River Lea boaters unite against British Waterways ‘crackdown’
Some boaters believe the intention is to 'cleanse' the waterways in time for the Olympics. Photo: Hackney Citizen
Plans by British Waterways to divide the River Lea into ‘neighbourhoods’ and start charging boaters up to £40 a day if they stay in one area for more than two weeks are being met with fury by the local boat community.
British Waterways say the proposals are being put forward as a response to a large increase in the number of boats mooring up on the river for lengthy periods over the last few years, and argue that this has led to “detrimental effects on the amenity of local people and other waterway users.”
However, Rupert Kenyon of the London Boaters community said of the proposal: “The London boat community in Hackney could soon be history if proposed British Waterways plans are brought into force in advance of the Olympics.
“The plans chop the whole of the River Lea, from Limehouse right up to Hertford, into just four ‘neighbourhoods’ in which the time spent by boats would be limited over the course of a year, with overstays charged at up to £40 a day.
“The plans would make it basically impossible to live and work in London, and be part of a community whilst cruising the waterways. Many of us believe this is the intention: to ‘cleanse’ the waterways in time for the Olympics, decimating boaters’ lives in the process and meaning homelessness for some.”
In a statement, British Waterways said: “We were questioned on the extent to which the Olympics are a driver for the proposals. The issue of boaters with Continuous Cruiser licences overstaying on visitor moorings is not restricted to the River Lea and we are taking steps elsewhere to balance the needs of all waterways users, most notably on the western end of the Kennet & Avon Canal. Specifically regarding the Olympics, the moorings in question are outside of the Olympic Park and, in any case, the navigation in and around the Park is almost certainly going to be heavily restricted by the Olympic security authorities.
“We acknowledge that our past relaxed control of moorings on the Lea area waterways has been responsible for the emergence of what we now see as a problem … However, as in any walk of life, individuals are responsible for compliance with the law, and in purchasing a boat licence, boaters agree to abide by licence terms and conditions.
“There may be different views on the extent to which there is currently an imperative to curb growth in the number of boats on the river without home moorings, but there can be little doubt that continued growth will lead to reduction in amenity for both land and water-based communities. A practical plan for moorings is therefore essential.”
The local boating community is pulling together to fight the proposals, and have formed an association to oppose the plan. Hackney residents who use the towpath are being encouraged to contribute their opinion before the close of the consultation period on 4 April.
British Waterways – No doubt the cut in their funding from the government means they wish to pass the short fall onto the boating community. The real problem for London and the surronding areas is that BW has made little effort in creating and developing affordable moorings, marinas and facilities. Anyone remember BW’s short sighted sell-off of the River Thames’ lock keepers cottages staff housing a few years ago?
The proposed new rules are clearly a way to generate revenue though fines for a problem that doesn’t exist. BW made a great deal of their staff redundant recently and this looks like a way to get those staff back.
From personal experience I know the live-aboard community in Hackney make the canals a safer place to be. The occasional holiday cruiser makes for a poor custodian. People actively wishing to live in and around the canals of Hackney can only be a positive thing.
A Hackney Council some 25 years ago help set up an independently charity ran marina which still today manages to provide affordable moorings (and there’s very few of those). BW could learn a lot here instead of jumping straight for
a negative system restricting movement and based on fines. In my opinion BW are way off the mark in their proposals.
I don’t think there can be a happy ending to this story:
So what happens if all the visitor moorings used by the continuous cruisers were changed into permanent moorings? The people paying £600 a year would be up in arms because these moorings would be sold at a market rate. A room in Hackney will cost you £600 a month, so a £750 mooring (the last auction of a mooring went for £9,000 a year) is pretty good value.
People cruising were happy to pay £600 a year for something worth £9,000. I would be pretty upset if I was them too.
Like in all things there’ll be no one solution that fits all. BW have reduced the number or mooring points, visitor or otherwise, so that can’t be helping the ‘perceived’ problem.
It’s clear there can be more residential moorings created. The extremely limited residential moorings allowed to exist has of course pushed up the price disproportionately to their real worth.
