Buyer Beware!

It seems after several years of looking, Sally Ash has maybe found a group of boaters prepared to give roving mooring permits a go. Well, that may be overstating it. But at least there is a group of boaters in West London looking at it and preparing to enter discussions with CRT.

Lots of people nationally are watching this activity not least myself and colleagues in NABO who still have huge misgivings about this proposal.

It is clear from talking to those involved that a key part of this remains the idea that if you do not take one of these permits you are likely to be subject to enforcement action by CRT. This is explicit in the discussions that are going on and of course roving mooring permits are only being offered to continuous cruisers who CRT claim would otherwise be subject to enforcement action for, as CRT see it, not moving far enough, often enough.

And that point remains the nub of it for many of us. We see it as in effect CRT encouraging boaters to buy their way out of enforcement action. If I was to come to a similar arrangement with a Police Officer, a Council official or other person in authority, that would be seen as a corrupt transaction and most likely criminal action would ensue against both me and the person taking my money. Arguments about pragmatism do not really hold water when you are encouraging people to in effect evade a statutory provision.

There are also for me more fundamental questions about the soundness and sustainability of any agreement that could be seen to be entered into when one of the parties is under duress from the other.

So I beg those discussing this with CRT to think long and hard and ask some probing questions about what you are buying into and how sustainable this is in the long term. The strategic approach has to be more long term residential moorings at prices that boaters can afford.