The extent to which the BW officers and the board had met the government head on in defending their position regarding the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) cuts in their budget was fully outlined. Users were left in no doubt about the need to increase revenue to maintain BW’s position of achieving just 85% of the maintenance needed year-on-year just to keep the waterways safe and useable.

There was emphasis from BW throughout the meetings on the need for ideas from the floor which may have not been suggested previously. These included seasonal licensing, where the boater would pay more for use during the busy summer months, loyalty discounts, depending on the number of years on the water and concessions for senior citizens or those on a fixed income.

It was said that nobody should become socially excluded by being priced out of their chosen pastime.

It was suggested that continuous cruisers should to pay more for their extended use of the infrastructure of the waterways and central bodies governing sport and fitness should contribute to the facilities provided by the waterways for walkers, runners, cyclists.

BW officers explained that local authorities currently do not have to contribute towards the amenities that the waterways offer, but most developments granted planning permission have money allocated for public infrastructure, under what is known Section 106. It always lobbies for a share of this in developments next to BW land for improvements to the waterway infrastructure.

The increased use of volunteers to maintain moorings and deal with towpath vegetation was also proposed and also the appointment of a real boater’s representative to sit on the BW board.

All agreed that licence evasion should be tackled rigorously and it was suggested that the ‘zero tolerance’ scheme - where an unlicensed boat is refused access to the locks – recently introduced in BW’s east midlands area, should be adopted nationally.

BW admitted that evasion was still a long way from being under control but it was hampered by existing legislation which delays the process.

Robin Evans also suggested that BW should not sit within DEFRA but perhaps as part of another government department.

The situation regarding commercial licenses was outlined in that the Association of Pleasure Craft Operators (APCO) - the body mainly representing holiday hire companies - has negotiated just a 3.3% increase for 2008 on the basis that their businesses were already suffering as a result of budget holiday offers and the need to get their 2008 literature out on time.

Colin Hill, APCO chairman, confirmed this but also told Boating Business that this was on the basis that the whole structure of commercial operating licenses was to be renegotiated with BW. One of the ideas put forward is that that an operating company would be licensed, with an additional separate payment for each boat.

This would also assist in eliminating the practice of private owners hiring out their boats without paying a commercial licence; an illegal practice through which BW loses money. Hill said discussions would commence at APCO’s March general meeting.

At the end of the meetings BW urged users to continue to respond to the licence consultation with written submissions and also to lobby MPs with waterways in their constituencies.