The newsletter of South London and North & East London Branches
Kings Cross Visitor Moorings Central Regent’s Action Plan Meeting In this issue:
Kings Cross Visitor Moorings Chairman’s Reports Regents ‘Quietway’ London Walks Cavalcade Social Reports Local Campaigning Future Events AGMs
A meeting chaired by Jonny Zander and attended by Sorwar Ahmed, Jon Guest and Michaela Kahn from CRT and Andrew Walker, Boaters’ Ombudsman, was held in October. Chris Bushill attended and reported that the packed room was about 50/50 boaters and local residents. One liveaboard who felt his views were not sufficiently represented insisted on a show of hands. The question was asked, ‘would all boaters raise their hands’ about 20 people did so. He then wanted it restricted to liveaboards. About 4 people put their hands down. This clearly showed that the most unrepresented group were the non-liveaboard boaters. There was a long discussion about the Islington Visitor moorings with no very strong conclusions. Residents wanted a permanent caretaker mooring. The liveaboards present were all ones who travelled continuously, one even saying she had gone as far as Berkhampstead and another that he travelled 300 miles last year (he didn’t say whether this was 30 times 10 miles there and back). One seemed to have a very intimate knowledge of the area from a 14 day stay. Chris made the point that, as a genuine visiting boater, he had been totally unable to find a place to stop in Islington or elsewhere in London last year. Sorwar admitted that he was frustrated by not being able to respond quickly enough to complaints and lacked the ability to follow up. Michaela, a CRT Mooring Ranger, said that they only had one and a half Rangers to cover 100 miles of canal.
Continuous Cruiser? Seen on the Hertford Union Canal Live-aboard Boats at Kings Cross in 2014 Welcome to new North and East London Branch Members: Ms Kate Graham Mr James Valentine & Ms Kelly Gowers Mr L Johnson We look forward to seeing you at future events.
In both the discussion on Islington and on Kings Cross moorings, the residents were very vocal with horrific tales of waking in bedrooms filled with smoke and diesel fumes. The residents at Kings Cross didn’t want any mooring outside their houses which they said were the closest to the canal in London. Chris questioned there being any casual mooring given that Sorwar had already commented on the difficulty of enforcing such moorings. He also suggested that the resident’s concerns would be largely answered by making all the moorings 2 day visitor moorings as the boats would have fully charged batteries and wouldn’t need to run their engines. Roger Squires suggests that a lack of short term moorings was one of the reasons why Black Prince have withdrawn their hire fleet from London. The branch will continue to press for a comprehensive mooring strategy in London with an emphasis on addressing the short term mooring problem and improving the experience of other towpath users and residents.
M
Region Chairpersons Column Can I start by wishing you a happy 2016, may the locks be with you. In November the National Chairman, Les Etheridge e-mailed all members who have given us their e-mail address a request to support our campaign to transfer the Environment Agencies navigation to the Canal & River Trust, by writing to your MP. If you have not yet done so the background to the campaign and how you can help can be found in IWA’s website at www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/ea_navigations. This is an important campaign for the future of the waterways. If you have not registered an e-mail address with us, it would help us keep you informed on the progress of the campaign and how you can help, if you could let head office have your details. Whilst talking about how you can help if you were boating on EA waterways last year and have any photos showing maintenance issues it would be helpful if you could send them to Alison Smedley at Head Office. She could do with some good photos showing overhanging vegetation, but any other maintenance issues, such as shallows marked by buoys, would be appreciated. As your Region Chairman I sit on several National Committees of the Association. I thought you may be interested in an example of the work one of these, the Navigation Committee. One of Nav-com’s responsibilities is to produce IWA policy on many aspects of the use and maintenance of the canals. Last year we updated our Vegetation Management Policy to include hedge management. What we said was:- ‘Where hedges are not being allowed to grow for the purposes of hedge laying, and excluding specimen or single trees, towpath boundary hedges should be regularly cut so that views are not obscured’. We made this change because we believed that hedges were no longer being maintained, leading to stretches