Tam Lin
Well-Known Member
I received an email about a petition to stop liveaboards being evicted. They gave the following further information. I know very little about inland waterways. How much of the following is true?
FURTHER INFORMATION
Canal & River Trust's latest move is yet another attack on the right to use and live on a boat without a permanent mooring; a right that Parliament enshrined in law in 1995 when it passed Section 17 3 c ii of the British Waterways Act 1995. Before 1995 British Waterways (which became Canal & River Trust in 2012) sou ght powers and criminal penalties to prevent people living on boats without a permanent mooring. Parliament refused British Waterways these powers. It is unlawful and unjust for Canal & River Trust to try to achieve this objective by the back door.
The new policy means that Canal & River Trust is effectively proposing to evict thousands of live-aboard boaters without permanent moorings from its waterways and seize their boats. Up to 12,000 single people, couples and families are at risk of homelessness.
It is not within Canal & River Trust's legal powers to enforce its new policy, because it sets requirements that go beyond the British Waterways Act 1995. Boat dwellers are happy to comply with the clearly stated, lawful requirement not to remain continuously in any one place for more than 14 days.
However, the 1995 Act does not contain any requirement to travel a minimum distance or to follow any specific cruising pattern beyond the 14-day limit. Canal & River Trust itself has not stated what distance it considers “far enough”. Indeed, in December 2012 Canal & River Trust's own Towpath Mooring Q and A conceded that Canal & River Trust would be acting beyond its powers to set a minimum distance.
The new policy goes against one of the most fundamental principles of English law: that the law should be "clear, accessible and predictable, so that the citizen can tell when his actions would be unlawful" (Lord Bingham).
In addition, the new policy is likely to include the publication by Canal & River Trust of maps which purport to define the places boats without home moorings must move to in order to be in a different place. In drawing these maps Canal & River Trust has re-written centuries of history and geography by deleting many towns and villages and absorbing them into other places. "Place" is not defined in the 1995 Act. Boaters without a home moo ring are simply required not to remain continuously in any one place for more 14 days.
Canal & River Trust claims that there is congestion in certain waterway areas which it implies is caused by overstaying boats without home moorings. However, there are long stretches of waterway around the country where boats cannot moor because of collapsed banks, shallow water and concreted towpaths. If there is a genuine problem with congestion, all Canal & River Trust has to do is carry out some basic maintenance so that moored boats can spread out. If boats are overstaying, Canal & River Trust already has sufficient enforcement powers to deal with this.
In London and the south there is a severe shortage of moorings and mooring fees are vastly inflated. Canal & River Trust's own directly managed moorings are priced using an auction system where the highest bidder wins. Some private moorings have waiting lists of 9 years and more. There is no securi ty of tenure for boat moorings so even if you do take a mooring, you could be evicted at the whim of the marina owner. Or your mooring could simply be removed to make way for an upmarket waterside property development, which is why a vast amount of permanent mooring space on canals and rivers has been lost over the past 15-20 years. The pace of redevelopment is ratcheting up especially in London, taking away opportunities to create extra permanent moorings.
Canal & River Trust is asking the impossible and it knows this, and it knows that many boat dwellers will be forced to give up their homes or have them siezed. There are around 5,400 boats licensed without a permanent mooring on Canal & River Trust's waterways, out of about 33,000 boats in total. Surveys by boating groups show an average of 2.1 people on each live-aboard boat. There will be an influx of homeless boat dwellers seeking social housing on land and claiming benefits, who previously owned the ir homes and were independent of welfare benefits.
Canal & River Trust is a charity. Its published values include caring: "We care passionately for our waterways and the people who use and look after them, always striving to keep them safe and secure" and its strategic goals include: "To enrich people’s lives" in order to create "direct social benefits for individuals and communities" (Strategic Goals, Objectives and Outputs, March 2014). If you are concerned about the way Canal & River Trust is proposing to destroy the lives and community of boat dwellers, we would encourage you to also write to your MP, local Councillor and to Richard Parry, Chief Executive of Canal & River Trust (richard.parry@canalrivertrust.org.uk).
