Friday 3rd September.

Filled with water this morning and moved on.

Just a short cruise to wolverton, stay over the weekend probably. 

Water levels are quite low, and of course the silt is getting ever closer to the top. No fix for that, as it seems Canal and River Trust have no strategy for dredging, other than the few miles it does each year merely to satisfy DEFRA.

Getting through bridge holes is becoming a challenge owing to the lack of dredging.

Canal and River Trust stakeholder engagement with respect to the River Lee Water Safety Zones carried out by Hopkins Van Mill represents a massive victory for the boating community of London, and I imagine quite a culture shock to Canal and River Trust after being reminded that first and foremost, it is a Navigation Authority.

“ NBTA London statement on Canal and River Trust’s response to the River Lee Water Safety Zones stakeholder engagement exercise.

Today’s climbdown response by Canal and River Trust (CRT) to the stakeholder engagement with respect to the River Lee Water Safety Zones, carried out by Hopkins Van Mil, represents a massive victory for the boating community of London. 

Supported and facilitated by NBTA London, boaters in London have come together to organise against CRT’s attempts to remove hundreds of casual moorings on the River Lee. In a little over six months we have succeeded in forcing CRT to abandon their draconian proposals to make life on the Lee more challenging for boaters. 

Through a campaign which included leafleting boaters and non-boaters on the towpath, two flotillas in Broxbourne and Hackney, one of which saw over fifty boats cruising the Lee between Clapton and Hackney Wick, and coverage in national and local press, we have highlighted the negative impact of CRT’s unreasonable and misguided proposals on our community.

As the result of our actions, CRT has today retracted their proposals for the “safety zones”. NBTA London would like to congratulate the hundreds of boaters from London and around the country who have contributed to this victory.

CRT still believes that the “safety zones” are necessary in some form or another, so our work on this is not necessarily finished. But now they know our community has the taste of success in this campaign and we shall not just stand by while they make any new attempts to introduce measures which will have a negative effect on our community.

The full engagement report by Hopkins Van Mil can be found here:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/44416-010921-hopkins-van-mill-report-on-stakeholder-engagement-on-lee-navigation.pdf

CRT’s response to the stakeholder engagement can be found here:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/44417-010921-water-safety-zone-statement-crt-response.pdf”