of canal becoming ‘green tunnels’ Fine ideas but not worth the paper they were written on if we could not get our policy accepted by navigation authorities. Late last year Gren Messham, Navigation Committee National Chairman, met the CRT National Environmental Manager to discuss IWA concerns over hedge management, and trees in cuttings. As a result of the meeting we now believe CRT’s future approach to hedges and trees in cuttings meets our concerns in a sustainable way. We will now need talk to the other navigation authorities and monitor the situation on CRT waterways to see if they deliver what they have said. If we do not see what has been outlined in practice, we will resume the discussions. If you are interested all IWA’s Policies can be found on the website, they cover a range of subjects from Continuous Cruising to Waterway Riparian Owner Statutory Rights. They can be found at:- https://www.waterways.org.uk/information/policy_documents/policy_documents. Finally you may have missed the Canal & River Trust’s Council Elections. IWA has a seat on the council so did not put up any candidates for the boaters section. It is good to see that one of the London Waterway stalwarts, Andrew Phasey, got elected as a boater’s representative. The worrying thing is the small number of boaters who bothered to vote for any candidate. Paul Strudwick, Chair Person, London Region, The Inland Waterways Association www.waterways.org.uk Twitter Paul@greenboater
Region AGM A couple of years ago your region committee decided not to continue holding Region AGM’s because it had just become a formality, was poorly attended and not really serving any purpose. We still need members on the Region committee, in addition to your branch chairman who is automatically a member. The main purpose of the committee is to co-ordinate and support IWA’s work by the branches across the region. Over recent years it has lead our efforts to find a solution to the problems in London of boats overstaying on moorings and only travelling in a small area. If you are interested in helping us, please contact your branch chairman, or myself, we meet about five times a year usually at the Canal Museum near Kings Cross. Paul Strudwick The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of The Inland Waterways Association or of the London Region or its branches. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter within this publication. Editor: Chris Bushill, 52, Brycedale Crescent, Southgate, London, N14 7EU. chris.bushill@waterways.org.uk Published by the IWA, North & East and South London Branches at: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, Bucks, HP 1WA. Tel 01494 783453
From North & East London Chairman, Tim Lewis Branch officers continue to represent our members at consultation meetings w ith CRT including the Waterways Forum where it was reported that the number of boats in the London area was up from 3000 in 2014 to 4340 in 2015. Continuous Cruisers were up to 1225 in March 2015. This was a 92% increase in 4 years. 71 were on 3 months licences, as they had hardly moved at all, and 224 were on 6 months licences, as their moving needs to improve.. We note the withdrawal of the last Hire Boats based in London. Various reasons were given including the PLA ban on hire boats navigating the Tideway and lack of moorings. The Cross Rail blockage on the Bow Back Loop seems likely to be removed next Spring, with a possible reopening in June/July 2016. This timetable is subject to the dredging being completed to remove some contaminated silt from the site. We have also had sight of the CRT proposals for the operation of the Bow Back rivers and it would appear that no mooring will be permitted on the Loop and access to the Waterworks River will be by arrangement only. It now looks as if the Carpenters Road Lock refurbishment will proceed, albeit CRT still are short of £200k. Work is likely to start in June 2016 for completion a year later. A good turnout of visitors at the Angel Festival was probably helped by the dry weather and some sunshine. On the N & E London Branch stand, we handed out almost all of the IWA membership leaflets we had available, and talked with plenty of visitors. We hope some will join the IWA. The sale of donated books covered our costs. The Branch was pleased to sponsor the new commemorative plaque to Robert Aickman, fixed outside the former IWA Head 0ffice at 11 Gower Street in September. The Actor, David Suchet, who is an IWA Vice President, unveiled the plaque and said many positive words about Robert and the IWA. We were grateful for Ray Gill's hard work in bring the project to fruition. We welcome a new addition to the Branch committee; Liz Rayner has kindly agreed to take on the role of membership secretary. The Branch continues to study and, where necessary, comment on