Adrian Stott wrote: > I wrote a WW article about this a while back. The real problem is > that CCs don't pay for moorings. The average boater (who does have a > long-term mooring) uses the public moorings no more than about 2 > months a year. The CCs use them 12 months a year. To me, that says > that CCs should be invoiced a mooring charge worth 10/12 of the price > of an annual long-term mooring. That would make getting a CC licence > much less financially attractive (in comparison to a conventional > licence) than it is now, and should reduce the numbers of them > significantly I think.
Aha we agree at last - the cost of the towpath moorings that your hypothetical boater is using for the 2 months he's away from base (assuming he's not going to Llangollen!) is £0 on top of the licence any other mooring fees he may pay. 10/12 of £0 is £0. Happy now? OK I'm not entirely serious about us agreeing but I am entirely serious that CCs should pay the same for their temporary use of the towpath as anyone else. If it's not temporary they must pay for it. As a matter of interest, do you want to surcharge anyone who uses their boat more than 2 months of the year or is it just CCs? What about my friends with a mooring who are away from it 6-9 months of the year, do they pay? Actually what about those who don't pay a penny to BW for their mooring, should they contribute more as well? Interestingly the people I refer to above have a legal free mooring. > However, BW hasn't summoned the fortitude to do this yet. You've hit the nail on the head. Hitting CCs is an easier option than enforcing the rules on CMs. BW and others have very successfully tarred us all with the same brush even though CMs have much more in common with on-line moorers than CCs. Indeed they ARE on-line moorers who've not paid their mooring fees. > However, if such charges were introduced, they would be by way of the > licence system. If a boat has no licence, BW can get rid of it. I really can't see how that would work. It would surely have to be a mooring permit of some sort. Whether it's unpaid overstaying fees or unpaid mooring fees, enforcement could still effectively be done through the licence system. Any monies paid over should be used used to clear the oldest debt first and BW would be unable to issue a new licence to anyone who hasn't paid for it. Another complexity has just occurred to me - if someone is issued with this regional mooring, do they become liable to pay council tax? Also what about planning permission? If BW are saying they can live on board then surely these 2 issues both arise... Steve NB Bream
