Boats Are Homes Petition.

This is a petition intended to prevent the Eviction of Boat Dwellers. More than 17,000 people have signed the petition so far. I have signed the petition because I feel the new terms and conditions effect every boater and are not a proportionate response by the trust. 

This is what the campaigners say:

The Canal & River Trust want to remove up to 13% of its paying customers and this has attracted considerable concern. However we have not yet achieved our aim which is that Canal & River Trust abandons any requirements for boaters without permanent moorings to travel a minimum distance - because the law does not permit the Trust to enforce such a minimum distances.

It is becoming clear after the first few weeks that Canal & River Trust's new policy is being applied retrospectively and in some cases without any warning at all, not even the 6 weeks stated by Canal & River Trust'. Boaters who had their licences renewed a year ago who have travelled the same distances this year have been told their licence will not be renewed for the full 12 months. They were not in a position to remedy any alleged failure to comply with the law because the new policy was only announced in February 2015, with the implication that it would be effective going forward from 1st May. It was not made clear that it would be operated retrospectively. This is unfair and unjust. Many boat dwellers are at risk of being evicted from Canal & River Trust waterways as a result.

This means we are keeping the campaign going for the time being. Please would you help to spread the word by sharing, tweeting or forwarding the link below so that we can get more signatures and raise more awareness of the unlawful enforcement activities of the charity that manages 80% of Britain's waterways.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/boats-are-homes-prevent-the-eviction-of-boat-dwellers

As you may have realised from the update on the petition web site, there are some who are opposed to the interests of boat dwellers without permanent moorings and so we took the decision to provide a lot of additional information to ensure that the public is well informed about the background to Canal & River Trust's latest attack on law-abiding boat dwellers. I hope you have found this useful.

If you would like to know more about living on a boat without a permanent mooring on Canal & River Trust waterways, please have a look at Boaters' Voices, a 30-minute film that was made by Wiltshire Council here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYsBn5xABEc