planning applications that are likely to affect out waterways. These plans also include numerous proposed Thames river crossings and the proposal for a floating cycleway! We will also be contributing to the River Thames “Thames Vision. PLA Consultation on Goals and Priorities” concerning the future management of the tideway. The Evening Standard of 15th September carried a report of a competition organised by the think tank New London Architecture. One of the entries, that achieved considerable publicity, was a scheme by Baca Architects to create 7,500 fixed-place floating homes on the city's canal network which they believe can be completed in just six to 12 months. The Branch has expressed its concerns about this proposal, which is against the IWA's aim to keep the waterways operational as a multi functional asset for all. It also believes it is 'pie in the sky' as the canals simply are not wide enough to take such a large number of homes. Another scheme, Floatopolis, is in the same vein. It seeks to create floating neighbourhoods in the London Docks and on the River Thames. Whilst this is not so impractical, the Branch has concerns about the viability of all such schemes, however appealing they look on paper. “Stoppage Season” repair works to the waterways within the Branch area have reached their mid-way point. The wall repairs requiring the section of Regents Canal between Old Ford and Mile End locks to be emptied have been completed and the canal refilled. Now the works to Kensall Road lock are in progress. There is to be an open weekend here on the weekend of 23rd/24th January. At a National level the IWA are continuing the campaign to have the Environment Agency’s 500 or so miles of inland navigations across England and Wales transferred to Canal & River Trust and are continuing to contribute to HS2 consultations. WRG have issued their programme of Canal Camps to be held in 2016 On Behalf of the Branch Committee can I wish all our Members a Happy and Prosperous 2016.
Towpath Walks
‘Quietway’ on Regents Canal Roger Wilkinson brought to the committee’s attention a TfL consultation letter sent to residents near St. John's Wood Road about an intended ‘quietway’ cycling route. The website shows that part of the intended route is along the Regent's Canal Towpath. Rod gray comments that The definition ‘quietways’ is to distinguish them from ‘cycle superhighways’. The superhighways are carved out of existing main roads to provide safe segregated space for cyclists; the quietways are mostly to use minor roads shared with motor traffic. He comments that the stretch of canal referred to here, mostly through Regents Park, is already open to cycling and the only physical alterations planned are to improve safety at adjacent road crossings. So, given the conflict that we know already arises on many towpath stretches and the projected doubling of cycling numbers in the Mayor's strategy, the issue that arises is how we can best lobby for the development of off-towpath alternatives here and elsewhere. Roger Squires feels that we must make it clear that the towpath here is regularly used by tourists, mums with prams, dog walkers and pedestrians. It is a narrow 'constrained' path and the 'pace' on it must reflect that of the majority of users. As such, it is not the place for cyclists in a hurry or regular commuting cyclists. The committee will look to point up the alternative routes. Please let us know your thoughts.
The IWA Towpath Walks Society was pleased to present a special certificate to the 15,000th walker on its guided walks, on 27th December. Starting at Warwick Avenue station and guided by Richard Fentiman, this walk made a pleasant visit to Little Venice and went along the Regent’s Canal before arriving at Camden. These Walks have been taking place twice a month, since 1977, when Dr. Michael Essex-Lopresti started them. As well as introducing many people to the world of waterways, they have raised over £39,000 towards the IWA’s work. The money has been put to good use by branches of the IWA, in supporting projects like the Wendover Arm, or the Wey and Arun Canal, as well as local projects by the Laburnum Boat Club and others. It’s hard to imagine now, that in the 1950s the towpath was private, and one had to obtain permission to walk on it. The IWA campaigned to get it opened, and the last section of the Regent’s Canal towpath was finally opened to the public in 1982. Now, the Towpath is widely regarded as one of London’s most popular open spaces. And the variety of Walks has increased, too. To go on a Towpath Walk, simply turn up. No advance booking is needed. The Walks are normally on Sundays, starting at 2.30 pm. Regular charge is £10; concessionary rate is £8. For further details, look on the IWA website www.waterways.org.uk , or contact Roger Wilkinson at 020 3612 9624.
