My apologies George,  I CAN be more specific. It belatedly occurred to me that I could expand on what it all meant for non-boaters without giving BW ideas, simply by quoting the proposed new Byelaws that they already have ready & waiting in the wings [as it were]. Note that just because they want to pass a law making something a criminal offence does not necessarily mean that they intend to implement it – they just want the power available to call upon whenever they choose to exercise it. It is trait common to all little would-be totalitarians. A prime example going back over 40 years would be the passing of a law in Western Australia outlawing any camping [including sleeping under the stars or in your car] anywhere in the State outside of recognised and authorised camping/caravan sites. So whenever I went off bush walking along tropic coasts in the Pilbara, rolling up in my swag each night with a small campfire watching my billy boil – I was breaking the law; I was a criminal. The same applied when making the thousand mile drive down to Perth, when I’d pull over to sleep – I was committing a criminal offence each time. I wasn’t worried, mind you, because apart from the fact that the nearest police officer was likely to be hundreds of miles away, they would not have bothered themselves with me anyway. The law was passed so that the police could exercise it when convenient; the impetus to pass the law was the growing incidence of biker vs surfer scuffles near the beaches, when groups would congregate to sleep in their cars near the cool of the beach in hot mid-summers, and the usual things happened when people got drunk and tribal. The new law meant that the police could threaten any such group with arrest if they didn’t drive off. Same principle applies with BW. They will, for example, criminalise walking the dog, horse riding or cycling the towpath without BW’s consent, but may magnanimously consider a general consent to be in place until such time as they choose to withdraw that. With that preamble, just realise that, absent the consent, you will be a criminal liable to prosecution: Byelaw 5 OFFENCES – PENALTIES “A person who contravenes any of these Byelaws shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level [2]/ [3] on the standard scale provided for by Section 37 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 as amended.” Under Byelaw 7 CONSENTS GRANTED BY BW, “. . . that consent (a) shall be in writing; and (b) may be given subject to such reasonable conditions (including conditions requiring the applicant for or holder of the consent to make payments to BW) as BW may determine.” Furthermore, 7(4) “Any person who is performing any act on or in relation to a waterway under or by virtue of a consent shall produce the consent to an authorised officer whenever requested to do so.” BW’s comments in the Draft show that they are hoping for a maximum fine of either £500 or £1000, depending on discussion with Government. So, for particulars [and who knows? You might be glad to see some of them in force]: Part VIII – TOWPATHS & OTHER LAND Vehicles & animals on towpaths 54 (1) “No person shall ride or drive any animal or vehicle over any towpath or other land belonging to or under the control of BW in connection with any waterway unless –(a) he does so in accordance with the consent of BW;” Horse Riding 56 “A person who rides a horse on any part of a towpath or any other land forming part of a waterway shall not do so: (a) without the consent of BW . . .” Pedal cycles 57 (a) “No one shall use a pedal cycle (including a cycle with supplementary power assistance) on a towpath without the consent of BW . . .” Fires & fireworks 59 (a) “No person shall, without the consent of BW, light or discharge any firework on or over the waterway.” Commercial, etc. activities on towpaths, etc. 60 (1) “No person shall, except in accordance with the consent of BW on any towpath or other land forming part of a waterway – (a) display anything for the purpose of advertising or publicity, or distribute anything; (b) sell or expose or offer anything for sale, or carry on any trade or business; or (c) tout for, or solicit money, reward, custom or employment of any kind; or (d) use any part of the waterway as a location for filming or video recording for commercial purposes.” (2) A person shall have the written consent of BW with him when undertaking any of the activities referred to in paragraph (1).” Animals to be controlled 62 “No person shall cause or permit any dog or other animal in his charge to enter or remain on any land comprised in a waterway unless it is under proper control . . .” There is stuff on Wires, pipes, drains etc which, as BW explain, “seeks to address increasing incidents of encroachment etc by adjacent developers.” Then there is – PART X – MISCELLANEOUS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES Organised events 75 (1) “No person shall organise any boat race, regatta, angling match, cycle rally, sponsored walk or any event or function which may result in a gathering of vessels, or which may cause a crowd to assemble on or by the towpath or any other land forming part of a waterway, except in accordance with the consent of BW.” Waterskiing & other activities 77 (1) “This Byelaw applies to (a) waterskiing, jet skiing and aqua-planing; (b) kiting or parachute towing; wet biking or the use of any personal water craft; competitive rowing or training for competitive rowing; ice skating; and any other activity similar to any of those activities.” (2) “No person shall carry on any activity to which this Byelaw applies without the consent of BW on any waterways at any time . . .” Model aircraft & boats 79 (1) “No person shall (without the consent of BW): (a) on the waterway release any power-driven model aircraft for flight or control the flight of such an aircraft; (b) cause any power-driven model aircraft to take off or land on the waterway; or (c) operate or sail on the waterway any power-driven model boat.” Camping 82 “No person shall without the consent of BW erect, occupy or use a tent, caravan, camper van or other similar structure for the purpose of camping on the towpath or bank of, or any other land forming part of, a waterway.” And then there is a real classic (88) entitled “Obstruction of BW’s employees, offensive language, behaviour etc”. It’s the comment that gets to me: “It is not possible to include a Byelaw that addresses offensive behaviour etc towards members of the public (as opposed to a BW officer/servant) as this is a general criminal law issue and outside the scope of the byelaw enabling powers.” Maybe they’re right? They can’t make it an offence for BW to be rude to the public, but they can make it an offence for the public to be rude to them! Any way, I hope that all the above answers the question more specifically. There is going to be nothing conceivable that you might wish to do on or near the waterways that you will be able to do unless you have paid BW to give you their written consent. If you think that such a state of affairs is as ghastly a thought as I do, then you need to muster all the support you can to petition Parliament to listen to the wisdom of the House of Lords Select Committee Report, and remove the offensive amendment.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Public Bodies Bill	05/07/11 12:17:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Public Bodies Bill	20/07/11 10:54:00	Jon Hardy
Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	21/07/11 11:49:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	21/07/11 18:15:00	George Knox
Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	21/07/11 19:32:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	22/07/11 12:30:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	30/07/11 14:13:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	12/08/11 11:58:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	16/08/11 21:02:00	Nigel Moore
Public Bodies Bill	17/08/11 20:28:00	George Knox
Re:Public Bodies Bill	26/08/11 13:42:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	02/09/11 22:10:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	12/09/11 20:14:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	21/03/12 14:43:00	Nigel Moore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	21/03/12 17:42:00	Sarah Felstead
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Bodies Bill	22/03/12 21:01:00	Nigel Moore

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