The ‘sale of … long term moorings’ is the aim of a new Canal and River Trust website, but before you get too excited, CRT is not selling off canal side real estate, just ‘letting’ moorings for a fixed time as usual! And down on the River Thames all the ‘free’ moorings are to get ‘car park style’ mooring enforcement.
The Waterside Mooring website (anyone looking for a mooring which isn’t ‘waterside’?) currently shows 150 vacancies including 8 residential moorings on a map and list and provides photos and details of over 300 mooring sites managed by CRT. Eventually there will be videos of locations to give boat owners a better feel for the sites and they will be able to add a mooring to a personalised ‘watch list’, so that they will be automatically notified if vacancies arise. As well as giving boaters more information about availability, there will now be a fixed-price Buy-It-Now option for many of the CRT moorings. In high demand areas there will still be a two-week auction facility for some moorings. A news and features section is intended to keep people up-to-date with the latest news about CRT’s long term moorings, introduce the mooring managers and show the results of customer surveys. ‘Purchase’ of moorings will be fully automated, reducing processing time and allowing customers to get new berths more quickly. For those who don’t have access to a computer, there will be a telephone facility to help them through the process.
The CRT’s head of Directly Managed Moorings Jenny Whitehall said: “The new ‘Waterside Mooring’ website is packed full of information to help boaters. It’s a big change from the old site and we hope that boaters will find it much easier to navigate.” The new website is on www.watersidemooring.com.
On the River Thames the Environment Agency (EA) is expanding its project to stop boaters overstaying at its free 24 hour mooring sites by using ‘car park style enforcement procedures’ to all the EA’s 22 mooring locations. The new rules are intended to stop inconsiderate boaters staying at mooring points beyond their allotted time and preventing others from using them. A fine will be imposed on anyone who flouts the rules. New mooring conditions will mean that more people can enjoy the many benefits that short term mooring sites bring to not only boaters but the wider community. NSL Ltd has been awarded the contract to enforce mooring charges to anyone found breaching the new 24 hour maximum stay conditions, which will be indicated on signs at EA moorings.
EA waterways operations manager Nick McKie-Smith said: “Abuse of moorings is a big problem for many public and large private landowners on the river, which in turn creates a problem for law abiding boaters”. “Boaters will now have a fairer opportunity to stay at the EA’s moorings to enjoy the local towns, restaurants, shops and leisure facilities which the River Thames has to offer”.
Thanks to Harry Arnold and Waterway Images for this information and images.
