Completed Consultation Reports

Boat Licensing Fees (England & Wales)

During 2007 British Waterway undertook an extensive consultation on future boat licence fees. Many boaters and representative groups contributed to this and many good suggestions were made. The result was that BW modified its proposals for licence fees in 2008 and asked the independent British Waterways Advisory Forum (BWAF) to examine each of the suggestions in closer detail.

BW is very grateful to the members of the BWAF Licensing Sub-Group who dedicated many hours to the subject. By studying the 2007 public consultation responses, analysing data and debating options, they gained a deep understanding of the challenges involved in determining a 'fair' boat licensing system.

The BWAF report was finalised during August 2008 and the paper published with BW's response for a further short period of consultation, primarily conducted through national boating organisations.

Our final decision on boat licence fees for 2009 was published by means of this press release on 25th November 2008.

BW long term moorings: allocating vacancies and setting prices

Final report, October 2008 (PDF)
Download Oct 2008 news release (PDF)

Associated documents:

• Download the consultation document (PDF)
• All individual responses to the consultation (PDF)
• APCO response (PDF)
• DBA response
• IWA - Lichfield Branch (PDF)
• IWAC response (PDF)
• IWA response (PDF)
• NABO response (PDF)
• RBOA response (PDF)
• Retford and Worksop Boat Club Limited response (PDF)
• RYA response (PDF)
• TBA response (PDF)
• Excel file containing details of completed tenders (XLS)
• Example of a mooring vacancy prospectus (PDF)
• Oxera report on BW mooring pricing, 2004 (PDF)

Andrew Irving Associates market research:

• Report of waiting list survey (PDF)
• Report of user survey (PDF)

Pre consultation documents

• Outline paper and consultation timetable, March 2008 (PDF)
• Interim paper, April 2008 (PDF)

2008 British Waterways Boat Licence Fee Consultation

• BW Boat licence consultation review May 2008 (128KB PDF)
• BW Boat licence consultation review Appendix I (132KB PDF)
• BW Boat licence consultation review Appendix II (56KB PDF)

British Waterways Boat Licence Fee Consultation

• BW licence fee consultation report Feb 2008 (136KB PDF)
• BW Boat licence fee consultation Oct 2007 (133KB PDF)
  Please note that the following link: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/consultation
  /code/index.asp is redundant. The Summary of the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Consultation can now be found at: http://bre.berr.gov.uk/regulation/consultation/code/introduction.asp
   

2005/6 Consultation and briefings relating to the licensing of shared ownership boats

1. Price discrimination in craft-user licence fees (273KB PDF): a report for British Waterways by Oxera, March 2005
2. The fee structure for boat licences in England and Wales: a consultation, June 2005 (78KB PDF)
3. Fee structure for boat licences in England and Wales, "White Paper" following public consultation July - September 2005 (114KB PDF), November 2005
4. Fee Structure for Licences in England and Wales Final Report (58KB PDF) May 2006
5. Definition of shared ownership for BW licensing purposes (22KB PDF) September 2006

2005 Towpath Mowing Guidelines

1. Towpath mowing consultation report (366KB PDF)
2. Towpath mowing guidelines - 2005 (3MB PDF)
3. Towpath mowing guidelines - 2007 (620KB PDF)

2004 Trial Moorings Code Consultation

• Mooring guidance for continuous cruisers (73KB PDF)

2003 Improving Openness and Accountability

1. Openness & Accountability Narrative Report (365KB PDF) & Appendix A
2. Openness & Accountability Appendix B (182KB PDF)
3. Openness & Accountability Appendix C (134KB PDF)
4. Openness & Accountability Appendix D (60KB PDF)
5. Openness & Accountability Appendix E (119KB PDF)
6. Openness & Accountability mailing list (88KB PDF) Report Document

2002/3: Review of craft licensing: final report and conclusions: (A) fee structure (B) licence fees 2003 - 2006.

1. Craft licensing final report Feb 2003 (107KB PDF)

Many files are in PDF format, please click here to download the software.