Price rises cause fear of eviction among boaters

Pamela Smith is a continuous cruiser and Chair of the National Bargee Travellers Association

Increases in the costs of living on canals are "discriminatory" and target some of the poorest, according to an organisation supporting people who live on UK waterways.

From April, the Canal & River Trust (CRT) is to introduce price rises.

Boat licenses will become more costly and a surcharge will also be applicable to boaters with a wide-beam boat, and those without a fixed home mooring.

The CRT have said the price rises are necessary and fair.

Those without a fixed home mooring are often known as continuous cruisers, and make up one fifth of the 35,000 licensed boaters in the UK.

Targeting continuous cruisers for a surcharge on top of rising license fees is "discrimination" according to Pamela Smith, 66.

Ms Smith, who has been a continuous cruiser for more than 16 years, is also chairperson of a national volunteer organisation supporting boaters, the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA).

In an interview with BBC Radio Wiltshire she said: "To put a surcharge on the people who are on the lowest incomes is unfair.

"I'm absolutely furious but I'm also very frightened.

"I'm scared that I'm going to end up in a situation where I can't afford to license my home anymore.

"It's unfair, it's discrimination."

The Canal & River Trust is the charity maintaining waterways

Ms Smith said she can't afford "bricks and mortar" and that the charity responsible for maintaining the waterways, the CRT, should be doing better.

"Canal and River Trust is a charity. Charities are supposed to make their services accessible to the poorest in society," she said.

"The surcharge on boats without a home mooring is going to do the opposite of that."

The CRT is charged with maintaining locks such as this one on the Kennet and Avon canal

The Canal and River Trust said looking after ageing canals is getting increasingly costly and government funding is reducing, charging those who use the water most is fair.

A spokesperson said: "We have seen the number of people choosing to boat without a home mooring increase dramatically in the past decade.

"And, while just one fifth of the 35,000 licensed boats on our waterways do not have a home mooring, they accounted for three-quarters of the boats sighted using our waterways in the past year.

"This growth has led to increased costs to manage and meet their needs.

"We therefore feel it is reasonable that the licence cost reflects the utility different boats receive, hence the increase in the surcharges for wide beam boats and the introduction of a surcharge for boats without a home mooring."

The new charges come at a time when many boaters say the upkeep of the waterways is worse than ever, leading to safety concerns.

Poor maintenance of the waterways are leading to safety concerns amongst many boaters.

Overgrown vegetation is a safety issue says continuous cruisers who need to see the edge of the canal to safely disembark

One 72-year-old boater who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions said: "I was a continuous cruiser for 12-years.

"The facilities and the upkeep of the canal on the Kennet and Avon is less (than when I first began living on a boat).

"There are places I can't go because of overgrowth, I can't cope with how it's being maintained at this present day."

This 72-year-old boater (back to the camera) now moors in an expensive marina

Overgrown vegetation blocking boats from mooring, slippery ladders and leaking lock gates with broken mechanisms are amongst the safety concerns raised by new boater, Kate Areogast, 71.

Mrs Areogast and her husband retired last year, travelling from Texas, US to the UK's waterways for their "final chapter".

But she said broken parts of locks marked unusable by black bin bags are "everywhere" on the canal.

Over the past year Mrs Areogast says she has very rarely seen a CRT worker, which has made her concerned.

"Safety is a pretty big issue. They [the CRT] say that everything's disintegrating, well ok, fix it," she added.

Boater Kate Areogast said she has rarely seen maintenance taking place on the canals

Broken locks, such as this one on the Kennet and Avon canal, are often marked with black bin bags

The CRT said it increased its expenditure on charitable activities to £199.5 million in 2022.

They charity also said the bulk of its expenditure is on actively looking after the waterways - everyday maintenance, repairs and inspections - and on major works to infrastructure assets such as reservoirs which are essential for navigation.