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The charity making life better by water

New marina legal agreements

Our permission for a new marina to connect and gain access to our waterway network will be given in the form of a standard network access agreement (NAA). There may also be some other legal agreements we need to put in place.

Network access agreement

We will contact you to discuss this once we have appraised your DCNA submission. You can read our summary of the network access agreement, which explains the main provisions, and also see a draft network access agreement.

The annual fee payable to us is calculated by multiplying your mooring rate (the rate charged to customers mooring in your marina) by an agreed gross mooring capacity (GMC) and then taking 9% of the resultant figure. Read our code of practice for determining GMC.

This fee will be reviewed annually on the anniversary of the commencement of the NAA. There will also be a review of the gross mooring capacity on every fifth anniversary of the commencement date. Hire boat moorings and any other moorings not let out will be taken at the published mooring rate.

Towpath bridge agreements

If your scheme accesses the network through a towpath, you will need to include the provision of a suitable bridge to ensure continuity of the towpath for access and services. This bridge can often be located on your land rather than on our land to provide safe navigation access. This will need appropriate agreements to be completed.

Surface water discharge licence

If you intend to discharge water from your site other than by way of natural runoff, either into the proposed basin or into our waterway, then you will also need to enter into a surface water discharge licence with us. This is a standard document to ensure that issues of water quantity and quality, as well as any construction issues, are properly addressed.

We will only accept clean surface water. We will not accept foul, polluted or contaminated water. There is no charge for discharges made from property and structures directly connected to the marina (core marina functions). Payment is, however, likely to be required in respect of discharges for all other purposes.

Development agreement followed by a lease

If you are developing a scheme on our land, we will grant a development agreement, which will be followed by a lease of the completed site and water space.

The lease will be for a term of years sufficient to reflect the level of investment made and will contain restrictions to agreed uses. The ground rent will be negotiable and subject to periodic review. The tenant will be responsible for repairs and insurance.

The lease will be transferable, subject to the landlord's consent. It will include a network access agreement at the same 9% network access fee as above.

Last Edited: 16 February 2022

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