Here is an opinion of a boater about a licence strike not a NBTA statement: Opinion: Why I will be licence striking as part of a coordinated boater mass action My boat is my home. Over a five year period CRT want to raise my licence by around £600. That’s an additional half on top of the fee I already pay. I want […]
Author: Marcus Trower
Surcharge, real financial cost in 5 years?
With some confusion and a seeming lack of wide alarm at a 5% rising to 25% surcharge on boats without home moorings, CRT’s ‘glide path’, which introduces incremental and differential licence fee pricing between now and 2028, could well be intentionally deceptive.
CRT allows sewage to leak into canal
“The stench was so bad I threw up” said a boater as sewage blanketed the tourist spot Little Venice on the Regents Canal for nine days and counting, following inaction from the charity Canal & River Trust (CRT). Negligence from the UK’s main canal charity has allowed untreated sewage to seep over towpaths and into […]
NBTA to run Volunteer Caseworker training course in October
The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) will be holding an online training course for Volunteer Caseworkers to join our dedicated team. There are three sessions within the training course. They will be held online on 20th and 27th October and 3rd November 2024 from 3pm to 6pm. NBTA Caseworkers help boaters to deal with enforcement […]
Is it really about money?
As many of you know, the main reason Canal & River Trust (CRT) has given for imposing a surcharge on the licence fees of the 20% of boats that don’t have a home mooring is that it needs more money. CRT says this is due to two things: firstly inflation, and secondly cuts to its […]
NBTA is hiring! We’re looking for a paid national organiser
National Organiser – National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) Are you passionate about community empowerment and protecting the rights of waterway residents? Join the NBTA in our mission to encourage boat dwellers of the UK to organise themselves and strengthen the sense of solidarity. About Us: The NBTA is a volunteer organisation dedicated to upholding and […]
Easter Regatta in the face of the Surcharge
Hundreds of boaters and supporters alike turned out for this demonstration of community, solidarity and resistance to CRTs plans to dispossess us from our homes on the water. Before we arrived, Paddington Basin was empty, but at the Boaters’ Easter Regatta we’ve demonstrated exactly what boaters mean to the waterways by filling it with life, […]
We will keep fighting the discriminatory licence fee ‘surcharge’
This April Fool’s Day will be the beginning of Canal & River Trust (CRT) charging boats for not having a home mooring. However, this is no April fool’s joke! Unchallenged, this will be the beginning of CRT being able to use the price of a licence to get rid of boats without home moorings. Each […]
Boaters Easter Regatta on 30th March
Come on Saturday 30th March to the Easter Regatta against the surcharge on our way of life and a celebration of the national boater community. Boaters from across the waterways will be coming to the event in Paddington featuring live music, speeches food, stalls and other boatee fun… Meet at the canalside entrance to Paddington […]
NBTA and Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign
When, in the wake of DEFRA’s decision to reduce the grant to the Canal & River Trust (CRT), several boaters’ groups and other stakeholders set up the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign, the NBTA politely declined the invitation to join the campaign. So, don’t we think that the waterways should be properly funded? Of course we […]