BW, Councils and Boating Organisations could work together and address this problem. Is there the will? Hackney Council’s current Planners have made it clear when working with housing associations/developers alongside the canal they wish to open up the canals to as many people as possible. BW have said councils could do more. Sounds like they’re not talking enough.
Regarding mooring fees, may I pose the question: Is it ethically responsible to charge the maximum you can, and make no provision for those across the financial spectrum. Should the waterways be available only to tourists and the very well off?
More affordable residential moorings and marinas I say. I have one, there is the space for many more to be provided on the waterways.
These charges are being brought in to finance the salaries of the highly paid few whose jobs will be protected when BW becomes a charity, and to enable them to carry on sharing the almost £4 million bonuses, like they did last year. Unlike the 300 people they laid off, to be replaced by voluntary workers supposedly.
Has anyone looked at the shanty town of boats that has built up by the Springfield Marina on both the Walthamstow and Springfield Park side of the River Lea? I do not use the term ‘shanty’ lightly!
There are dozens of them taking up all the space close to the Marina facilities so that a genuine visitor cannot get near.
On the Springfield side boat owners are using a strip of land between the fence and the canal and have turned it into their own personal garden.
Many of the boats are a dreadful sight, piled high with rubbish and would not be tolerated in “Little Venice” even if they were paying to moor.
These boat owners are flouting the law, and if they wish to live on the water should be prepared to pay for a permanent mooring place.
That’s a fair point Rhys – if they created a batch of permanent places in one go then prices would slacken up a bit.
But your point about being ethical isn’t simple. If you sell a permanent mooring to someone at below market price (because you’re right, it isn’t fair to exclude people) then they can sell it on. It’s their property. If you look at Limehouse you’ve got £10k barges going for £50k simply because they have a residential spot. That’s crazy money and if BW do create subsidised places without being careful you’ll see the same thing happening on the river as happened with council housing – only the very well off will be able to enjoy certain areas.
Lesley, the point of living on the water for most people is they don’t want a permanent mooring place. That’s the very joy of a boat 🙂
Fines won’t move people like that – how do you fine someone without a permanent address and no assets other than their homes?
Harry, you are missing the point. These people ARE staying permanently in one place! They just don’t want to pay !
Lesley it may have escaped your notice but Springfield isnt Little Venice. Why should it be? Its been like it is for years without doing any harm to anyone. May it long continue.
Lesley has a point about Springfield. Not the parallels she draws with slums in Africa, but the fact that some people never move.
This is the problem. The constant cruiser licence of which I have one states you must move every 14 days.
Some boaters DO move every 14 days from place to place (A to B to C to D and back again) a large distance but small enough to access things like work and health care etc.
It is not an easy life, but it is fulfilling and great for the environment in this age of global warming. People should be able to live like this and not have a permanent mooring if they so choose.
many people do not live by their licence agreement and this is one of the things BW see as a problem. They take responsibility for causing the problem by not enforcing the regulations. This added to the increase in boats has meant they are now addressing it.
It is sad because if all boaters had stuck to the agreement by moving, and British waterways had just enforced the rules we may not be in this mess now.
I absolutely love my life as a continuous cruiser and I am devastated that I may have to leave the river with these new proposals
At the same time I am pissed off that I have never been able to get close to Springfield, or Broadway market in my entire time cruising.
Enforce the 14 day rule
Yes Barry B, these boats have been there for YEARS! Precisely the point I am making.
Answers to complaints to British Waterways over the past 10 years have shown their reluctance to move these people on. They could enforce their own 14 day rule but do not. WHY?
Lesley is compeltely mistaken in her claim of boats being at Springfield for years. None of the boats on the visitor moorings have been there for any great length of time. I have been a continuous cruiser for four years – for a time with two boats – and have moored there many times, in a different spot each time. Each time I moor the configuration of boats has changed.
The only place where people have moored long term is a tiny enclosure beyond the bridge south of the marina – and this was never part of the official mooring area.
As for the state of the boats – anyone can moor at Little Venice visitor moorings regardless of appearance and there’s not a thing anyone can do about it. Personally I avoid it because I find it a bit snotty and there is often trouble in the form of street noise and vandalism. But the state of a particular boat is not an issue.