FURTHER INFORMATION
Canal & River Trust's latest move is yet another attack on the right to use and live on a boat without a permanent mooring; a right that Parliament enshrined in law in 1995 when it passed Section 17 3 c ii of the British Waterways Act 1995. Before 1995 British Waterways (which became Canal & River Trust in 2012) sou ght powers and criminal penalties to prevent people living on boats without a permanent mooring. Parliament refused British Waterways these powers. It is unlawful and unjust for Canal & River Trust to try to achieve this objective by the back door.
The new policy means that Canal & River Trust is effectively proposing to evict thousands of live-aboard boaters without permanent moorings from its waterways and seize their boats. Up to 12,000 single people, couples and families are at risk of homelessness.
It is not within Canal & River Trust's legal powers to enforce its new policy, because it sets requirements that go beyond the British Waterways Act 1995. Boat dwellers are happy to comply with the clearly stated, lawful requirement not to remain continuously in any one place for more than 14 days.
However, the 1995 Act does not contain any requirement to travel a minimum distance or to follow any specific cruising pattern beyond the 14-day limit. Canal & River Trust itself has not stated what distance it considers “far enough”. Indeed, in December 2012 Canal & River Trust's own Towpath Mooring Q and A conceded that Canal & River Trust would be acting beyond its powers to set a minimum distance.
The new policy goes against one of the most fundamental principles of English law: that the law should be "clear, accessible and predictable, so that the citizen can tell when his actions would be unlawful" (Lord Bingham).
In addition, the new policy is likely to include the publication by Canal & River Trust of maps which purport to define the places boats without home moorings must move to in order to be in a different place. In drawing these maps Canal & River Trust has re-written centuries of history and geography by deleting many towns and villages and absorbing them into other places. "Place" is not defined in the 1995 Act. Boaters without a home moo ring are simply required not to remain continuously in any one place for more 14 days.
Canal & River Trust claims that there is congestion in certain waterway areas which it implies is caused by overstaying boats without home moorings. However, there are long stretches of waterway around the country where boats cannot moor because of collapsed banks, shallow water and concreted towpaths. If there is a genuine problem with congestion, all Canal & River Trust has to do is carry out some basic maintenance so that moored boats can spread out. If boats are overstaying, Canal & River Trust already has sufficient enforcement powers to deal with this.
In London and the south there is a severe shortage of moorings and mooring fees are vastly inflated. Canal & River Trust's own directly managed moorings are priced using an auction system where the highest bidder wins. Some private moorings have waiting lists of 9 years and more. There is no securi ty of tenure for boat moorings so even if you do take a mooring, you could be evicted at the whim of the marina owner. Or your mooring could simply be removed to make way for an upmarket waterside property development, which is why a vast amount of permanent mooring space on canals and rivers has been lost over the past 15-20 years. The pace of redevelopment is ratcheting up especially in London, taking away opportunities to create extra permanent moorings.
Canal & River Trust is asking the impossible and it knows this, and it knows that many boat dwellers will be forced to give up their homes or have them siezed. There are around 5,400 boats licensed without a permanent mooring on Canal & River Trust's waterways, out of about 33,000 boats in total. Surveys by boating groups show an average of 2.1 people on each live-aboard boat. There will be an influx of homeless boat dwellers seeking social housing on land and claiming benefits, who previously owned the ir homes and were independent of welfare benefits.
Canal & River Trust is a charity. Its published values include caring: "We care passionately for our waterways and the people who use and look after them, always striving to keep them safe and secure" and its strategic goals include: "To enrich people’s lives" in order to create "direct social benefits for individuals and communities" (Strategic Goals, Objectives and Outputs, March 2014). If you are concerned about the way Canal & River Trust is proposing to destroy the lives and community of boat dwellers, we would encourage you to also write to your MP, local Councillor and to Richard Parry, Chief Executive of Canal & River Trust (richard.parry@canalrivertrust.org.uk).
