CRT announced in its Boaters Update email on 9th October that all “non-essential facilities” were to be closed from 3rd November with a few exceptions (where an Expression of Interest in taking them on had been received, or toilets at key visitor destinations). This decision followed on from a boater consultation in 2022 (which showed that boaters considered the provision of water, Elsan and pump-out disposal, and waste disposal to be essential and other facilities such as toilets, showers and washing machines to be a lesser priority for many) and the publication of its Customer Service Facilities Policy Statement in May 2025.
IWA discussed its concerns with CRT earlier in 2025, and has now made a firmer written representation:
- The consultation was only carried out with boaters, but boaters may be a minority of the people affected. Canoeists, paddleboarders, anglers, walkers, cyclists, etc, may be more affected and do not appear to have been consulted, albeit not all types of users may have been entitled to use all the facilities.
- The closures will hit less-affluent boaters the hardest, especially those without showers or heating or hot water or with only rudimentary toilets on their boats.
- The impact been hardest for less agile boaters, whose own onboard facilities may be to cramped or unsuited to those with decreased mobility.
- There seems to have been little communication of the closures with the other affected activity groups, or any notice taken of concerns expressed.
- The short notice given of mass closures.
- Lack of visible evidence that CRT’s own published process for deciding on closure set out in the CRT’s policy has actually been followed.
- An absence of published lists of the facilities to be closed and those staying open.
- Concerns around specific groups of facilities (those used by residential moorers on CRT or non-CRT moorings, those which were funded and/or built by local authorities, other public bodies or voluntary waterway groups’ funds or with volunteer assistance.
- Toilets at locks leading to tidal waters which may be used by seagoing vessels with no alternative provision on board other than direct discharge into the water.
Most of these concerns were discussed with CRT on 13th October, and despite undertakings to investigate no response has yet been received. IWA is now escalating its concern and insisting on answers.
[The photo shows a CRT sanitary facility at Marsworth on the Grand Union Canal – by Alison Smedley]
