My Musings regarding C&RT South East Vistor Moorings -

I know that the thought of having to read a 12 page document is daunting to a lot of you so here is a small reason why you should take the time to make the effort and send in your feedback forms!!

I am trying to make some sense out of the current consultation from C&RT regarding Visitor Moorings in the South East.  The gist is that C&RT plan to reduce 'honeypot' Visitor Moorings from 14 days to 2 days. 

The reality would seem to be that whole stretches of water, in the case of my example apx 1 mile are being transformed into maximum 2 day stay areas.  (Getting quite close to defining a place there perhaps).

Their reasoning for this is to give everyone the opportunity to moor in these popular areas.  What they dont seem to understand is that reducing the amount of time you can moor in any popular place will not stop it from being popular.  Providing moor suitable space to moor up in popular areas is the answer. 

I admit, even though I have travelled through Berkhamsted half a dozen times or so I dont remember if the whole of the area in question is marked out for 'Visitor Moorings'.   Am reasonably sure some of it was just bank and I welcome any correction from any person that knows the area better than me. 

For those of you who are not familiar with the area in question I have tried to make a comparison with a local spot on the Lee and Stort (my home stomping ground) so you can get an idea of what could happen if these proposals are allowed to go through un contested. 

These assume that the Berkhamsted area concerned is not already marked out as a maintained visitor mooring for the whole 1 mile area. Which I dont think it is.

Firstly Berkhamstead, a very nice Market town with a lovely high street, supermarkets and always plenty of space to moor on the 6 occasions I travelled through it last year between March and November. The area in question is a mile long stretch which  C&RT would like to change from 14 days  as it stands at the moment to a maximum of 2 days,  with a very short area at the end of it which would be 7 days.  Some how you would be able to stay for 7 days in any one visit (not sure how you can stay for 7 days in a 2 day mooring zone though). The stretch in question is between Gas Lock 52 to bridge 143.

The equivilent area would be from Just above Stanstead Abbotts Lock to just below the A414 Bridge.  Stanstead Abbotts is also a honey pot site so it stands to reason that if C&RT are allowed to enforce a 2 day maximum stay on a 1 mile stretch of water in Berkhamstead, it wont be long before the same is the case in Stanstead Abbotts.  C&RT have said as much in this consultation document:

Quote:

We are aware there are more locations in SE where either existing visitor moorings need reviewing or new visitor moorings created. This is beyond the scope of this current consultation which needs to focus on testing the new time limits and processes at the sites already highlighted before extending the approach to other places. When the time comes to make changes at other SE sites, we will apply the principles and lessons learned from this consultation and subsequent implementation.

This consultation for the South East is the first in what we intend will be a series of local reviews eventually covering the whole of the network.
I may just be being paranoid but the paragraph below also bothers me a little,  a lot of the stretches on the canals I have traveled are shored up with metal, which you can moor up against with a special curved mooring pin.  I wonder how long it will be before this kind of bank is included in C&RT definition.  All they would have to do is change the word in bold to or and it could happen over night.

C&RT definition of Visitor Mooring
The term "visitor mooring" is generally understood to be a site with some form of facilities – whether just a firmer edge with mooring rings or a more comprehensive range of services. Investment will have been made because of the specific location at a popular destination or access point. Passing boaters therefore need to be reasonably confident that space will be available when they arrive, as close as possible to the heart of the destination.

So a firm edge could be interprated as being a visitor mooring, purely because C&RT have maintained it??

Thats my lot for now, I would be interested to hear what your thoughts are on my thoughts??
I welcome and invite your comments.