(photo: Richard Fentiman (on extreme left of picture) presenting a special certificate to the 15,000th walker, on Warwick Avenue, 27th December).
South London Chairman’s report, Libby Bradshaw The branch is undergoing various changes. Alan and Christine Smith are moving to Evesham in January so we have had to say goodbye to two valuable members of our committee. Alan Smith has been organising our Croydon socials and Christine has been our publicity officer and magazine editor. Christine has also been helping out North and East London Branch with their publicity and Meridian Cuttings which covered both branches. Allan Scott took on the role of Acting Treasurer for which we are most grateful and, in January, Dorothy Robbie has agreed to come back on to the committee as Treasurer. We are still looking for offers of help and are grateful to Judith Hunter who has taken on the organisation of the Annual Dinner. The branch stand was at Angel Canal Festival in September and the rescheduled Brixton Windmill day, also in September. We recently discussed a project that had been started many years ago on the Croydon canal by a branch member who subsequently died. The information boards which we had wanted to put along the line of the canal have been done and we plan to review other aspects of the proposed project which could be taken up again. Since the summer break we have had talks from Tim Lewis on the work of London WRG and from John Gibson on the River Wey. At the beginning of October we had an afternoon cruise on the horse boat at Kintbury on the Kennet and Avon canal which was greatly enjoyed. Social meetings continued with a talk by Alan and Christine Smith on the South Pennine Ring in November and our Christmas social in December where we shared members’ photos over seasonal refreshments and said goodbye to Alan and Christine. Our next event is our annual dinner on January 22nd at the Caprini restaurant, Waterloo to which all are welcome. Booking forms are on the website at https://www.waterways.org.uk/southlondon/programme Our socials start again on February 3rd on that evening we will be discussing the Thames Vision, a consultation about the tidal River Thames which is the key waterway in our branch area. This is a chance to have your say so come along and bring your friends. The PLA project sets out 6 proposed goals, and 24 actions to achieve them. They say, ‘The prospects we have identified are exciting: the port the biggest it’s ever been; double the number of passenger trips on the Thames; sustaining the record levels of inland waterway freight; all combined with an improving environment, greater amenity and high standards of safety. Goals and Priority Actions Summary may be found at https://server1.pla.co.uk/assets/thamesvisionsummary.pdf I will be putting together a response for IWA so if you have any comments to contribute please send them to me at libby.bradshaw@ursa.me.uk I will be finalising this report after the meeting on 3rd February but also taking in comments at the region social meeting on Tuesday 19th January. And finally, talking of the Tidal Thames, thirteen boats, including Panacea will be going down to the London boat show in the Royal Docks, returning for an overnight stop in West India Dock and back up to St Pancras the following day. A number of Canal and River Trust and PLA personnel will be guests on the boats and I will report on the expedition in the next newsletter. A very happy new year to you all and I look forward to meeting up with many of you during the year!
