NBTA calls for CRT to drop range requirement following publication of boater census report

The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA), which represents thousands of itinerant boat dwellers living on the UK’s waterways, is calling for the end of the Canal & River Trust’s (CRT’s) current enforcement policy.

CRT – the charity that manages the majority of the UK’s inland waterways – has this week published the full results of its 2022 Boater Census, laying bare the issues and challenges faced by itinerant liveaboard boaters, many of which relate directly to CRT’s draconian, punitive and opaque enforcement policy, introduced in 2015.

The boater census ended with questions asking liveaboard boaters about the challenges they faced. The report makes it clear that many itinerant liveaboard boaters faced challenges when trying to access employment, education, healthcare and basic services, and that the two key driving factors behind these challenges were not having a fixed postal address, and having to comply with CRT’s policy on enforcement of the British Waterways Act 1995.

The Chair of the NBTA, Pamela Smith said:

“The CRT report completely ignores the issues caused by its punitive enforcement policy against boaters without a home mooring. The statistics in the report provide a compelling case for CRT to revise its enforcement policy with a view to reducing these challenges.

The NBTA have long maintained that the now unstated requirement to travel a minimum range of 20-plus miles in every licence year, and the opaque way that this and other travel requirements are communicated and enforced, is unlawful. The British Waterways Act 1995 does not set a minimum range or distance to determine compliance, and it does not specify any particular pattern of travel. It simply sets a limit of 14 days in any one place and states that the boat must always be used “bona fide for navigation”. The inhumane and un-transparent way that CRT enforces the British Waterways Act 1995, and the now hidden internal benchmark of a 20-mile range, goes beyond what the law requires of us.

CRT should confine its enforcement activities to ensuring boaters comply with the 14-day limit. This would enable itinerant boat dwellers to better maintain their access to work, education for their children, healthcare and other services. This would benefit CRT as easier access to long-term work will improve the financial status of liveaboard boaters and thus reduce licence fee debt to CRT.

The report is also completely silent about the role of the NBTA in lobbying the Government over a long period to provide the Energy Bills Support Scheme to both itinerant liveaboard boaters, and boaters with residential home moorings. This included a long meeting in person with the Deputy Director General in the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (as it was then) to discuss how to make the scheme accessible to people with no fixed address, as well as meetings with Government officials that led to boaters with residential home moorings receiving the grant before CRT even began lobbying.”

The following case studies illustrate some of the ways in which CRT’s range requirement is negatively impacting boaters.*

Boater A

A is a nurse who works in a specialist healthcare facility not far from the waterway. A does not drive and even if they did, could not afford a car. A’s boat licence renewal was restricted to 6 months because they did not travel further than cycling distance (about 7 miles) away from their place of work, which is in a rural area with poor public transport. A works shifts, including nights, and starts or finishes work at times when public transport does not operate. A had the choice of either giving up work or losing their home. A decided to sell their boat and to move in with a friend whose boat was on a permanent mooring. To keep their job, A was forced to give up their own independent home.

Boater family B

The B family have two children who attend school. The parents were both working; one permanently and the other intermittently. They used a combination of car and public transport to get all four of them to school and work. Their licence renewals were twice restricted to 6 months because they were unable to travel beyond a certain distance from the school. This was partly because of the limitations of public transport, but also because the children were becoming exhausted from the long, combined journeys to school and work. This was hindering the children’s progress at school. In order to travel far enough to have their licence renewed for 12 months, the parents decided they had no choice but to borrow money for a second car. They could barely afford the repayments and running costs, and both parents had to work longer hours to cover these costs, making the family just as exhausted and stressed as they had been under the 6-month licence restrictions.

Boater C

C is a pensioner who has had regular medical appointments and no transport options apart from their boat and a bus pass. They can only get a bus to these appointments from certain places. Multiple 6-month licences have been imposed because although they travelled a range of more than 20 miles over the most recent 12-month licence, they overstayed due to illness and made multiple visits to the places where they catch the bus. C feels aggrieved that they have been treated unfairly, when they had valid reasons for their journeys and when other boaters with similar cruising patterns had their licences renewed. C does not understand why CRT considers them not to have complied with the law.

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal boaters

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal is just over 16 miles long. At the northern end is the tidal River Severn, one of the most challenging and dangerous stretches of river in the country. At the southern end is the Bristol Channel, which inland waterway boats, especially those with Class D hulls such as narrowboats, are not suitable for and are recommended not to navigate. Conversely, the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal has no locks, and the swing bridges are operated by CRT staff. There are many boaters without a home mooring who stay on the canal because they are no longer able to work locks and bridges. CRT enforcement staff routinely pressurise these boaters to leave the canal, often telling them that they have to navigate the tidal River Severn in winter to avoid having their licence renewals restricted to 6 months. The enforcement policy takes no account of either navigational safety or waterway geography, resulting in boaters either desperately trying to find a scarce mooring, or for some, risking their boats and their lives on the tidal river in dangerous conditions, in some cases in boats that are unsuitable for tidal waters.

*Names and other information have been withheld or anonymised in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018/ GDPR.

The CRT Boater Census 2022 Report can be found here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/48053-boater-census-survey-2022.pdf

The accompanying ‘Issues and Challenges’ Report can be found here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/document/MyXZZwh0sLmDY2WVYeMQTw/FqexHiBZCYem8eiIuRycnz38McKr4oGngTefDSh_3Ag/aHR0cHM6Ly9jcnRwcm9kY21zdWtzMDEuYmxvYi5jb3JlLndpbmRvd3MubmV0L2RvY3VtZW50Lw/019103b4-7ba8-7114-aa9b-1a7a45cb8e12.pdf