Chairman’s Corner

Chairman’s Corner

For most of us, with the onset of autumn, the boating season has all too soon come to an end. We will however still plan to squeeze in a couple of 3-day trips, which should be fun, even if we are only taking Watermist to be dry docked in order to have the hull inspected and blacked. The weather was kind to us over the summer as we enjoyed a week long cruise to Warwick, followed by a 5-week journey down the Oxford Canal to Oxford, up the River Thames to the head of navigation at Lechlade and then back down the Thames to Abingdon.

Locally, the Environment Agency’s proposals to alter the way navigation licence fees are calculated have been the subject of much debate. In the Anglian Region, fees have always been based purely on the length of a boat regardless of the beam. Hence the owners of long thin boats have historically paid more than short fat ones. The EA now intend to bring all regions into line with current practice used on the Thames and charge by area. This could result in a reduction in the licence fee for small cruisers and narrowboats and a large increase for mid-length widebeam boats. I personally consider the proposed method to be much more equitable, although other branch committee members hold strongly opposing views.

The proposed EA charge for my 55 ft. narrowboat would be broadly in-line with that charged by the Canal & River Trust. However, a CRT licence permits travel throughout all the canal and river system controlled by the Trust, but an EA licence would only cover the Anglian Region and would necessitate further licences if you wish to venture into other EA regions. The much higher fees charged by the EA for the Nene and Ouse compared with the Thames would appear to be hard to justify.

The overall 10% increase over 3 years may well prove to be in line with or lower than the anticipated rise in the CPI over the same period. However the EA intend to front-end-load it with a 6% rise in year 1.

What do you, the members, think about it all? Please write to the editor if you would like to contribute to the debate.

Once again I must make an appeal for members to come forward to join the branch committee. We are a diminishing and dare I say, an aging group of long standing stalwarts who urgently need your support (see page 6). Derek Bradley, former Branch Chairman and Regional Chairman has decided to hang up his windlass after serving on the branch committee for 27 years. I would like to thank him for his service and pass on your good wishes.

I am pleased to report that our first real live general meeting took place on the 28th October when we enjoyed a talk about the Panama Canal by our old friend Richard Thomas. It was great to be able to get together once again in person rather than via Zoom! I look forward to seeing you at future meeting, a full list of which is shown on page 3.

Keith Alderton

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