IWA Canalway Cavalcade
30th April - 2nd May 2016
London’s Biggest Waterways Festival The Inland Waterways Association’s Canalway Cavalcade is returning to Little Venice, at the junction of the Regent’s and Grand Union canals, near Paddington, for all three days of the May Day Bank holiday. The festival has been offering lots of fun activities for everyone for the last 30 years, organised entirely by the charity’s volunteers. Come and see the boats, proudly decorated with their colourful bunting flying, pageants and processions, music, competitions, trade stalls and old favourites like Punch & Judy, Teddy Bears’ Picnic and a funfair for the children. There’ll be a real ale bar, a wide variety of delicious snacks and food for you to enjoy - and much, much more. Saturday 30th April 10am - 6pm Sunday 1st May 10am - 6pm plus music on the bandstand and a procession of illuminated boats at 9pm Monday 2nd May - 10am - 5pm Boat entry form and volunteering form: https://www.waterways.org.uk/events_festivals/canalway_cavalcade/iwa_canalway_cavalcade
London Socials by Sally Naylor September: West Africa - David Hilling. A very enthusiastic talk with slides (yes, slides) from David. 6 lucky people were shown a good insight to West Africa. Timbuktu was mentioned, although not reached. The rivers have as much silting as the Slough Arm did and winding round the bends was INTERESTING. October: Three Cathedral Cities – Oxford to Cambridge by boat and on to Ely via Lincoln and the WashSimon Judge. Despite the meeting being postponed by a week, 24 came. We ran out of chairs! Simon's Boat 'Scholar Gypsy’ shows what narrowboats can achieve. Not only from Oxford to Cambridge, but across the Wash from Kings Lynn to Boston, up the Chesterfield (a mean feat on its own) and back to Peterborough via the Wash. November: Restoration Round-Up from Tim Lewis. Our Chairman gave his annual Report of WRGie antics. It was good to see so many changes since last November. Tim altered the format this year which gave us a fresh insight into the work they do. From the backyard of Alton Towers (Uttoxeter Canal) to Pirbright Army Barracks (Deepcut Locks). December: Christmas Quiz and Auction - Chaired by Libby Bradshaw. A social, Social with 18, all in silly paper hats! The mulled wine, mince pies and various other nibbles disappeared along with all the beer! The quiz was won by 'Team Daisy' with 40 points. Yes, I was part of the winning team (last year we came last). Libby, an excellent Quizmaster, Alex Nunes, who devised most of the rounds and Eric Garland as our resident Auctioneer made a great team. The Auction started with a hand-painted moneybox (sadly no money) and finished with a wind-up torch and a canalware lantern. The total raised was £60.50p.
Illtyd Harrington London Region IWA covers a wide range of waterways, tidal rivers, docks, a restoration project in Wendover and many historical structures. Members of the Association have worked hard to ensure these waterways are preserved and used with many people keeping a careful eye on planning applications that could affect them. One such pioneer on our waterways was Illtyd Harrington, DL, our London IWA Region President. We were sad to learn of his death at the beginning of October 2015. Illtyd has been a great supporter of and influence on London's Waterways and of our IWA Canalway Cavalcade festival. He will be greatly missed. Many tributes have been written, including one on page 14 our last IWA Waterways magazine. http://issuu.com/waterwaysassoc/docs/iwawinter15?e=1306980/31171409
Libby Bradshaw, South London Chairman
Future Events Monday 18th January
South London Branch Committee, The Falcon, Clapham Junction
Tuesday 19th January
Central & North East London Social, Paddington, Thames Vision
Friday 22nd January
South London Dinner, Caprini Restaurant, Waterloo
Monday 1st February
N & E London Branch Committee, London Canal Museum
Wednesday 3rd February
Croydon Social, Thames Vision
Thursday 4th February
London Canal Museum Talk Jim Lewis ‘Industry in the Lee Valley
Sunday 7th February
Towpath Walk The Olympics, Three Mills and Bow Back Rivers
Tuesday 16th February
Central & North East London Social Paddington
Sunday 21st February
Towpath Walk Limehouse to Docklands
BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meetings of the North & East London and South London Branches of The Inland Waterways Association will take place as follows: South London 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday 9th March At: The Primary Room The United Reformed Church Hall Addiscombe Road Croydon CR0 5LP
North & East London 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 15th March At: 1A Sheldon Square Paddington W2 6PY
AGENDA 1. Apologies
for absence of the Minutes of the 2015 AGM plus Matters Arising 3. Report from the Chairman 4. Presentation of Accounts 5. Business of the meeting notified under byelaw 1.3^ 6. Election to fill posts on the Committee 7. Questions from the floor 2. Approval
The formal AGM will be followed by another activity as per the branch’s social programme CONTACT DETAILS North & East London
South London
Chairman
Tim Lewis e-mail: tim.lewis@waterways.org.uk
Libby Bradshaw e-mail: libby.bradshaw@waterways.org.uk
Secretary
Roger Squires e-mail: roger.squires@waterways.org.uk
Lesley Pryde e-mail: lesley.pryde@waterways.org.uk
^NOTE : Byelaw 1.3 provides that any member of a region or branch may propose business to appear on the Agenda of an AGM of their region or branch, provided that notice of such business is delivered in writing to the Chairman of the region or branch at least six weeks before that meeting. If any such items are received, a revised Agenda for the relevant meeting will be in a Branch Newsletter which is due to be published before the AGMs. - 21 -
BRANCH COMMITTEE ELECTIONS
To facilitate elections at the AGMs, nominations for election to a Branch or Region Committee must be received by the relevant Branch or Region Secretary before or at the AGM (see above). All candidates and their proposers must be paid-up members of the relevant Branch and the candidate must indicate his/her willingness to stand. All elected members of a Branch Committee who have held office for a term of three years have to retire, as does any member coopted during the committee meetings since the last AGM. Members in either category are eligible for re-election, provided that they are duly nominated as detailed above. A nomination form is printed below. The particulars for each Committee are as follows: North & East London
South London
Roger Squires
Lesley Pryde
15th March
9th March
Current number of elected members
6
6
Members completing 3 years in post
Roger Squires, Tim Lewis
0
Secretary Deadline for nominations
Members co-opted since Liz Rayner Dorothy Robbie last AGM Note: Please note that under the new Bye-laws all Committees may vary in size according to the numbers elected. We look forward to receiving further nominations for Committee membership.
- 22 -
Committee Members Role Chairman Deputy/Acting Chairman Secretary Minutes Secretary Treasurer Social Secretary Publicity Officer & Newsletter Editor Membership Secretary
North & East London
South London
Tim Lewis Tel: 020 8530 0425/07802518094 Libby Bradshaw Tel: 020 8874 2787 tim.lewis@waterways.org.uk libby.bradshaw@waterways.org.uk Vacancy Roger Squires Tel: 020 7232 0987 roger.squires@waterways.org.uk Vacancy Ian Israel Tel: 020 84461823 ian.israel@waterways.org.uk
Vacancy Lesley Pryde Tel: 020 8679 9866 / 07787 372408 southlondon@waterways.org.uk Allan Scott Tel: 020 8642 8104 / 07985 728844 allan.scott@waterways.org.uk Dorothy Robbie Tel: 020 8857 6367 dorothy.robbie@waterways.org.uk
Sally Naylor Tel: 020 8519 7481 snaylor@ymail.com
Vacancy
Chris Bushill Tel: 020 8245 7063; chris.bushill@waterways.org.uk Liz Rayner Tel liz.rayner@waterways.org.uk
Sales Officer
Vacancy
Events Officer
Vacancy
Planning Officer Work Party Officer
Committee Members Ex-Officio as Region Chairman South London Representatives
Committee Name:
Rod Gray rodgray125@aol.com Vacancy Roger Wilkinson - London Walks Rep. Tel: 020 3612 9624 / 07896 801930 roger.wilkinson@waterways.org.uk
Paul Strudwick Tel: 01245 358342 / 07885 240291; Email: paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk Planning & Navigation Committee: Eric Garland Wandle Valley developments: Libby Bradshaw Deptford Creek developments: Eric Garland
South London* Print Name
Candidate Proposer Seconder
Shea Richardson, Tel: 020 8677 0196 / 07803 904 803 shea.richardson@homecall.co.uk
North & East London* Signature
*delete whichever does not apply Date