NBTA

Calls grow for residential boaters to be recognised in housing and planning policy

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Web Editor

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June 3, 2026

Thousands of people make their homes on Britain’s canals and rivers, but many residential boaters say they face mounting barriers to healthcare, basic services and legal security, with campaigners warning that unclear rights and patchy recognition are leaving a significant community exposed. PRESSURE is growing on ministers to confront what campaigners describe as a blind…
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PARLIAMENT LOBBIED in campaign against surcharge

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January 3, 2025

BOATERS worried about a rise in costs have taken their case to Westminster. The National Bargee Travellers’ Association (NBTA), which represents 2000 boaters, is angry that boaters without a home mooring pay higher licence fees and claims that the Canal and River Trust discriminates against continuous cruisers. The NBTA held a drop-in session at the…
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‘INHUMANE’ RULES: NBTA want rethink

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August 22, 2024

The National Bargee Travellers’ Association, which represents thousands of itinerant UK boat dwellers, calls for end to the Canal and River Trust’s current enforcement policy. THE trust which manages most of the UK’s inland waterways has published the full results of its Boater Census first conducted in 2022, which highlights the issues and challenges faced…
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Boaters march on CRT office in licence fee protest

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Scootering Web Editor

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May 15, 2024

HUNDREDS of boaters took to the towpath of Paddington Basin in London to demonstrate against the Canal & River Trust’s licence fee increases. They were also protesting at plans to introduce differential pricing based on mooring status. Activists from the boater community were joined on Easter Saturday by members of other groups in solidarity, including…
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Cost of living petition presented at No 10

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July 26, 2023

Boaters joined a flotilla to take their Energy Bills Support Scheme plight to the capital. Sally Clifford finds out more. SLOW cruisers took their campaign to the doorstep of Britain’s political power. The boaters travelled to London to protest the continued exclusion of itinerant boat dwellers and others without a fixed address from receiving the…
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Historical moorings contradict Water Safety Zones – NBTA

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Web Editor

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May 27, 2023

THE River Lee in London has long been a multi-use space shared by all kinds of craft, states the National Bargee Travellers Association. But it claims that in recent years, the Canal & River Trust has emphasised the rights of some river users over others. NBTA has drawn attention to two sites near rowing clubs…
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Mooring rings removed from East London towpath

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March 8, 2023

HISTORIC bollards and mooring rings have suddenly been removed from a strip of towpath at Marshgate Bridge 15, near Homerton, according to the National Bargee Travellers Association. It claims that at 9am on Thursday February 2, the Canal & River Trust began removing them even though some were still in use at the time. Boaters…
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Energy bills support scheme – off-grid households still out in the cold

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January 26, 2023

After months of broken promises and mounting distress from off-grid households facing the second major cold snap of this winter, the government has still failed to design a system capable of extending either the Energy Bills Support Scheme – Alternative Funding (EBSS-AF) or Alternative Fuel Payments (AFP) to thousands of households without a fixed address,…
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ENERGY BILLS SUPPORT SCHEME: AN UPDATE FOR CONCERNED BOATERS

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Mark Lancaster

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December 17, 2022

This in from the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) Over the past few months, there has been a lot of understandable confusion and anxiety within our community over the situation regarding boaters’ access to financial assistance during the UK’s ongoing fuel and cost-of-living crisis. We at the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) therefore think it…
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Planning inquiry ‘misled’ over assessment into boaters’ needs, claims NBTA

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Web Editor

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October 6, 2022

ELMBRIDGE Borough Council did not reveal that it had carried out a Boat Dweller Accommodation Needs Assessment almost six weeks before it reported to a planning inquiry on March 15, 2022 according to the National Bargee Travellers Association. NBTA claims that the council stated that its study had just begun in order to boost its…
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Hundreds sign petition to include off-grid households in government energy bills support

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August 30, 2022

A petition to include off-grid households in the Government’s £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme has so far been signed by over 1600 people. The Government announced on 26th May 2022 that UK households will get at least £400 off their energy bills as the Energy Bills Support Scheme is being doubled and made into a…
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NBTA to hold Protest Picnic in Hackney

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Web Editor

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June 21, 2022

THE National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) has organised a Protest Picnic in Hackney, continuing its campaign against what it describes as a cull of the number of casual moorings across London. The picnic will be held on Sunday June 26 from 12 noon on Walthamstow Marshes, opposite the Anchor and Hope pub. Marcus Trower, NBTA…
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Lottery boost for pilot mental health support for boaters

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Web Editor

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May 31, 2022

A PILOT psychotherapy and mental health skills coaching service for boat dwellers without a permanent mooring was launched during Mental Health Awareness Week. The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) was awarded nearly £10,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to support the low-cost service. NBTA chairperson Pamela Smith said: “Our heartfelt thanks go to all…
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Boaters to march on Canal & River Trust’s London office to fight for moorings

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Web Editor

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March 18, 2022

On Saturday 26 March 2022, boaters from around the country will march on Canal & River Trust’s (CRT) main London office to protest the Trust’s continued attack on the capital’s liveaboard boating community. Starting in Regents Park, the protest will march to CRT’s offices in Little Venice where there will speeches and entertainment, plus the…
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