If you are on the Kennet and Avon Canal, Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) Council’s Planning Department will be carrying out a Boat Dweller Accommodation Needs Assessment as it is required to do under Section 124 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 as part of the assessment of all housing need in the authority’s area. For more information about Boat Dweller Accommodation Assessments, see https://www.bargee-traveller.org.uk/best-practice-guide/
Interviewers from a company called Opinion Research Services (ORS) will be walking the towpath between Keynsham and Dundas over the coming days, looking for people to interview. If you are interested, please engage with them. The needs assessment is anonymous – personal data will not be shared with BaNES Council. Please take part if possible, as it is important that the Council gets an accurate picture of the number of boat dwellers in BaNES and your accommodation needs.
For example, your main need may be for CRT to drop its unlawful and damaging enforcement policy of requiring boaters without a home mooring to travel a range of 20 miles or more in their licence period, and to drop the threats of removing your home if you don’t comply with this policy.
This is a separate exercise to the CRT census – CRT has been consulted on the questionnaire design but is otherwise not involved.
If you don’t want to be interviewed face-to-face, are not available or not moored in BaNES at the moment but spend part of the year there, you can also participate online or by phone. See the Council’s announcement below:
Meeting the needs of boat dwellers on the Avon and Kennet and Avon Canal – have your say!
Opinion Research Services (ORS) are an independent research company working on behalf of Bath and North East Somerset Council to understand the needs of Boat Dwellers on the River Avon and the Kennet and Avon canal through the Council area. We have been commissioned to carry out research with the Boat Dweller community in the Council area to ask you about what you need and where you need it – permanent and visiting moorings, services such as pump out and electricity, issues around licensing, and so on. Julian House and the Canal & River Trust have kindly agreed to support us with this work.
Bath and North East Somerset Council are keen to find out what Boat Dwellers needs are so as to be able to plan and improve services to Boat Dwellers who live in their area, either permanently or for part of the year, including continuous cruisers. Please note that this is not part of the CRT Boater Census. That Census is important but it will not tell us what the Council need to know to adequately plan and improve services. This is an opportunity for Boat Dwellers to make their voices heard to improve moorings and other services in the Bath and North East Somerset area.
If you would like to take part then please first contact ORS via elliot.muldoon@ors.org.uk or on 01792 535337 in order to obtain a unique identifying number which you must use to confirm your response to the survey.
You can then either take part in the survey securely online at www.opinionresearch.co.uk/bathnesboatdwellers OR take part over the phone by calling Michael Bayliss on 07471 267095. PLEASE NOTE – No responses will be recorded unless a unique identifying number is recorded either on the online survey OR via telephone response. The closing date for responses is Friday 21st October 2022.
Your household will not be identified and all the information collected will be anonymous. All questions are optional and all information you provide will be processed by ORS in accordance with the Data Protection Act and GDPR. Your responses will be stored and processed electronically and securely. Your household will not be identified to the council and only anonymous data and results will be submitted, though verbatim comments may be reported in full. The data from this survey will only be used to help understand the needs of Boat Dwelling households.
Any information that you provide will be treated in strict confidence in accordance with the Council’s Privacy Policy, which you can find on the website at: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/council-privacy-notices/planning-privacy-notice
The information will only be used for the study and your individual responses will not be shared.
As a Market Research Society Company Partner, ORS abides by the Market Research Society Code of Conduct as well as all data protection legislation. Full details of ORS’s privacy policy can be found at www.ors.org.uk/privacy. If you have any questions about this project or if you need any help in filling in this questionnaire, please contact ORS on Freephone 0800 107 7890 or by emailing surveys@ors.org.uk
How do I know that ORS is a genuine research company?
You can contact the Market Research Society on Freephone 0800 975 9596.
How do I know that this is a genuine council project?
You can contact BATHNES Council by email RiverAvon@bathnes.gov.uk or phone 01225 394041.