Environmental Agency is waking up

THE Environmental Agency is telling its boaters that it will 'get people boating as soon as we can'.

It adds that it currently has teams out along its waterways making preparations safely and swiftly, but not as swiftly as Canal & River Trust, as most of the Agency's waterways will not be open for cruising until Monday 1st June.

Ready by next month

However it is allowing all non-powered water sports on its waterways and some waterways could be ready for leisure cruising this week, but most ready by next month.

Sunken boats, shoals and fallen trees have been neglected during the lockdown phase, so these will have to be cleared and the agency expects that this will be completed within two weeks, which means it may have 'to revise' its guidance to get powered boats moving again.

Take longer to complete

To qualify this, it states:

"We must still work under conditions of social distancing.  This means we will not be able to provide some assisted passage at locks for the time being and some maintenance work may take longer to complete under the new government safe working practices guidance.

"From the 1st June, our normal time restrictions for our short stay moorings will be in place again. This means people currently moored on our short stay moorings will need to resume continuous cruising or return to their permanent mooring. If you are experiencing difficulty moving because you are isolating or shielding, please get in touch with your local waterways team."