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CRT are at it again !

https://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/23931791.canal-river-trust-puts-navigation-yard-sale/ Yep, here we go again Canal & River Trust are once again attempting to sell off more of the ‘family silver’ in order to fund their very own particular brand of incompetence, failure and personal wealth accumulations. The site contains a number of historically significant grade-II listed buildings (Image: Avison Young) So, despite the fact that the site is clearly a “historically significant” site, C&RT are ignoring their ‘charitable articles’ and their responsibility to ‘preserve heritage structures’ in favour of a blatant ‘cash grab’ ! Parry’s Posse strike again and yet more of our country’s history and heritage which CRT supposedly ‘preserve’ for the nation will be sold to private developers as part of CRT’s asset stripping cash generation programme ! The government don’t seem to give a shit,… Read More »CRT are at it again !

The disaster that is Canal & River Trust !

I would like to express my personal thanks to the authors of the following articles and to Narrowboatworld for publishing them. https://narrowboatworld.com/14916-net-value-of-cart-assets-plummets https://www.narrowboatworld.com/14795-carts-commercial-failure   It would seem that finally the truth about CRT is being revealed.  And perhaps now people will begin to recognise what members of the boating community have been saying for years, namely that CRT as an organisation are not fit for purpose. They have been asset stripping the national treasure which was entrusted to them since being given the responsibility for its preservation and protection, basically since the day they walked in the door. They have consistently lied about their performance and their policies and they have worked slowly but surely in an attempt to marginalise, isolate and even ‘demonise’ the community of continuous cruisers and… Read More »The disaster that is Canal & River Trust !

Undervalued & Overcharged !

Unfortunately, CRT don’t really see us as any kind of asset other than our cash value on a spreadsheet ! We’re just seen as a liability ! They don’t really have a clue about our life on the cut, they don’t really see how we live or what we actually do by way of contributing. They don’t see us when we are acting as ambassadors for the canals, or as unpaid ‘meeters and greeters’, history teachers, tour guides, newbie/hireboat instructors, local information providers and in winter when all the visitors have gone home guess what, we’re still here, who do they think is there clearing all the winter flotsam and crap from locks and around lockgates, sluices and bywashes, we do it because we have to in order to get… Read More »Undervalued & Overcharged !

Birmingham Protest

National protest to march on CRT’s boss Richard Parry’s offices in Central Birmingham on Saturday 25 November! Fight CRT’s divisive licence fee hikes! Get ready to march in protest! If you can, bring boats and moor them outside their offices. Let us know if you want to be involved: stopboatlicencediscrimination@gmail.com

Not fit for purpose

The following information recently appeared on CRT’s website at :-  https://licensing.canalrivertrust.org.uk/ ———————————————— Sightings Information To support customers accessing their data, we have recently made sightings of boat movements available via your Web Licensing account. Unfortunately, the format of that data has caused some customers concern about the location their boat has been sighted and left them with questions. The Trust is currently compiling supporting guidance and information, as a priority, to help boaters best understand this data and help answer any questions they may have. Whilst we prepare this guidance, we are pausing access to the sightings data. We anticipate this pause will be brief, and sightings will be available again soon. We thank you for your patience and ask that, unless urgent or you do not have access to… Read More »Not fit for purpose

IWA and other organisations

The IWA and others have been quick to respond to the CRT announcement about increased licence fees and the extra, somewhat unquantifiable, charges for continuous cruisers. NBTA have responded with a call to action but other boating organisations including the RBOA and NABO have not yet expressed an opinion of CRT’s announcement. It’s good to see that the IWA in particular appear to have changed their mind about CRT. They were initially one of the most vociferous supporters, calling for the charitable trust to be given control and responsibility for our waterways in the first place, they even signed a ‘Memorandum Of Understanding’ almost as soon as Mr Parry got his feet under the CRT boardroom table and well before having a chance to actually assess whether the trust was… Read More »IWA and other organisations

Rachmanism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rachman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Perec “Peter” Rachman (16 August 1919 – 29 November 1962) was a Polish-born landlord who operated in Notting Hill, London, England in the 1950s and early 1960s. He became notorious for his exploitation of his tenants, with the word “Rachmanism” entering the Oxford English Dictionary as a synonym for the exploitation and intimidation of tenants. Canal & River Trust don’t like the idea or the definition but to many liveaboard boaters they are effectively a landlord. It’s a concept they really work hard at avoiding, just ask the National Bargee Traveller Association about their ‘Boats Are Homes’ campaign. As far as CRT are concerned our boats are not homes they are merely possessions and as such have a very different place in law. Thanks to CRT boaters have been evicted from their homes, had… Read More »Rachmanism

YAY !!! It isn’t much but it’s better than the usual lack of maintenance !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66961649 Lift bridges on the Oxford canal are going to be upgraded ! It’s nice to be able to report something positive for a change, unfortunately we’re only talking about four bridges which is a bit like a proverbial drop in the ocean but hey, credit where credit is due eh? CRT are of course blowing their own trumpet about the project…  https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/lb650000-lift-for-iconic-oxford-canal-bridges but I guess that’s to be expected as they’re splashing out £650,000 on the project. However, work on Chisnell lift bridge (no.193) has been funded by “support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery“, which has donated over £16 million so far to “a range of important waterway and wellbeing projects”. The project will see the bridges fitted with hydraulic winding gear in order to upgrade them and… Read More »YAY !!! It isn’t much but it’s better than the usual lack of maintenance !

Duty of Care

Post contributed via Email from Horatio Hornyblower Canal River Trust has a ‘Duty Of Care’ to the boating community. Unfortunately, it seems to be pursuing some policies and practices which appear to be specifically targeted at the boat dwelling Itinerant Traveller community known as ‘Continuous Cruisers’ as well as affecting the wider boating fraternity. Policies which could well be seen as contravening both the guidelines laid down and possibly the law. According to the information on the NEVO website, “Under common law (sometimes called case law), charities also have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to anyone who has a ‘relationship of proximity’ with them.” and the government’s own guidance for charity trustees clearly states the following specific instances from the duties and responsibilities laid… Read More »Duty of Care

CRT licence charges

The changes proposed by Canal River Trust to the licensing structure where “continual cruisers” will not only pay an above inflation increase for the next 5 years on the “standard” license fee but also an annual surcharge are just one more attack on continuous cruisers ! This proposed increase and the surcharge are being justified on the flawed basis that we, the continuous cruisers, use more of the system and facilities than boats with a mooring ! According to CRT’s figures there are 5,000 continual cruisers against a total licensed boating community of 33,000. Most boats that come out of their moorings each year tend to cover far greater distances over the year and at higher speeds than a plodding itinerant boater ! At this time of austerity and in… Read More »CRT licence charges