CaRT ignoring petition

THE Canal and River Trust (CaRT) Trustees are ignoring a petition calling on it to withdraw the current ‘Mooring Sales Consultation' and reissue it only when it includes an option to measure support for scrapping the policy of allocating vacant moorings to the highest bidder, writes Allan Richards.

Although the petition now has well over 400 signatures, the Trust is remaining silent.

Moor or less

The facts of the matter are that CaRT says in its consultation that it will retain a mooring auctions system in the London area (i.e. within the M25) despite criticism from the Environment Committee at the Greater London Authority, which stated; 'CaRT should review its system of auctioning moorings, and seek a system that is fairer to those using and contributing to the waterway network.'

Why is CaRT ignoring this when it claimed it welcomed the report?

Needs to be reviewed

CaRT's consultation also ignores the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group (APPG) who have stated: 'The APPG believes that this policy needs to be reviewed to encourage more diversity on the waterways' (Report from the Inquiry into the Progress and Future of the Canal and River Trust, August 2014).

How do you get diversity when you are selling to the highest bidder? How do you get diversity with inflationary reserve prices?

Always opposed

Of course, boating groups such as the National Association of Boat Owners (NABO) and the Residential Boat Owners Association (RBOA) have always opposed mooring auctions as being unfair to boaters.

The number of boats with 12 month licences has fallen by 9% over the last three years (from 35,241 (2010/11) to 32,018 (2013/14)). CaRT also claim that, of the remaining boats, some 60-70 per month are deciding that they do not need a ‘home mooring' and becoming ‘continuous cruisers' instead.

Fallen by 15%

The combination has led to CaRT's directly managed mooring income falling by 15% in the last two years despite its inflationary auction system forcing average annual mooring costs up to £1,550.

Rather than actually encouraging diversity on its waterways, it appears that CaRT are hell-bent in pricing the less affluent boaters off them.

... at a rate of 1000 per year, this must rank as one of the Trust's few success stories.