NBTA Advice on Applications for the Energy Bills Support Scheme – Alternative Funding (EBSS-AF) and Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) INTERIM UPDATE The Energy Bills Support Scheme – Alternative Funding (EBSS-AF) system may go live this week in the pilot areas of Wrexham, Chichester, Glasgow and West Sussex, with a full nationwide roll-out anticipated before mid-February. […]
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All members invited to NBTA Committee meeting 15th January
All NBTA members are invited to the NBTA Committee meeting which will be held by telephone and by Zoom on Sunday 15th January 2023 at 2pm to 4pm. Members are invited to attend committee meetings and to take part in running the NBTA and deciding its next actions and priorities.
NBTA Still Campaigning for Energy Bills Support for Itinerant Boaters
As the temperature drops again and Parliament breaks for their winter recess, the NBTA is continuing to campaign hard to make sure that itinerant liveaboard boaters are included in the government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS-AF). Many within our community have been deeply anxious about keeping their boats warm this winter in the […]
Energy bills support for off-grid households to go live in January 2023
Yesterday (19th December 2022) the Government announced that support with energy costs for off-grid households would go live in January 2023. The 900,000 households in England, Scotland and Wales without a direct relationship to an energy supplier will be able to apply for the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding and some would […]
Energy Bills Support Scheme – an Update for Concerned Boaters
National Bargee Travellers Association STATEMENT 9th December 2022 ENERGY BILLS SUPPORT SCHEME: AN UPDATE FOR CONCERNED BOATERS Over the past few months, there has been a lot of understandable confusion and anxiety within our community over the situation regarding boaters’ access to financial assistance during the UK’s ongoing fuel and cost-of-living crisis. We at the […]
Energy Bills Support Scheme – still no definite answers for itinerant households
The NBTA has been working with Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) to try to get the promises made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the spring about the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) to apply equally to itinerant boat dwellers and Travellers on land alike. It has been […]
DEFRA guidance on applying Smoke Control Areas to boats
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has issued guidance to local authorities on the application of Smoke Control Areas to moored boats under the Environment Act 2021. If a local authority wishes to extend a Smoke Control Area to include moored boats, it must first carry out a public consultation and it […]
ONLINE PUBLIC MEETING 6th December – Include off-grid households in Government £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme
There will be an online campaign meeting on Tuesday 6th December 2022 at 7-9pm to share ideas on how to progress the campaign and to discuss further action, including when and how to deliver the petition.
Roving Canal Traders get legal advice that they are unlikely to need a Street Trader’s Licence
In 2021 a group of Roving Canal Traders on Canal & River Trust (CRT) waterways raised funds for a Legal Opinion on whether it was lawful for a Local Authority to demand that a Roving Canal Trader should hold a local authority Street Traders Licence for the area. They have now obtained a Legal Opinion […]
What to do if you get a notice under CRT’s Improper Mooring Process
Canal & River Trust (CRT) has added yet another layer of enforcement to its already heavy-handed enforcement policy. Inevitably this will impact most severely on Bargee Travellers, who are on the waterways all year round and who will now face the possibility of their boat licences being terminated for mooring in places where CRT has […]