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MRUA Page 4 River News
Notices to Mariners on this page are reproduced by kind permission of the Environment Agency. The MRUA can accept no liability for errors or omissions contained therein. Further information is available on 01732 838868.
Wednesday 21 May
MAIDSTONE
One
of
The
organisers of the Maidstone River Festival are reinstating the event, which
will take place on Saturday, 26 July.
They face a busy 10 weeks to organise and raise funds for the popular festival
– now in its 29th year.
The
committee were forced to cancel the event earlier this year following a new
directive that the police now charge for attending public events.
Chairman David Knight has been working tirelessly to find a solution
and a ruling from the
River
Festival chairman David Knight said: "We were running out of time and had
to take a decision one way or another. This has dragged on much longer than we
had hoped and we are still negotiating with the police.
“The
recent discovery of the details highlighted in the
“We
have also had a huge amount of support from local residents, businesses and a
good many local councillors. All have sent messages of support and that too
has made us all the more determined to fight to keep the River Festival
alive."
Making
this announcement now is not without a certain amount of risk for the
organisers but they hope it will allow people to make plans to attend and for
sponsors to get behind the River Festival.
To
facilitate this, the organisers propose that, while they will continue to
contest the charges in relation to the ‘policing’ of the River Festival,
they will give an undertaking to the police that if they lose the argument
they will pay this year as per the suggested schedule and likewise over the
next two or three years.
Mr
Knight added: “We still hope to reach an amicable solution with the local
police without anyone losing face and have put forward a proposal that would
limit our liability should we lose the argument.”
The
organisers plan to have the same format as previous years and details will be
available from www.maidstoneriverfestival.co.uk.
For
more information, please contact River Festival Chairman David Knight on 01622
792222/07787 506011
Background
news releases:
http://www.maidstoneriverfestival.co.uk/news/0801.htm
http://www.maidstoneriverfestival.co.uk/news/0803lifeline.htm
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MEDWAY NAVIGATION WORKS
AND RIVER CONDITION
The following works are on going on the Medway’s
navigation.
·
Moorings and slipway at Allington; these should have little or no effect
on river traffic.
·
Hampstead lock refurbishment; Phase 1 work 19March to 18 April 2008.
Contractor on site and will not effect river traffic.
·
Hampstead canal canoe launching site, near the lifting bridge;
there is a scaffolding platform which extends into the river by
1.5metres, these works will be completed by 4 April 2008.
·
Sluice Weir canoe landing stage; these works should not effect river
traffic and the works will be completed by 20 March 2008.
·
Diving surveys of Eldridges, Teston and
Mariners should proceed with extra caution on the
Navigation due to the shoaling that has been caused by the high flows.
The shoals will be removed as the dredging contractor moves upstream.
High flows should be expected on the Navigation with
rain fall events of as little as 5 millimetres per day.
Mariners are advised to check
on river and weather conditions before setting out.
Tom
McManus
Team
Leader Medway Navigation
19
March 2008
*
Monday 25 February 2008
Maidstone
River Festival cancelled
One of the county’s most popular and largest free events, Maidstone River Festival, has been cancelled.
In what would have been its 29th year, the event’s voluntary committee have been forced into the cancellation following a new directive that the Police now charge for attending Public Events.
The new regime was announced in October 2007, in line with documentation issued by Association of Chief Police Officers, and comes into effect in April 2008. These charges are substantial and they come on top of the Event Licence fees quietly introduced by the Government just two years ago.
The River
Festival Chairman claims that these new charges ‘are an absolute scandal’ as
they make the River Festival, and probably most other local events, unviable as
the Police are being forced to charge fees that, in the case of the River
Festival, effectively doubles
the normal cost of staging the event.
David Knight said: “The River Festival Committee also want to clearly explain that while they are extremely upset at the introduction of these charges, the committee are not holding Kent Police, or any of its Officers, directly responsible for these charges.
“It has been explained to us that, as a result of a Court of Appeal ruling in May 2006, the Police are now obliged to charge every public event across the country, whether it is a commercial event, a community event or a charitable event.
“During all of the negotiations the Police representatives have been very courteous and have been visibly uncomfortable at having to impose these new charges.
“Kent Police seem to be in an invidious situation – they have the authority to ‘abate’ some or all of the associated costs yet they have to be seen to be recouping costs and risk being accused of bankrupting events such as the River Festival in the process.”
In relation to the River Festival the Police have advised that their charges would be in the order of £43,453.94 - a staggering figure that also includes a hefty £6,471.86 VAT.
Mr Knight added: “Being classed as a ‘Community Event’ the River Festival does attract a 50% discount but that is still a crippling £21,726.97 for the organisers to find. Not only is it a huge sum of money to find but the committee are also faced with a huge moral dilemma.
“If the committee did not raise the additional money to meet the Police costs there will be no River Festival. Many local charities and small businesses would suffer as a direct consequence and the town, and thousands of local people, would be deprived of a great annual spectacle of two days of riverside entertainment. If the committee did raise the extra money, should they be putting that money to better use ?
“Many people have argued that they already pay for the Police through their Council Tax and Income tax, and feel that the Police should take such ‘free’ public events as the River Festival in their stride.”
Local Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe has now come to the support the River festival committee: “In the past 11 years or so the Maidstone River Festival has been very much a family event enjoyed by all ages” said Miss Widdecombe” and it has been incident free, despite visitor numbers of 25,000 to 30,000 at a time. The River Festival Committee admit that while they willingly liaise with all the Emergency Services as a matter of course each year, they have no influence whatsoever on the numbers of Police attending each event and are powerless to influence the application of those costs now.”
ENDS
For more information, please contact River Festival
Chairman David Knight on 01622 792222. (07787
506011 Mobile)
If any of your readers, listeners and viewers wish to support the River Festival then please ask them to register their ‘protest’ on the website: www.maidstoneriverfestival.co.uk where a history of the event is also available.
The Environment Agency has completed a detailed survey of the Bridge profiles for the navigable length of the River Medway. This is the most detailed survey undertaken and is the result of many requests from our members and visitors to the River.
The whole document is available for download from the E.A. website by following this link.
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/rivermedway
you can then scroll down to "Medway Bridge Profiles"
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Please give any support you can to our advertisers and friends on our LINKS page.
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The Medway Queen Preservation Society is hard at work restoring the only Estuary Paddle Steamer left in this country. They are based on the River Medway at Damhead Creek on the Hoo peninsular. They need help to keep the Medway Queen afloat and have a scheme whereby you can "sponsor a plate."
Please have a look at their website by following this link www.medwayqueen.co.uk
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Please send any material you wish to include to:
The Editor
The River Crier
"Riverside"
College Avenue
Maidstone Kent
ME15 6YJ
Or by Email from the link below.
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The MRUA is attracting more and more members who appreciate the value of a representative body of users, 2007 is continuing the upward trend in recruiting supporters which has been evident for the last 7 years. We obviously welcome them and thank them for their support. If any of you, and indeed our existing members, feel you can help the cause and join our committee, there is always something you can do to help. Whether it be admin or otherwise please give us a little of your time and help the MRUA to help keep the River Medway.
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The Medway River
Project is an organisation that works to maintain the beauty of the River Medway
Valley and every Thursday they organise working parties that maintain the river
and its banks. If you'd like to volunteer some time for this good cause
contact 01622 683695.
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MRUA
WE REALLY ARE,
WORKING FOR A BETTER RIVER
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