A cruising licence?

READING David Hymers' suggestion that CaRT should do away with a separate ‘Mooring Permit' by increasing the cost of the ‘Cruising Licence' to offset the lost revenue, I noted also that there was an email of support from John Kerley a few days later. Sounds like a good idea with support. But is it? Asks Orph Mable.

 

Not enamoured

I must admit that I certainly would like to have a much smaller visible licence ‘ticket' on the lines of a Vehicle Road Tax disc; the current CART licence takes up a complete porthole on Sarni on each side, and she only has four in total! However, I am not enamoured with the idea of an increased Cruising Licence Fee in any shape or form. This ‘one size fits all' approach does not actually compute as far as I can see.

Now I know that the majority of boats on CaRT waters have a home, which takes the form of a marina, on-line CaRT, or ‘end of garden' (farmer's field) mooring. For each of these CaRT issues a mooring permit of a similar size to a cruising licence to show that it has received its' slice of the cash for the mooring facility. However, not all boats with a home mooring on CaRT waters have, or even require, a mooring permit even if they are not ‘Continuous Cruisers'!

Special rights

"How is that then?" Do I hear you ask? Quite simply, some marinas and moorings have land owner/grandfather rights which pre-date the canal, and thus can have boats moored there without having to contribute to CaRT coffers. Here at Oxley we do not have to pay CaRT any mooring fee. So what David is proposing will directly penalise financially, the dozen or so boats moored here (they pay Oxley Marine for the facility). It will also directly increase my operating costs for my own boats. Who is that going to benefit then—certainly not us!

There is another sector that will be also affected. What about those boats that do not moor on CaRT waters even after the probable amalgamation of the Environment Agency. Those who moor on the Wey, which is a National Trust waterway, would be a typical example. They already pay National Trust for their moorings, should they be penalised for wishing to buy a cruising licence on CaRT waters? An increased licence fee would certainly not encourage visitors would it?

My feelings are that everyone should think a little harder before giving too much air to this philosophy of increasing Cruising Licence fees to encompass mooring permit costs! There is more to the issue than you may think at first.