Welcome to the penultimate Boaters’ Update of the year.
We start off with boat licensing news, followed by information about this winter’s engineering open days; a chance to come along, meet our engineers and maintenance teams, and see how we’re investing your licence fee.
After that, you can find the weekend’s stoppages, some festive events, and a guide to getting stoppage notifications ‘pinging’ on your phone.
Happy boating,
Damian
PS We are delighted with so many boaters putting themselves forward to be part of our Council. There are four places on the Council for private boating representatives and more than three times that amount have volunteered so this means it goes to a vote. Keep an eye on your inbox for instructions on how to vote and, in the meantime, I’ll look to send out a special Boaters’ Update with more details on those who want to represent you.
In this edition:
Boat licence fees in the coming year
Come join us at an Open Day
New communication routine for continuous cruisers
Maintenance, repair and restoration work affecting cruising this weekend
Keeping safe in a winter wonderland
Feeling festive afloat
How to get stoppage notifications on your smartphone (and beware of AI unsubscribes)
Boat licence fees in the coming year
Earlier this week we confirmed an increase of 6% in boat licence fees from 1 April 2024 for both private boat owners and boating businesses. The rise is based on the latest forecast from the Bank of England that inflation will remain at around 4.5% through until April 2024.
The surcharges for boats without a home mooring and wide beam boats, and changes to the prompt and online payment discounts, announced on 4 October, will be applied in addition to this rise.
Richard Parry, chief executive, said: “The recent years have been a challenge for organisations and individuals alike. We know that the cost-of-living crisis will have affected many boaters and we have thought long and hard about the licence fee rises we are introducing. There is support available for boaters, and we urge people who are struggling to get in touch with our team.
“We have been heavily impacted by the adverse economic environment. Over the past few years, we’ve faced significant increases in a range of our costs, notably the prices of energy, fuel, materials, and other construction demands. Meanwhile our government grant is reducing in real terms and is due to be cut sharply after 2027, unless our Keep Canals Alive campaign and the multi-organisation Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign persuade Government to revisit its decision. We must act now to plug the funding gap, or we risk seeing canals decline and, ultimately, the risk of closures.
“We’ll continue to secure as much income as we can through our commercial and charitable activities and focus our resources on those priority works which are required to support navigation, and on controlling our costs where possible. The 2,000 miles of waterways that we care for comprise 10,000 assets and structures, many of which are up to 250-years-old, and they are vulnerable to the extreme weather events that are becoming more common. “We are continuing to invest in an extensive ongoing programme of works that will safeguard the future of boating on the inland waterways.”
The cost of the licence, which accounts for around 11% of our income, has largely kept pace with inflation since the charity was formed. Whilst this is a valuable component of our income stream, boaters will not be expected to bear the full brunt of the funding shortfall but will have to make some contribution.
We are also working to generate more income from our property and non-property endowment, and from other commercial sources such as hosting utilities and water transfer. A step-change in income generation from towpath users and other supporters is targeted, with fundraising income projected to grow by 10% each year – whilst other commercial waterways income, including from anglers, paddle sports and moorings, is also set to increase.
The Gold Licence charges, agreed with the Environment Agency, will increase by 10% from 1 January 2024. This reflects the higher increases applied to fees in 2023. The surcharge for boats without a home mooring will be applied to Gold Licences from 1 January 2025. The additional wide beam surcharge is not applied to the Gold Licence as it already factors in a charge for wider boats.
We will continue to support boaters who may be struggling to pay their licence fees on a case-by-case basis. This may include arranging flexible payment plans and signposting to relevant services, for example the Waterways Chaplaincy, local authorities and Citizens Advice.
More information on boat licences can be found on their dedicated webpages.
Come join us at an Open Day
As you may have read in the last edition, we’re investing £50M in vital work this winter. 47 different waterways will benefit, with 138 large-scale works to replace worn-out lock gates, inspect tunnels and aqueducts, and repair centuries-old masonry and brickwork, together with a host of other important heritage and conservation tasks.
As part of this, we're offering you a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at some of the work sites as we host both face-to-face and online ‘virtual’ open days.
