CANAL & RIVER TRUST PUBLISHES UPDATED LICENCE T&CS

24 May 2021

CANAL & RIVER TRUST PUBLISHES UPDATED LICENCE T&CS

The Canal & River Trust is today publishing its updated Private Boat Licence Terms & Conditions alongside a report detailing the results of the recent 12-week consultation. The changes will come into effect from 1 June 2021 and will be applied to renewals and new licences from that date.

The consultation received widespread support, with 78% of respondents in agreement across all nine proposals, ranging from 63% to 88% for individual proposals. The consultation was completed by over 3,300 individuals, around 10% of the Trust’s boat licence holders.

The Trust received considered and helpful responses to the consultation from waterway organisations, individual boaters, and the Trust’s navigational advisory group – made up of boaters who volunteer to advise the Trust on navigational matters. As a result of the feedback, the Trust has rewritten the Terms & Conditions to improve their ‘readability’, re-wording some of the proposals to make them simpler. Several other minor amendments were made to the proposals based on feedback received.

These changes to the Terms and Conditions are intended to make them as clear as possible and strengthen them to protect both boat owners and the Trust.

After such a positive and constructive response to the consultation with respondents largely recognising the purpose and strength of the proposals, and their feedback further shaping several of them, the Trust thanks everyone who took the time to share their thoughts.

The consultation was open to all licence holders and was undertaken by online survey. A full consultation report is available here.

The new Private Boat Licence Terms & Conditions can be found here.

Notes to editors

The nine proposals and intentions are as follows:

Requirement to travel on a journey whilst away from home mooring (to better manage ‘ghost moorings’/moorings of convenience where a boat spends an extended period on a small part of the network away from its home mooring);
Obligations for larger dimensioned boats (to protect our network and boats from damage and avoid navigation difficulties to others caused by boats unsuitable to narrow waterways);
Consequences for making false declarations when licensing (to ensure that we are able to take effective action in respect of false declarations);
Obligation on behaviour towards Trust colleagues (to protect our people);
Additional requirements regarding insurance (to help ensure that boaters have the required insurance);
More clarity around obligations to Boat Safety Scheme certification (to improve safety);
Clarity added to our licence termination condition (to strengthen the effectiveness of our enforcement process and add clarity);
Clarification around our obligations and refunds (to clarify our legal position around refunds);
Requirement for better information regarding change of ownership (to ensure that we have the correct information for those responsible for licenced boats).

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