highlighting the value of the projects by presenting an 'acknowledgement' award to each.

The ten projects singled out to receive one of the inaugural awards were all nominated by BW staff and the presentations will be made this month by BW's regional general managers. Last year BW was involved with volunteer-led projects that contributed over 8,000 volunteer days to the promotion and upkeep of the waterways worth in excess of £400,000.

BW’s chief executive, Robin Evans comments: "I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all volunteers on our inland waterways. If we could, we'd thank them all individually but I hope that this can be seen as a start to greater recognition of their efforts and their importance to our canals and rivers."

Read more about BW’s waterway volunteer awards

BW's Waterways Excellence Awards winner
A BW team in charge of repairs to the Drakeholes Tunnel on the Chesterfield Canal has been crowned winner in BW's annual Waterways Excellence Awards which highlight individuals and small groups who demonstrate extraordinary levels of ingenuity, innovation, commitment and hard work.

BW’s chief executive Robin Evans says: "This project required extensive liaison within BW to get the engineering, heritage and environmental issues properly aligned. It then required great skill to re-point the tunnel facade and the team received on-site training from external specialists. The end result is a repaired tunnel portal that will last for another 200 years, but such is the skill with which the work has been undertaken, the casual observer would only notice we had been there by the excellent clearance of vegetation from around the site."

Read more about the Waterways Excellence Award winners

Waterways to strike a blow against climate change
BW and Partnerships for Renewables announced their plan to generate renewable energy at canal and riverside locations across the UK. The proposals, which could provide annual savings in excess of 100,000 tonnes of CO2, would include wind turbines and hydro-electric schemes and could generate enough power for 45,000 homes – the equivalent to the canalside town of Blackburn!

Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner, Nick Rau said: "We're delighted that BW is planning to take action on climate change by generating its own safe, clean renewable energy and cutting fuel bills at the same time. Community-scale renewable energy projects such as hydropower schemes and wind turbines have a huge role to play in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and helping Britain to develop a low-carbon economy. It is clear that renewable energy generation development could offer substantial economic and environmental benefits right across the public sector and we hope that other public organisations follow the lead set by British Waterways."

Read more about BW action on climate change

Residential boating survey – still (just!) time to have your say
And finally there is still time to log your views. BW and the Residential Boat Owners Association are seeking the views of those living afloat, or with an interest in becoming residential boaters, to have their say in helping BW to understand preferences for different types of residential moorings. The information will be used to help influence local authority planning policy and to encourage the inclusion of residential moorings in new marina developments.

BW’s head of boating development, Sally Ash comments: "We’ve had a good response to the survey so far, but the more views and comments we receive from boaters, the greater weight will be given to our conversations and lobbying of planners and marina developers. This is an opportunity for residential boaters to have their say about where they want residential moorings and what facilities they prefer."

The survey is available online at www.rboa.org.uk and www.britishwaterways.co.uk/residentialmoorings until the end of October.

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