The open days will tell the story of the vital canal repairs and maintenance taking place this winter through the people who carry them out. Highlights are five face-to-face open days, including at locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal, Shropshire Union Canal and Birmingham Mainline Canal where time-worn gates are being replaced with new handcrafted oak gates made by our specialist carpenters.
The first face-to-face open day gets underway this Sunday on the Nottingham & Beeston Canal at Meadow Lane Lock where the canal, close to both Nottingham Forest’s City Ground and Notts County’s Meadow Lane, is getting new lock gates. This is then followed in January by a face-to-face open event at Brent Reservoir in northwest London where the water is being drained and activity includes a big community clean-up, alongside wildlife improvements and statutory repairs at this urban nature reserve.
For those who aren’t local, or who prefer to ‘visit’ from the comfort of their own home, we will be hosting a series of virtual open days on our website which start with the refurbishment of lift bridges on the Oxford Canal where we have been granted listed building consent to carry out a £650,000 refurbishment on four of the canal’s iconic Grade II Listed lift bridges – a familiar part of the landscape for nearly 250 years.
The virtual open days will also take a look behind the scenes at dredging works on the Trent & Mersey Canal and, early in the new year, attention will turn to the Unesco World Heritage site at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which is being drained for an important 126ft high inspection of the longest aqueduct in Britain and the highest canal aqueduct in the world.
Richard Parry, chief executive, said: “Our canals date back to the first days of the Industrial Revolution. They were the first transport network of the industrial age and, today, are still used and navigated by boats as they have been for hundreds of years.
“Every winter, when the canals are quieter, we carry out an intensive programme of repairs, and we invite boaters to come and see behind the scenes at our face-to-face and virtual open days. These are fantastic opportunities to find out more about the canals they cruise, and the skill and knowledge of the people caring for them. The nation’s canal network has stood the test of time and is a piece of living history that everyone can enjoy – come along and discover how we keep canals alive today.”
New communication routine for continuous cruisers
We’re making changes to the licence communications sent to boaters who continuously cruise to provide them with more clarity and advice around cruising expectations and to highlight the help available to boaters who are struggling.
From June 2024 an advisory letter will be sent with every renewed licence instead of just being sent with new licence applications. The communication, sent by email where possible, will include important information about the licence requirements, our Guidance for Boaters Without a Home Mooring, the welfare support available to boaters, answers to the most-asked questions, and guidance on maintaining a cruising log.
From the same date, we’ll stop sending a midpoint reminder about cruising patterns. These reminders often have limited impact, can cause confusion, and are costly to administer - since we were formed, the number of boats without home moorings has increased from 4,300 to around 7,000. It’s worth noting that there are no changes to what boaters are required to do to meet the terms of their boat licence.
Matthew Aymes, national customer support manager, said: “It is important for boaters to have the information they need to help them understand the requirements of the boat licence, including how the Trust interprets the legal requirement to ‘bona fide’ navigate.
“The information pack we’ll be sending out with every boat licence will provide a comprehensive overview of the requirements, as well as useful advice for boaters on how to access support and ways they can easily keep a cruising record of their travels.
“We are committed to helping boats stay on the water and hope this additional information leads to increased clarity around cruising requirements. In addition, our boat licence customer support team will be on hand to answer any questions, and we ask anyone struggling or unsure of their cruising obligations to get in touch as soon as possible.”
From June 2024, for those boaters whose cruising patterns do not meet the licence requirements, we’ll offer a single six-month restricted licence to give them the time to meet the terms of their licence. A second restricted period will be offered in only the most exceptional of cases.
We’ll also be reducing the number of letters sent to boats on restricted licences, incorporating the information into our existing processes. The changes will take effect from January 2024.
Maintenance, repair and restoration work this weekend
As someone who’s out on, or by, the water more often than most, you’ll know that there are times when we need to fix things that unexpectedly break. So, below, you’ll find a list of navigations that have ongoing restrictions that may affect you if you’re planning to get out on the water this weekend:
When restrictions to navigation happen, we get them up on to our website as soon as we can – always best to have a scan before you set off. Have a read of the article below to find out how to get stoppage notification alerts on your smartphone.
