A consultation with nothing to tick!

YET another consultation from Canal & River Trust, but one with a difference.

It's one that doesn't even achieve 'box-ticking' status—there are no boxes (or email addresses, or anything to make a contribution) as Dave Parry reports.

This time it's a Birmingham city centre moorings consultation with the trust telling:

Making changes

'We're looking to make changes to the moorings in central Birmingham. Birmingham Canal Navigations in the spring as it tells the moorings in central Birmingham are mixed and confusing for visiting boaters.

As well as substantial areas set aside for private moorings, commercial boat operators and service facilities, there is a mix of stay times and inadequate signage, which is inconsistent, out of date and in several areas missing altogether.

This makes it harder for boaters to know where and for how long they can moor, and for our colleagues to properly monitor compliance. This can lead to some boats overstaying the permitted times, which has an impact on mooring available for other boaters and had led to a rise in complaints about overstaying boats'.

Changing majority of moorings

All well and good, so it is proposing lots of changes in various zones, and here they are:

'We're proposing to change majority of moorings—c850m—in central zone to two days year all round.

Provide space for those to stay longer by making 340m on the edge of the central zone seven days, reverting to 14 days in winter (as is currently the case for all visitor moorings here).

Pontoons at Cambrian to all become long-term moorings, let out by the our Waterside Moorings team; this will provide new long-term moorings in a convenient location, while removing confusion over some of these pontoons set aside for visitors.

To avoid blocking the service moorings and inconveniencing long-term moorers, the short stretch of mooring in Gas Street Basin immediately alongside the Canal House will become service moorings.

The moorings between the Roundhouse and Sheepcote Street Bridge, serving Sherborne Wharf’s service facility, the water taxi stop and canoe launch point, will formally become service moorings.

Designated accessible mooring space—30m—will be provided between Cambrian House and Tindall Bridge for disabled boaters, those with access needs or limited mobility'.

No consultation

So there you have it.  But where's the consultation? There is a link, but it goes nowhere!  So boaters cannot make any comment.  Which is perhaps what the trust want... 

But as Victor would have told—there will be lots of more blue signs, that's for sure!

LATEST: Having been made aware of its ommission, Canal & River Trust have now corrected so that the consultation can be seen.