I hope this doesnt mean another consultation.
People living on the waterways of the Lee Stort and Regents canal are a part of what makes me want to live in this part of London
I would far rather see a “shanty town” of people living in diverse craft than a sterile cleansed towpath with only the leisure boats of the wealthy weekenders and tourists
These canals were working canals not so very long ago – why anyone wants to create a pretend chocolate box towpath is totally beyond me
An Open Letter Regarding Residential Boating on the Rivers Lee & Stort
I write as Vice Chairman of The Residential Boat Owners’ Association (RBOA), the only national voluntary organisation that exists solely to support and promote Residential Boating throughout the U.K. in any format and in any place that it may legally occur, be it on river, canal or coast.
There are, in the main, two quite clear sides to this present situation on the Lee and Stort Rivers.
On the one hand we have British Waterways (BW) which has a very difficult job to do under extremely trying conditions, a serious lack of funding and a position that, whatever it tries to do, will attract criticism from one direction or another. Against this background, BW has publicly declared its total support for Residential Boating and, through its official Residential Mooring Policy, developed in close conjunction with RBOA, has committed to creating and developing Residential Moorings wherever possible and practicable. That said, BW is often up against Local Authorities who do not understand the benefits of, and/or simply do not want, Residential Moorings on local waters.
On the other hand, we have a section of the Residential Boating community which, without doubt, translates the current requirements of a Continuous Cruising Licence in a way totally at odds with the way that BW does.
It should be understood that Residential Boaters bring far more to the inland waterways than just a revenue stream. They are often the “eyes and ears” for BW and are frequently the first to report dangers and failures in a waterway network that is hundreds of years old. They bring colour and character to the waterways – people do actually come to see the boats! They provide added security to areas where otherwise very little would exist. The list goes on; but above all else, they represent a faction of British society that is fast disappearing elsewhere. When one commits to a life afloat, one commits to living a low impact (green) lifestyle and becoming part of a community that, although diverse and far flung, demonstrates the very best of life in this country as it used to be. In general, Residential Boaters care passionately about one another, the lifestyle itself, the community, the environment and so on; and please let’s not forget that they also spend cash with local shops and other businesses wherever they happen to be moored.
To resolve the current “issue” which is probably not as great a problem as some people might believe, all we need is for representatives of the various boating groups and associations to get around the table with BW and negotiate a compromise that meets the needs of the majority.
BW has already shown a reasonable approach by stating that most aspects of the proposed Moorings Strategy are up for discussion. It has also extended the consultation period by one month, to early May.
BW should be the guardian of the waterways, not the enemy, but it must listen, learn and demonstrate understanding. It may not be a housing authority but it, like us all, has a moral responsibility to care for its users and stakeholders; and if it really does want people to stick to the rules, those rules must be fair, easy to understand and easy to comply with.
Let’s get talking.
The Residential Boat Owners’ Association (March 2011)
Lesley, if those boaters have a garden there is a good chance it is a permanent mooring.
We have a mooring on the Upper Lea and now we are retired we cruise the Waterways for 7 months of the year. Last Sept we were passing thru Vicky Park on our way home, we wanted to moor up but no room available as usual. There was an unlicensed boat moored on the lock mooring who told us to f off he was not going to move cos he lived there. There are some boaters.that are spoiling things for us all. People come from all over the System to enjoy London why should they not be able to moor without having to endure abusive behaviour. More affordable moorings are needed in London for sure but where .are they to be ? On the Lea there is also Lea Valley Park to contend with and they are a mighty force. Let’s hope that we can have a resolution that benefits us all. This is a fantastic lifestyle we have chosen and long may it continue. At the end of the day where can anyone live for free.If these changes happen on the Lea they will.eventually roll out across the whole system.BW need to raise.money this is just the start of things to come.
Laura, the ‘gardens’ that the boat owners have developed are not private moorings. They are on the tiny strip of land between the canal and the fence alongside Springfield Park, and Hackney Council has chosen to ignore the occupation of it. No doubt these boat owners will be claiming squatters rights and become the rightful owners of this land and then no-one will be able to move them on. You need to see the state of this area before offering an opinion. The rules about mooring are very clear and should be enforced.
