The Toll for Puddle Marchers

The Broads Authority delivered its toll requests this week with more than 3000 emails being sent and some 7000 letters covering around 12,000 boats on the Broads.

As anyone would expect, the annual cost increased across the board again in 2020, with some boats commanding an eye-watering toll. Our flagship vessel has a bounty of almost £1300 as an example.

The delivery of this annual A4 envelope is never welcomed of course. The five-figure sum at the bottom of the totals column is a uncomfortable read. And it is at this time of year more than any other that I take a look at the Broads Authority and wonder what we get for all this money. Now, I use the word “we” in an all-encompassing way here; by no means do I mean just Freedom.

The BA takes a lot of stick for its activities and a great deal of it is wholesomely deserved; the waste within the authority is epic, its draconian approach to planning borders on self-harm for the area, and its cronyism is perhaps only topped by Downing Street: I don’t have a lot of time for BA policy and politics. However, I do feel that its River Tolls, whilst seemingly high, are very reasonable and I fully expect (and hope) to see a level of disagreement in the comments as I write these regular blogs in a way that should strike a chord with people, whether major or minor.

I should state at this point that I tend to write these blogs within an hour or two of them being published. In this case, I have absolutely no figures to back up any of my comments other than the well-known 1% rise in unpowered and hybrid tolls and 2.9% rise in powered craft. I don’t know what the BA budget is, I don’t know what money it receives from government. I do know what I have been told by BA workers and volunteers who see with their own eyes what goes on.    

Why are the BA tolls OK?

Let’s first start with a comparison between other waterways; it’s anecdotal but let’s not stop the lack of hard facts from being the basis of an argument.

A year or two back, I called a boatyard on another river system to see whether they could do me a cheap couple of days away as a kind of “trade discount”; obviously, I would not require a huge amount of their time in handovers and so on. I spoke to them about a boat they had that was the same as one of mine (mine has a more modern fit-out) but they are essentially the same. They were happy to move a little on the price for me but their absolute bottom line was still considerably higher that our advertised price for the same boat for the same weekend. I explained this and they told me what their annual toll alone was for that boat and I was taken aback. If I call our tolls eye-watering, theirs would be like having Ridley Scott’s Alien burst out of your chest.

And it’s the same on most (perhaps all) other navigations; the BA tolls are low when you work in comparison terms. There are 125 miles of navigable river here on the Broads. That’s a lot of water to manage and, of course, the BA is responsible for rather more than just the navigable elements. The tolls give unrestricted use of the Free 24 hour moorings (65 at current count, so as an average, one collection of free moorings for every 1.93 miles of river), does dredging (though not as much as many would like), maintains banks, recovers abandoned and sunken vessels, and a whole heap of other stuff.

Toll Trols

I don’t want anybody to start thinking that I am a fan of the BA; I am not, but I am fair with my criticism. There are many things that the BA is justly criticised of and being a virtually unregulated, unelected quango that appears unanswerable to anybody is the root of most of this criticism. But then again, we elect town and county councils and then sit back and do nothing but moan about their conduct for four years and then re-elect the very same people that we’ve just spent the last 48 months moaning about. Considering this, I have a complete lack of expectation that actually having the BA become an elected bunch of officials would change anything deep down. If there’s one thing the UK electorate needs to learn is that few things vilify politicians more than re-election.

I happen to think that the BA Tolls provide the best value for money of any navigation in the UK. And whilst I know there is much waste within the BA and that this undoubtedly inflates the costs which are already high, I appreciate too that the costs of maintenance do nothing but rise also. However, the enjoyment offered by the Broads each year is immeasurable whether you own or hire boats or even just cycle, walk or drive around.

Boat ownership 'ain't cheap

If you own a boat, you will appreciate that it’s rarely something that a low-earner can afford. It’s a privilege and privileges have a cost attached.  If you hire boats, you’re quite possibly better off than some of us who own them as they are often seen as floating holes that you drop £50 notes into; indeed, there is a phrase that was told to me by a director of a large tobacco company a few years ago. It was told to him by an Arab Prince, “if it flies, floats or fornicates, rent it”. (NB, he didn’t use the word, “fornicate”). I am told by people I know who fly that planes are even more expensive to own; there is no way that you will be seeing Freedom Flights Ltd any time soon.

Back to the BA tolls which I don’t like paying but accept we all have to for the privilege of using the rivers. The dropping of that tolls demand each March on your doormat (or Ping in your inbox if you have gone green) is never welcomed, but you know it’s coming and you know it will be at least as expensive as last year and you have had 12 months to prepare for it.

If it’s happening to you, don’t go crazy over it; get mad over all the “burning injustices” in our country and around the world long before you let a bill from the Broads Authority ruin your day.


Visit www.FreedomBoatingHolidays.co.uk to book your broads boating holiday.