Pricing review on Scotland’s canals
BACK in 2016-17 Scottish Canals commissioned consultants to help it understand and decide on how charges would be defined for residential, leisure and boat transit and the Scottish Navigation Licence required to keep and use a boat on Scotland’s canals.
The 2017 report included how pricing changes would be introduced and that an independent pricing review would take place every five years, with the subsequent one scheduled for 2021-22.
In November 2021 Scottish Canals kicked off a new pricing review with the commissioning of two independent consultants: the Tourism
Resource Company for a review of the leisure industry and Gerald Eve for the residential market.
Scottish Canals is sticking with the existing methodology and reviewing how facilities have changed across all locations on the canal system and how the residential market has changed.
Scottish Waterways for All has convened a pricing review sub-committee, led by the Lowland Canals Association (LCA), to represent boaters. At the time of writing the LCA, having consulted with its members, reviewed and commented on the draft list of facilities at each location, adding items such as post boxes and a rating of the current condition of facilities including toilets, showers, laundry and security.
Updates will be published on Scottish Canals’ website ( scottishcanals. co. uk/ corporate/ pricing-reviews/) to help keep boaters informed. The online information includes FAQs, a timeline, and reports from the 2016-17 review. Updates will also be posted on Scottish Canals’ social media.
The outcome of this review will be published in spring this year.