If you have any questions about a specific closure, or spot an error in our system, please get in touch.
Keeping safe in a winter wonderland
The mercury has plummeted this week, and with more cold weather forecast, it’s a good opportunity to highlight the increased risk of slipping, tripping or falling into the cold water.
Our director of health and safety, Anne Gardner-Aston, said: “For the millions of people living alongside them, especially in our towns and cities where green space is at a premium, canals and rivers can provide a boost to health, happiness and wellbeing. The waterways look beautiful in the frost and snow and it’s no wonder people want to head to the towpath for a wintery walk. However, with the cold temperatures and the dark afternoons and nights, it’s even more important to remember to take care when walking, running or cycling next to water. Boaters are well aware of the hazards but, when getting into the festive spirit, we’d love this message of safety to be ringing in their ears.
“When it’s very cold it’s all too easy to slip on ice or wet ground and fall in. Even if you know the towpath like the back of your hand, one wrong step and you could end up in freezing cold water. So our message is to take care near the edge of the water, especially festive drinkers celebrating in waterside bars and pubs, go with someone or tell someone where you are going.”
Top tips if you fall into the water this winter:
The shock of falling into cold water will cause you to gasp. Float on your back while you get your breathing under control. Use your hands to help you if you need to and it’s ok if your legs sink a bit. Then call for help.
If you can’t stand up, continue to float on your back until help arrives.
Top tips if you find someone in the water this winter:
Stay on the towpath - DO NOT enter the water to help them.
Call the emergency services straight away.
Tell the person to float on their back. It will help them control their breathing while the cold shock passes.
Once their breathing has calmed, and if they can, shout to them to swim to you.
Lie with your whole body on the towpath and try to reach them with a scarf or a long stick.
If they can’t swim to you, tell them to keep floating and try to find something to help them stay afloat, like a football or empty bottle.
Towpaths, bridges and lock-sides can become slippery at this time of year and snow can conceal boat mooring rings and ropes which, unless people are paying attention, can be easy to trip over. And whilst frozen canals look beautiful no-one should ever attempt to walk on or test the thickness of the ice. Dog walkers are advised to keep dogs on leads during a freeze in case they run onto ice, and to never follow their pet on to a frozen canal.
Families should make sure that young children are kept within sight and made aware of the importance of staying away from the edge. We offer free water safety assemblies to primary schools, either in person or online. To book an assembly, or for more information about teaching children how to stay safe near water, visit our website.
Feeling festive afloat
Over the next three weeks the Christmas hype will gradually rachet up. Some love it, some don’t. If you’re the former, then read on to find out how you can combine your festive joy with your other passion – the waterways. If you’re the latter… Bah humbug!
There’s a variety of Christmas-themed happenings around the network in the list below but if you know of one, or are hosting one, which isn’t listed then do get in touch and I can promote in the next edition on 15 December.
Find your festive fun at:
3 Dec, Bingley Baubles - Join for a thrilling run along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, starting and finishing in Bingley, through picturesque towpaths, enchanting woodlands, and expansive fields. With a range of distances available, from a 5k dash to a full marathon, there's a special early gift waiting for every runner beneath the festive tree. For more information, please visit the organiser's website.
3 Dec, Santa Fun Run – A stone’s throw from the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal is the start line in Brinton Park in Kidderminster. The route will take you out on to the towpath at Wolverly before circling back. Get into the festive spirit and help to make Christmas special for people dealing with incurable illness and bereavement. Choose from the timed 10k route, the 5k family run, or the 1k Kids Santa Dash in Brinton Park.
3 Dec, Christmas Craft Fayre – Goytre Wharf on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is the place to be if you want to immerse yourself in a winter wonderland as we showcase up to 90 enchanting craft stalls. From intricately designed ornaments to cozy handmade knitwear, there's something for everyone at this merry gathering. Join us for a day filled with the joy of the season and support local artisans as they showcase their talents.
9 Dec, Canalside Carols - A Christmas carol service, at Saul Junction on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, for the boating community and anyone else who wants to belt out a few festive crackers.