I visited the River Lee on the 26th and 27 march 2011, and was impressed by the sense of community amongst the boaters. I chatted to many boaters along the banks and as a tourist found that the community of continous boaters were an asset to London and the most tourist friendly bunch I met in the City. Lets face it this is just another way of getting rid of good working class people so that someone else can make millions! The Springfield guys are great. I think there is enough millionaires in London, and I don’t particlarly want to see fancy boats and canals and rivers that exclude the diverse and colourful people on the narrow boats. Didn’t Boris the mayor say not on his watch! that was until Cameron reminded him he was a Tory! Best wishes to the boaters from Scotland.
The consultation deadline has been extended til the 9th May so you can still respond and I would like to encourage everyone to do this.
I’d just like to say that I’m a regular canal user, rowing / canoeing, and I have no problem at all with narrowboaters. I think their sense of community is something the government should be supporting, if they genuinely believe in the ‘big society’. I totally oppose what British Waterways are doing and I’m glad to hear that the consultation deadline has been extended so I can hopefully help to put a stop to this.
The T’s & C’s for a “continuous cruiser” do clearly state, you have to move on every 14 days in one direction until you come to a terminus and then you can turn around and continue in the other direction, but to use the entire network. Not to just move 1 mile or 1 lock and then return 14 days later, you agree to this (as a boater) when purchasing your licence !!!!! Too many boaters seem to think they have the right to stay in one spot on a visitor mooring for as long as they see fit which is very selfish. Do not forget pretty much all of the towpaths are actually visitor moorings for 14 days whether it is sign posted or not. The desirable places are often full and it’s the less desirable places a true cruiser has to make do with. I for one have put my boat into a marina as a result of this and only do part time cruising. BW need to crack down on the flouters and should charge upto £40 per day. Much nicer to see different boats moving about the river than always staying in one place, and sadly quite a few boats are an absolute EYESORE !!!! Seems to me that it’s mainly the river pikey’s that want a free life on the water and you need to wake up and realise those days are long gone (Marsworth Junction). We all have to pay our way.
As a canal and towpath user I can understand both sides of the argument. On the one hand, there are boaters who abuse their cruiser license and cause minor issues for other waterways users, however they appear to be a very small minority. On the other hand, London NEEDS this community to keep the waterways alive! Without them, much of the canal system would not be used; who can honestly say they would feel safe walking along the more secluded towpaths without the security of our friendly residents? Thanks to these boaters I am able to enjoy the scenic walks with my young daughter without fear. Unlike us land based folks, the boaters share a sense of community that is fast disappearing from British society. If cruisers are deemed such a problem, then why not provide more affordable moorings within the M25? Also, I am aware of a few boaters with moorings who do not like the cruisers, (including a couple near Stonebridge who actually live in Hertford but where bumped up the list as they own a local business…) but if new moorings are not being created then prices will rise meaning many of them could be forced out over the coming years. As usual with this country those in power are more interested in squeezing revenue from those at the bottom than managing our amazing assets. How long before this way of life becomes nothing but a story to tell our grandchildren?
People living on the waterways of the River Lea, Springfield is on of my reason what made me to live in this part of London. I love my neighbourhood and I love my neighbours who are boaters. I feel safe walking down the river late at night particularly winters, when I come back from work late at evenings. They are nice people and their life style is a cultural richness to our local community. The River Lea without them would look so boring.
What absolute tripe to suggest the presence of these boats makes the area safer!
It is extremely rare to see anyone on them during the day when I visit the area. Late at night the boat owners are probably tucked up and just like a householder unlikely to see or hear anyone being attacked nearby.
About time too.To call any of these boats C&Cers is an insult to those who do CC
For five years running on my travelsl have tried to moor in these areas of contention,and as has been said there ie no room because of the so called CCers permanently moored,or you are met with abuse from those there who think they own the place.
If you want to mooring long term then pay for a residential mooring.
Don,t pretend to be something your not and then get irate when the weight of the law comes down on you