Yesterday in Parliament
Yesterday in Parliament David Drew (Stroud, Lab) asked the Secretary of State for DEFRA:
…how many British Waterways licensed residential moorings there are in England; and where they are located.
Hilary Benn's answer:
British Waterways directly operates 41 residential mooring sites accommodating a total of 420 authorised residential moorings located on the following waterways in England:
Aire & Calder - 6
Birmingham & Fazeley - 7
Birmingham Canal Navigations - 87
Calder and Hebble - 13
Coventry Canal - 14
Fossdyke Navigation - 20
Grand Union Canal Mainline - 71
Grand Union, Leicester Line - 5
Lee & Stort Navigation - 13
Oxford Canal - 56
Regents Canal & Pad'n Arm - 86
Sheffield and Tinsley Canal - 5
Shropshire Union Canal - 3
Staffs & Worcs Canal - 7
Worcester & Birm'ham Canal - 27Total - 420
British Waterways is unable to maintain data on the residential status of privately operated sites.
I suppose BW could have supplied this info directly pretty quickly, and saved the minister time, but that's not what Parliamentary Questions are about. They are normally an excuse to ask a follow-up question, which will come as a surprise to the minister and is thus more effective.
I wonder what follow-up David Drew asked, and what his motive was. His local waterway (excluding the unrestored Cotswold canals) is the Glouc & Sharpness, and there aren't any BW residential moorings there - nor on the whole of the Severn. Perhaps that's what he wants to see developed.
420 residential places doesn't seem that many, but as they say, those are BW - not privately operated - moorings. I wonder if they include off-line moorings, such as in Apsley Basin (right, pic nicked off the website), which is BW-owned.
