The 'dream' and the marginalised

READING Canal & River Trust's (CaRT) latest submission (Witness statement) to the court in relation to a Judicial Review my first thought was ‘you couldn't make it up', writes Pam Pickett.

This was followed I'm afraid by a journalistic ‘why let the facts get in the way of a good story', or as in this case, in the way of a CaRT submission?

Boaters have no right

Why I ask should CaRT feel the necessity to stress to the court the fact that, whilst the Trust manages the waterways for the public benefit we boaters have no right to keep or use a boat on those waters without its permission? Surely the right to use our boats on our waterways is as through time subject to a valid licence, issued by the authority, now the trust, a valid BSS certificate (where applicable) plus insurance?

Or is it I ask that CaRT is now suggesting it has the right to selectively discriminate against any that don't fit its tidy home moored ‘wish list'? Or alternatively could it be that the reason for CaRT's targeting of those without a home mooring is twofold. To please investors and partners, given some of those charged by berth yet lacking the full quantity of boats to fill those berths might be feeling somewhat aggrieved, plus the wish to change a time-honoured method of boating purely to make up for a gap in CaRT's unrealistic charitable expectations?

All have home moorings

However, looking at a further section of CaRT's rather blatant submission to the court, it appears that selective discrimination is involved, together with a possibly sneaky ‘back door' wish to change goal posts by advising the court of CaRT's need for all to have a home mooring, without the requirement for legislation? This would explain the section entitled ‘Avoiding the costs associated with having a home mooring' that CaRT maintains 'deprives the trust of much needed revenue'. Surely a very odd (and only too revealing) submission to make to a court particularly so when continuous cruising licences are continuing to be issued by CaRT, and incidentally remain a good part of the Trust's long term ‘bread and butter'? I'm afraid hypocrisy, followed by 'chugging' comes to mind here.

In line with the above however, CaRT also complains that with its rather over generous estimate of 35,000 boats our waterways are a ‘finite' resource, and that those without a home mooring ‘cause considerable difficulties for its effective management of the waterways but also cause considerable disquiet and frustration on the part of other boaters'. Despite contacts on my behalf having targeted several marinas and any found cruising during a busy boating period, they were unable to trace any boater having made a complaint to CaRT with regard to those it maintains are ‘ causing disquiet and frustration'. Again it appears those 'complaint's could be arising from the marina owner quarter.

Never move

Furthermore, whilst I would not wish to burst CaRT's bubble, a good many of the approximately 35,000 boats to which it refers remain sadly unloved, unused and never move from one year to another. Some are in brokerage, others are used as holiday cottages and never leave a marina. We weekend leisure boaters, liveaboards, working boats and those without a home mooring that CaRT appears to view as ‘pariahs', make up the rest. I would respectfully suggest therefore that the over 2,000 miles of ‘finite resource' to which CaRT refers should be able to easily accommodate all of our boats. That any problem, real or expedient relates not to ‘finite space' but to the lack of usability of so much of that space, due in no small part to past and present neglect?

Following on from the above the question for me is how do those boaters, the subject of so much ire from the Trust feel? Has anyone thought to ask them? I can't believe that any one of us would wish to find ourselves marginalised, as many of those without a permanent mooring feel they are, giving rise to a great deal of bitterness on their part. Incidentally, efforts to keep those continuously cruising moving to prevent overstaying on moorings could be beginning to impact on all.

Threatened with charge

A boater telling of using a 48hr mooring now designated two days, arriving on the mooring after 5pm and threatened with a £25 ‘overstaying' charge the following afternoon certainly feels it could be. Another, a boater of 14 years was so concerned he'd be in trouble for overstaying on a one day mooring that he cruised off despite heavy wind and rain, straight into brokerage. His observation, ‘It's no longer a pleasure'.

Sadly, given the downturn in boating it seems CaRT's draconian rules (subject to a question of legality) together with escalating costs might just be cleansing rather more of the system that it bargained for.