Canal needs to be safer, say boaters after assaults

John Ball believes the canal will become more dangerous if people stop mooring there

"It's the same as the city, there's a feeling of degradation about it in places, which saddens me."

John Ball has been mooring in Nottingham city centre on his narrowboat for many years, and says the canal has changed in that time.

He spoke to the BBC following three separate attacks along and near the canal in less than a month.

The first was against a woman who was raped on 20 June, then another woman was sexually assaulted on 6 July, then a man was seriously assaulted on 17 July.

John says he has felt threatened himself at times, but he continues mooring in the city centre out of defiance.

'Violent and aggressive'

"If people like me stop mooring here then it will get progressively worse," says John, who is 71.

"It will finish up with more and more people drinking and doing drugs, and being violent and aggressive."

John says he has experienced vandalism himself - someone unhooked the protective fenders from the side of his boat and threw them in the water.

He pays for a permanent mooring at a nearby marina, so he could stay there, but he is determined to keep using the canal.

"I won't stop doing it, because it winds me up and it annoys me as much as anything else," he says.

The canal going through Nottingham is called the Nottingham and Beeston Canal

John isn't the only person to be concerned. The Canal and River Trust (CRT) - the charity responsible for maintaining England's waterways - says it has been "shocked" by the recent assaults.

The charity said it had been in discussions with Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire Police.

"We're carrying out regular clean-ups and addressing issues such as unlicensed boats, but we want to work with partner organisations that have the powers and skills to deal with the broader issues we've seen recently, such as criminal activity, fly-tipping and homelessness," a spokesman said.

The Canal and River Trust said there have been issues with fly-tipping, homelessness and criminal activity

John said he had noticed a problem with unlicensed boats himself. Boaters like him have to pay an annual licence to the CRT which allows them to use canals - but some boaters have been mooring along the canal illegally.

"I walked in from Castle Marina the other day and of the 19 boats I passed, two of them had licences on them, and they were the two charity boats run by the local authority," he said.

The CRT theoretically has the power to remove unlicensed boats from canals, but in reality, doing so is difficult.

"This is always very much a last resort, at the end of a long legal process, and where we've repeatedly tried to resolve the issues with the boater without success," said the CRT spokesman.

Women have told the BBC they would like to see more visible police along the canal

Multiple women have previously told the BBC they feel too scared to walk or run along the canal, and that more police patrols would help.

Nottinghamshire Police said its officers were "maintaining a high-visibility presence in the area" following the recent attacks.

Supt Chris Pearson, area commander for the City Division, said: "Our neighbourhood policing team for the city centre continue to carry out routine patrols around our canal towpaths as part of their policing activity.

"This is both uniformed and plain-clothed patrols.

"Violence against women and girls is a force priority and we will continue to work with our partners to improve the safety of our canal network."

Nottingham City Council was also asked to comment but did not want to.

Ian Furmidge says there is "safety in numbers" when mooring along canals

John believes the canal would be safer if more licensed boaters like him started mooring there.

"Realistically, more people need to use it," he said.

"You can put people [police officers] on the ground but they haven't got the resources."

Fellow narrowboater Ian Furmidge agrees there is safety in numbers.

He normally moors his narrowboat in Market Bosworth, but was passing through Nottingham city centre when he spoke to the BBC.

"All towns and cities and urban areas come with a sense of trepidation, and there is safety in numbers, you do look for groups of boats," said Ian, who is 62.

"If I was mooring here and there were no other boats at all I'd be quite nervous and probably wouldn't stop.

"We need people in the city centres."

John has certainly not been deterred from mooring in the city centre by the recent attacks.

"It's my home town and I'm not going to be pushed out of it by people behaving in a bad way," he said.