Forty boaters have been selected from nearly 1,200 applicants, using an independent process designed to ensure a wide range of boating experiences, lifestyles and viewpoints are represented. Following an initial briefing, panel members took part in co-design workshops last week, working with us to develop the consultation and on any next steps required as outcomes of this engagement.
The panel
The panel includes leisure boaters, liveaboard boaters, and boaters with and without home moorings, with members drawn from every region of our waterway network. Around half use their boat as their home, and nearly a third do not have a home mooring. Members also represent a range of boat types, including narrowboats, wide-beam boats, GRP cruisers, business boats, and historic craft.
Panel members range in age from their thirties to their eighties and bring experience from waterways across England and Wales, including those who cruise widely across multiple regions and those who hold River Only and Gold licences. The group also includes boaters with disabilities and varying levels of satisfaction with our management of the waterways, ensuring a broad mix of perspectives and experiences are represented.
Bringing together the boating community
Matthew Symonds, our head of boating and customer service, said: “The Citizens’ Boater Panel brings together people with very different experiences of boating, reflecting the diversity of today's boating community. From liveaboard boaters and leisure cruisers to home moorers and those without moorings who cruise the network, the panel represents a wide range of perspectives from across our waterways.
“As the panel starts its work, members will help shape a consultation that gives all boaters the opportunity to contribute to an important conversation about the future of boating on our network.”
Help design the consultation
The Citizens’ Boater Panel will help design the consultation before it is launched to all boaters, ensuring the questions are easy to understand, balanced, and informed by the realities of boating today. Following the consultation, they will meet again to review the consultation outcomes and check that any recommended changes work for boaters.
To encourage open discussion, we're not publishing the names of panel members, although members are free to talk publicly about their involvement if they wish.
The co-design consultation and Citizens’ Boater Panel are part of our response to the 2025 independent Commission on Boat Licensing.
