A not a very well-attended meeting with only some 24 folk present (including numerous CRT people) but still a useful and well-structured session. The Regional Director, Mark Evans, gave a slick summary of the past year and of course highlighted the difficulties caused by the storms etc. He also emphasised the significant amount of non-boater outreach activities which have been taking place.
Read more: CRT South West Annual Public Meeting – Thursday 7th April
2021 Annual Lockage Report
After Covid restrictions were lifted, most places recorded lockage counts that were close to pre-pandemic levels, although there was little boating in the first four months of 2021. Using 178 comparison sites, the report shows a 39.4% increase in total lockage from 2020 to 2021*. The estimated total lockage of all the Trust’s locks (not just those with lock-counters) was up from 2.65 million in 2020 to 3.70 million in 2021. This is slightly below the 2019 total, before the pandemic affected boating, when there were an estimated 3.96 million lockages. However, this compares a full year with only eight months, as 2021 saw little traffic before May due to the extended lockdown period. The twinned Hillmorton Locks 2 & 3 on the North Oxford Canal saw 8,147 lockages and remained the busiest locks on the English and Welsh system. New Marton on the Llangollen Canal was the second busiest, with 7,457 lockages, and Cholmondeston Lock on the Shropshire Union was third with 7,103 lockages. At the other end of the usage scale, the least number of lockages was at Lock 1, Belan, on the Montgomery Canal (46 lockages), with Lock 1, Graving, on the Dee Branch of the Shropshire Union, at 66 lockages and Carpenter’s Road Lock on the Old River Lea having 78 lockages.
We are delighted to make a new guide available written for the guidance of leisure boaters on commercial waterways. It covers and Yorkshire and the Trent Commercial Navigations.
This is mainly for pleasure boat skippers unaccustomed to rivers, tides and waterways carrying freight.
The advice is given in good faith and no liability can be accepted for any consequences of its use.
You can download it here.
It cannot be comprehensive in a booklet of this size so you should gather as much information as you can from other sources including CRT’s Boater’s Handbook, charts, tide tables, experienced personnel and other publications.
Original content courtesy of First Mate Guides, NABO and the barge operators, updated by Stuart Sampson in 2021 with information kindly supplied by IWA, CBOA and CRT.
This week our hard working NABO team noticed that the private boat Terms and Conditions document from CRT has been changed in November 2021.
You would be hard put to notice the changes because:
Here is a copy of the last version marked up in green with the recent changes. Not much there really, probably just a tidy up, but it needs study. CRT obviously thought it needed changing to their advantage, or they wouldn't have done it. So we are right to be suspicious.
The link to the CRT web site is here. Be careful. The files are the same name from previous versions, though the file reference changes. It is easy to get them mixed up or overwritten. The new version only applies to licences bought when this is on display, we assume since the start of November 2021. So for most people this doesn't apply to you until you buy or renew your licence.
The June 2021 terms are here. (After the false start)
The terms prior to the May rewrite, which applied since 2015 are here.
Given where this is going, we will try and maintain a library of all the versions and get it up on the web site soon.
We recommend that you download the Terms and Privacy documents that apply when you buy your licence so that you know what you have agreed to.
This year, CRT’s winter moorings are divided into eight price bands that reflect each site’s relative attractiveness (location and nearby facilities), level of demand and pricing in line with long-term moorings and private mooring operators. The order has been reversed with Band 1 being the lowest priced and Band 8 the highest. Compared to last year, 64 sites have dropped a price band or have a price freeze and 42 sites have a price rise. Moorings will be available from 1st November to 28th February 2022. You can browse the available sites on the boat licensing website. Permits will be charged at a ‘per metre, per month’ rate, and you can book moorings in increments of one month. A list of sites and prices is at www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/winter-moorings. Bookings start on 1st October at 6am on a first-come, first-served basis. For further information, call CRT customer services on 0303 040 4040 or email