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Access to waste facilities

Recently a group of concerned boaters from the Lancaster Canal held a meeting with Mr Newton at Glasson Marina where the subject of access to the sanitary station at Galgate Marina was discussed.

We had previously been advised that we would no longer have 24-hour use and only be able to use it when BWML staff were on site. Also the locks would be changed which meant access from 10am to 2pm on working days.

Mr Newton told us that they could no longer sustain the full charges to BWML made by United Utilities as British Waterways had withdrawn its contribution.

It was suggested that non berth holders would be asked to pay for the use of the facilities and a suggestion was made that £1 would be charged per visit and we would have to purchase a swipe card to the value of £50.

We pointed out to Mr Newton that this facility was paid for by us via the licence fee and has been on site for many years.

We suspect that this may be the norm when the new trust takes over from BW.

Watch this space.

Colin Ogden
By email