Not my usual topic or style, but after nine days holiday and in the midst of this brutal referendum campaign, I was keen to write something gentle.
FLOATING VOTERS
When I launched my blog four years ago it was called “Voting
and Boating”. The idea at the time was
to blog about my two passions in life: politics and Britain’s wonderful inland
waterways. Over time the balance has swung heavily towards politics, inevitably
as I spend much more time in the office than I do traveling our canals and
rivers.
This last week however I have travelled the entire length of
the navigable freshwater Thames, from Lechlade in Gloucestershire to Teddington
on the edge of Greater London. 135 glorious miles through 45 locks, with
overnight stops at Oxford, Abingdon, Goring, Henley, Windsor and
Weybridge. In the fog of the EU war and
the cruelty of blue-on-blue, this journey was nourishment for the soul;
evocative of childhood adventures with new places to visit each day, and
bucolic scenes of such beauty and magnificence that they made one’s heart leap
with joy.
By way of change, I am using this week’s column to write
about our waterways, the people who have made them their home and the
opportunities they can provide.
Some readers will know that my partner and I live on a boat. Home is a 60ft Dutch Barge, moored on the
River Medway at Rochester. Living in a boat was a matter of choice. We love the
sense of community which still exists on the water, the idiosyncratic lifestyle
and the sense of freedom it provides. There are other advantages too; we never
arrive at our holiday destination and chastise ourselves for forgetting to pack
a corkscrew…the corkscrew, camera, cooker, fridge and every other household
appliance (as well as our cats) come with us!
The Residential Boat Owners’ Association has 15,000 members,
but this in no way reflects the true numbers of people living on Britain’s waterways.
My estimate is probably nearer to 50,000, and these fall into four main categories:
Residential moorings
with full planning consent: these are like hens’ teeth, especially in
London and the South East. Local authorities are reticent to grant planning
permission as applications of this nature are “unusual” and there are
understandable concerns from the Environment Agency and the Canal & River
Trust over waste disposal, especially sewage. Where permission is granted (such
as the boatyard where we moor, where there are perhaps 60 residential boat
owners) these are often historical and come with bizarre conditions such as how many hours each day the boat
is in water!
Non-residential moorings
which in reality are. Almost every
marina I know has a significant number of permanently-occupied boats, even if
there is no planning consent. The usual vagaries in planning law makes
enforcement almost impossible. Whilst
you might not be able to use your boat/mooring as your main home, staying on
your boat for prolonged periods is quite legal (provided your main home is
elsewhere – often a son or daughter’s house hundreds of miles away!) The
problem with this ad-hoc arrangement
is it provides little security for the boat owner, no Council Tax receipts for
the local authority who provide the services, and the ever-present threat of
investigation for the marina owner. Most marina owners are only too pleased to
have a number of residential boaters; they can be charged a higher mooring fee,
they provide security in what are often rural places and they help build a
sense of community. A simple change in
planning guidance could improve this situation to the benefit of all concerned
with relative ease.
Permanent Cruisers. I
suspect these are the biggest single group. Often retired, they have sold their
large family home and used the proceeds to buy a small flat (often in warmer
climes) and some of the balance to buy a modern high-spec narrowboat or barge.
They spend the spring, summer and autumn months on the inland waterways, going
wherever takes their fancy – staying a day or two here or a week in some busy
or favourite town, before moving on. I
am covetous of their lifestyle and look forward to being able to join them
(though I still need to convince my other half).
Permanent Cruisers
who technically aren’t. There are,
however, a large and growing number of people who claim to be “permanent
cruisers” but clearly are not. These are people who have often been forced onto
boats through circumstances of life. They may have a job locally or children at
local school and need to be resident nearby. They habitually stay the maximum
permitted time before moving a mile or two along the river. Then a few days later they are “moved on” again
and return to their original location. On this week’s journey we saw more of
this than ever before. It was difficult
to find mooring space in several popular towns and this causes irritation for
local traders who feel they are losing visitor revenue as well as for visiting
boaters who cannot find a place to moor.
Oxford is a prime example. The popular stretch of river east
of Folly Bridge provides the town’s main mooring facilities, but these have
been occupied by “permanent cruisers” for at least 12 months. The Council has
applied for a summons to move them on – but to where? Moving the problem a mile
along the river doesn’t really solve it, and impounding the boats and evicting
the residents would result in making them homeless and in need of
rehousing. Perhaps a solution is for
each major town and village to identify a stretch of river bank which could be
turned into semi-permanent moorings for those who need them. This would help manage the situation, ensure
access to the support services and facilities they need, whilst freeing-up
valuable town centre short-term mooring for the purpose intended.
Living on a boat is not for everyone. There are constraints
and inconveniences which many would find intolerable, but for others these
niggles are a small price to pay for the beauty of light on the water, the
gentle movement of the tide, the regular visits by ducks, geese and swans and a
sense of community which is now almost extinct in much of urban Britain.
It is also fair to say that buying a boat is much easier and
cheaper than buying a house. A perfectly serviceable boat can be bought for low
thousands whilst higher-spec boats run into hundreds of thousands. The
provision of more residential moorings could provide an opportunity for
thousands of people to have a home of their own whilst saving for a deposit. It
would also provide security for those presently living on the borders of
homelessness and ensure they paid their fair share towards the community in
which they live.