10 Dec, Free Boat Trips with Santa – Even if you have your own boat, it’s not like you get to cruise with Santa so why not take advantage of the opportunity on the Galton Valley Canal in Smethwick. The boat trip will start from Galton Valley Pumping Station going through Galton Tunnel and return on the same location taking approximately 45 minutes. There will be freebies for children from Santa and a chance to visit the Galton Valley Pumping Station.
2 to 24 Dec at weekends, Breakfast Santa Cruise - Your visit will start with a cooked breakfast (or a choice of cereals for children) served in our coffee shop at Anderton Boat Lift. After breakfast, Santa will meet all the children and escort everyone down to the boat on the River Weaver where, he will entertain you all on the 45-minute boat cruise. If you’d prefer to skip breakfast and just get afloat with Santa then tickets for a different cruise are available.
2 to 24 Dec at weekends, Festive Boat Trip & Santa's Grotto Experience – Take your (grand)children along to the National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port where they’ll get aboard with one of our friendly canal elves and help Santa find some missing presents! There’ll be plenty of carols sung as you cruise back to the museum.
So, you see, Santa doesn’t always need his sleigh and reindeer when there’s a far better way to travel…
How to get stoppage notifications on your smartphone (and beware of AI unsubscribes)
Technology is amazing. It’s been 40 years since the first mobile phone was commercially available. The tech connoisseurs among you will know that it was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X and cost around £9,400 in today’s money and, well, wasn’t that mobile as it weighed just under a kilogram and had a 30-minute battery life!
These days, around 98% of 16 to 24 year olds have a mobile phone and 80% of over 65s do too. Given their huge popularity, there’s a good chance you’re reading this on one! So, wouldn’t it be great to have your phone ‘ping’ and tell you when we’ve issued a stoppage notice for a canal you cruise on? Here’s how you can make it happen.
Receiving stoppage notifications by email
If we use the metaphor of sending a letter, we control the delivery of the email notifications from the writing of the notification through to popping it into the post-box. After that point, we rely on the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that customers use to deliver that 'letter' to their inboxes.
We don’t have any direct control over the rules that ISPs may implement to protect their networks and attempt to identify spam (unwanted emails), and each company implements different algorithms to perform these tasks.
To help to ensure delivery of notifications, if you are subscribed by email you are advised to carry out the actions below:
Enter the email address '[email protected]' into their Safe Senders or Whitelist option within their email client of choice e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail and so on. Searching can provide helpful guides on how to do this, as can YouTube
Do not place received notification emails into your Junk folder - some email clients take this as a signal to start denying delivery of emails from the sending address
Do not mark received notification emails as SPAM - some email clients take this as a signal to start denying delivery of emails from the sending address
Phantom Unsubscribing
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is deployed more and more by the ISPs in their attempts to block SPAM, we have noticed an increase in 'phantom unsubscribes' – this is where AI-powered software is used by the ISP to attempt to follow links in emails and identify if they are linked to sites that may distribute software or techniques that are trying to trick users in some way. The anti-SPAM software 'clicks' the Unsubscribe link and this causes a block on any further notifications being sent to the customer's email address
In these cases, the customer will most commonly notice that they have not received any stoppage notifications for a period of time, or that they have not received a notification for a stoppage on a waterway to which they know they have subscribed
The Trust is unable to prevent this, but can request to remove the block by contacting us via our website.
Unsubscribing
If you no longer wish to receive stoppage notifications, or simply want to pause them for a period of time, login to your MyTrust account on the website and un-tick the notifications and save your preferences.
This is preferable to clicking on the unsubscribe option at the foot of each notification email, as this places an effective block on receiving any emails from us via our email facility and will also block any notifications you wish to receive in the future to the same email address sent via this our email facility. In laymen terms, we use a third party when we’re emailing large numbers of people with the same message. If you unsubscribe on a particular email there’s a chance that it’ll take that to mean that you don’t want any emails from our domain (@canalrivertrust.org.uk).
Happy boating,
Damian
Last Edited: 01 December 2023
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