Richard at Leicester - Recycling

Recycling

15. Do you have any plans for introducing recycling facilities?

Since October we now provide recycling. However, it's not always obvious as it's sorted away from the waste collection site because there isn't space for lots of different bins at our sites. In the new contract—in place for around six months now—the contractor has clear targets on the percentage of waste that gets recycled and avoids landfill. I accept we need to make this more clear to boaters to tell them that this is being delivered now and giving them feedback on how we are doing against our targets. We will arrange some communication; we had wanted to get the contract up and running and working first.

HS2

16. Looking to the future, where are we with consultation on HS2, particularly Fradley?

We've now submitted our Petition to the Bill Committee following our earlier consultation responses.

Our national policy is not to object to HS2 as we have a constituency that has views on both sides but we are clear that we have to protect the waterways. Fradley is one particular area of concern and we've worked with the IWA on a better, cheaper route that would reduce the number of crossings over the canal. We've been very active with the HS2 engineering team to advise and influence them. We have assured them we'll keep speaking constructively to them as that's the right way to influence, not being seen as trouble-makers but being in there and convincing them with our credible arguments.

This next phase is critical and we will be strongly making our case and fighting for the waterways.

Continuous cruiser travel

17. Has CaRT got a reasonable distance where a continuous cruiser has to travel?

I knew we would get back to the final element of the very first question eventually!

When applying for a licence we can only ask whether the boater has a home mooring or not and ask for evidence of boat safety certificate and insurance etc. We can't say ‘let me study your personal circumstances to see if you can be a continuous cruiser', there's no legal basis for us to do so.

The issue of distance travelled over the course of a licence isn't defined in the legislation and hasn't been fully established by case-law either. But we need a basis for managing the waterways sensibly and so we have given some guidelines that people can live by.

The key I think and what is not in doubt is the 14 day maximum stay in one place, and the need to then move to the next place. We are clear that it can't be 50 yards or 100 yards, you need to make a more significant move to the next place. But what does that mean? Well, we've done some work to try to define that, basically by applying some common sense. So if it's got a different name or there's an obvious break or delineation then we think that constitutes another place. We're not going to say you have to travel Xkm, we haven't got the legal clarity to do that but we will enforce movement every 14 days.

Things on towpaths

18. What are your legal rights in maintaining the integrity of the towpath. I'm thinking of people that set up home with lots of things on the towpath, washing lines etc? It can be an obstacle course.

Any permanent structure has to keep the towpath clear. We have to provide free access to the waterways, it is one of the terms of our contract with Government. Temporary structures, such as a bit of clutter, are a bit of a grey area and it's harder to enforce. It all comes back to engagement and persuading and educating people to show respect for the waterway and the people around them who also use and enjoy the towpath. We do need to stop people from doing reckless or dangerous things that might harm others where we are aware of it.

Live-aboard in marinas

19. Can people live-aboard in a marina?

Technically, most marinas don't have planning permission for residential boats. Some marinas are getting planning permission and are creating a new product which I understand are reasonably popular. I suspect there are some people where there's a crossover, they live on their boat lots, but not quite all, of the time. We encourage people to only live on board where there is planning permission to do so but it is not really a matter for us to enforce, it's an issue for local authorities principally.

Valid licence in marinas

20. I was told by someone from CaRT that some marinas don't need you to have a valid licence.

Is that true?

If the marina is on a canal section with an agreement with us we do require boats to be licenced and would strongly encourage it in all marinas. With marinas on river sections where we have no land ownership and there is no legal requirement for an agreement with us to connect to the river then it's not so clear and some marinas don't require all their berth holders to hold a licence. When boats come onto the navigation they do of course need to be licenced although I concede that some boaters may decide to take the risk knowing they're not going to venture out that often. We work with the marina industry to ensure everyone's licenced appropriately but it's not easy to have a consistent approach given the long legal history and the different status of various marinas.

Safe 14 days moorings

21. I don't live on my boat but have to move my boat every 14 days at least. I find that there's not enough good quality 14 day moorings which are safe. All the 48 hour moorings are in the best places but I would like better than what's left. It should be easier for continuous cruisers.

We'll take it away. We've not had money to do much in recent years but I'd like to think we could start to do more and get the balance of moorings right.

Friends in competition with IWA

22. How do you see the Friends scheme in competition with IWA membership? Is it not strange for the public to have two waterways bodies?

We work really well with the IWA and it's been great seeing how well they've adjusted to the creation of the Trust. As we seek to grow fundraising capability we're working more closely in the same space and we're both learning how to do that. I was at Middlewich at the weekend and it was great to see both Trust and IWA stands alongside each other.

Of course I want people to become Friends of the Trust, but I don't really mind if people support one and not the other as long as we're getting the active support and advocacy for the waterways. The real benefit we have is that if you join us as a Friend it's a chance to put money directly into the upkeep of the waterways. Your £3 a month will go into spend on the waterways and we think there's a market for that. We have nearly 6000 active friends who donate regularly and, generously, once they've signed up they stay with us and I'm very encouraged by that.

Other CRT staff responses as shown:

SM—Sean McGinley, Waterway Manager, East Midlands/ Acting Waterway Manager, Central Shires.

DF—David Fearn, Principal Waterway Engineer, Central Shires.