THE outcome of British Waterways moorings price review has resulted in little increase in mooring charges at its sites, and in many case none at all.
Of course with so many empty berths over the entire system, and people leaving the community, this was expected, but there is one exception.
London boaters hit
Boaters in London will be hit by an average rise is of 8%—way above inflation, fuelled of course by the demand and the lack of moorings, with berths, especially residential ones ranging from £5,000 to £9,000.
The rest of the system sees little rise, with around half of British Waterways managed sites having no increase whatsoever. The average price increase is 2.6%.
Occupancy levels and demand
British Waterways admits that the pricing review, in addition to facilities, took into account occupancy levels and strength of local demand, with Jenny Whitehall, British Waterways' National Moorings Manager explaining:
"Our regional mooring teams have spent a lot of time researching their local moorings market and understanding the price trends of tendered vacancies. The economic environment is still challenging and that's reflected in the fact that 220 of our 413 directly managed sites won't have any increase at all and seven will actually see a price reduction."