THE Canal & River Trust has today announced that both private and business boat licence fees will rise by 3% from 1st April 2017, [subsequently changed to 2018] it states 'roughly in line with inflation forecasts for next year'.
It maintains that income from boat licence fees helps to ensure that the Trust can continue to 'sustain charitable expenditure' of over £150m per year.
Another consultation
Though it would be thought the people at CaRT itself would know about and be more able to overhaul the structure and future of boat licencing, it is again employing consultants, at considerable expense to undertake the exercise.
For the Trust, Ian Rogers, Customer Services and Operations Director at Canal & River Trust, explained:
“We are committed to keeping boat licences at a fair price and investing the income back into caring for our canals and rivers for the benefit of all our boating customers. Looking after the waterways is a huge task, from big jobs like repairing flood-damaged bridges to the everyday work of dredging and replacing lock gates.
The money we get from boat licences, which currently accounts for around 10-15% of our total income, is massively important in keeping the canals and rivers open so boaters can continue to use them, now and in the future.”
Other activities
It is a great pity that money is not being used for such purposes rather than for the now myriad of other activities now embarked upon as a 'charity' to impress the government, which many boaters tell us is the reason two major waterways are closed 'indefinitely' and stoppages appear at all too regular intervals.