The Department for Energy and Net Zero has finally made the Energy Support Scheme – Alternative Funding Grant available to around 7000 liveaboard itinerant boaters with boats registered on Canal and River Trust waters – below is a short statement from the National Bargee Travellers Association about this development.
Pamela Smith, Chair of the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) said:
“After the great efforts of the NBTA and others – including the National Association of Boat Owners, Friends, Families and Travellers, Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, London Gypsies and Travellers, and the Canal & River Trust – in campaigning for the energy grant, 7000 boaters without home moorings on Canal & River Trust waters are now finally able to receive the £600 grant.
Together, boaters have fought hard for our community and won a victory here. This grant is not a gift from the government, but the result of concerted action and pressure to hold them to their word. The NBTA celebrates that effort and demonstrates what communities like ours can do when we come together and organise for recognition and protection of our way of life.
However, many people – including itinerant boaters on non Canal & River Trust waters, some live-aboards with a home mooring, and those living itinerantly on land – remain excluded, despite the grant being promised to every household in the UK. Of 900,000 people thought to be eligible for the grant, around 700,000 are still in limbo. The NBTA will continue to communicate with the government in support of and in solidarity with these communities to ensure that the government truly delivers on that promise.”
“After the great efforts of the NBTA and others – including the National Association of Boat Owners, Friends, Families and Travellers, Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, London Gypsies and Travellers, and the Canal & River Trust – in campaigning for the energy grant, 7000 boaters without home moorings on Canal & River Trust waters are now finally able to receive the £600 grant.
Together, boaters have fought hard for our community and won a victory here. This grant is not a gift from the government, but the result of concerted action and pressure to hold them to their word. The NBTA celebrates that effort and demonstrates what communities like ours can do when we come together and organise for recognition and protection of our way of life.
However, many people – including itinerant boaters on non Canal & River Trust waters, some live-aboards with a home mooring, and those living itinerantly on land – remain excluded, despite the grant being promised to every household in the UK. Of 900,000 people thought to be eligible for the grant, around 700,000 are still in limbo. The NBTA will continue to communicate with the government in support of and in solidarity with these communities to ensure that the government truly delivers on that promise.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors
1. For more information please contact 0118 321 4128 or [email protected]
2. The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) is a volunteer organisation formed in 2009 that campaigns and provides advice for travelling boat dwellers on Britain’s inland and coastal waterways. This includes anyone whose home is a boat and who does not have a permanent mooring for their boat with planning permission for residential use. See www.bargee-traveller.org.uk