For members on Canal & River Trust (CRT) waterways, CRT is holding its Annual Public Meeting online on Monday 20th October 2025 at 2.30pm.
Nomadic Litterpickers first outing 18th October, Tottenham
Would you like to do some litter picking with other boaters on the towpath in Tottenham, on the River Lea in north London? Many boaters regularly pick up litter around their boats where they are. We have set up the Nomadic Litterpickers to bring travelling boat dwellers together and promote the good things our community […]
All members invited to NBTA Committee meeting, 19th October
All NBTA members are invited to the meeting of our new, bigger Committee and to take part in decision making and helping the NBTA to organise what we do. The Committee meeting is online on Sunday 19th October 2025 2pm- 5pm.
NBTA response to Licence Review survey
National Bargee Travellers Association Response to ‘Findings of an engagement survey of Canal and River Trust waterway users: Report for the Commission of the Trust’ (June 2025) September 2025 Executive summary This document presents the response of the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) to a report commissioned by the Canal and River Trust (CRT), carried […]
Help get MPs on side
With the option to change boater legislation on the table for CRT, we need to get more MP allies to help stop any law change. We have put together an easy-to-use online form for you to write to an MP and to collect information on what MPs have said about boaters to help us direct […]
Environment Agency (EA) consultation on proposed procedure for removal of unregistered residential boats, please send comments to NBTA by 21st September
The NBTA is asking members to comment on the draft proposed EA procedure for the removal of unregistered residential boats under Article 16 of the Environment Agency (Inland Waterways) Order 2010, which made it a criminal offence for a boat owner to keep an unregistered boat on EA waterways. The consultation ends on 28th September […]
Selling us up the Swanee
While CRT complains about the reduction in government funding and uses it as an excuse to increase our licence fees, we must remind ourselves that the reason given by the Tory government for the creation of CRT was so that the waterways could eventually be self-sustaining and not need any government funding. Putting aside the fact […]
Victory for itinerant boat dwellers – Hackney Smoke Control Order will not apply to boats
In a victory for the Bargee Traveller community, Hackney Council has decided not to apply its proposed Smoke Control Order to moored boats. Following representations from the NBTA and its members in the Council’s consultation in 2024, the Council decided not to apply the controls to boats. A key reason was “greater recognition of the […]
Licence Review Survey Results: What the Data Really Shows
In June 2025 CRT’s Licence Review Commission published the results of their ‘engagement survey of Canal and River Trust waterway users’, carried out between March and April of this year by independent consultants Campbell Tickell. The survey – which many respondents have reported as being ill-conceived and biased – has nevertheless returned results that will […]
National survey results show CRT failing to get the basics right
Canal & River Trust (CRT) has published the results of the engagement survey of waterway users carried out by consultants Campbell Tickell for the CRT Commission to review boat licensing. Results showed that more than 8 in 10 are frustrated with the day-to-day management of CRT waterways. Over 60% of respondents were frustrated about maintenance […]