On 9 Oct 2009, at 10:54, peteuk wrote: > --- In [email protected], Steve Wood <st...@...> wrote:
< loads of good stuff ending with > >> There is a real irony that >> people who actually do want to stay in one place but don't want to >> pay >> for it might force those of us who don't want to stay in one place to >> pay extra to carry on moving around. and Pete chipped in: > It is not the continuous cruisers that I see as the problem. > It is the continuous liveaboard moorers that take over a canal bank > as though they owned it. > They should be banished to marinas specifically permitted for > permanent liveaboard occupation. But where? CMs are mostly exercising a choice, or are forced by circumstances, to avoid the cost of marina moorings, which are necessarily expensive. Even if such marinas could be created, the sites would be unlikely to be in or adjoining towns. So the occupants would be forced to travel for work, education, shopping, entertainment &c. and the same sustainability arguments would be ranged against them as those which largely prevent unnecessary housing in the countryside. There is not much political kudos to be had out of harassing poor defenceless boaters - the press would simply see it as making people who choose to live on muddy ditches homeless by applying bureaucratic rules. So nothing much is going to happen anytime soon IMHO. Baz
