Boating to become unaffordable

 FROM the 1st April Canal and River Trust will introduce above inflation licence fee increases for at least the next five years.

For those without home moorings and with wider boats these increases, already above inflation, will be increasingly surcharged leading to some paying more than double current licence fees.

Perhaps it is little wonder that two thirds of boaters are worried that boating will become unaffordable in the near future.

In a narrowboatworld exclusive, Allan Richards reveals a 'slide' from the DJS Research 'Boat licence consultation 2023' that was made available to CRT trustees but hidden from the public.

Missing slides

As with many market research companies, DJS Research produces reports as a number of discrete Microsoft PowerPoint presentation slides saved as a pdf file. The ''Boat licence consultation 2023" released to the public can be found here.

However, the DJS Research report made available to the public differs to that made available to CRT's Board of Trustees as discovered by a Freedom of Information request which can be found here.

A number of 'slides' contained in the trustee report have gone missing from the public report

Two thirds

One of the missing slides is headed 'Two thirds of the boating community agree or strongly agree they are concerned about the increasing cost of boating in the UK and shown below:

Two reports

It would appear that boaters have rejected the above inflation increases imposed upon them but CRT have decided to falsify the supposedly independent DJS Research report by omitting the slide that shows this.

Other slides omitted show that boaters have generally chosen options that place them at the least financial disadvantage.

Perhaps now, the IWA, NABO and NBTA will join forces to oppose these above inflation licence fee increases.