East Anglia Press Releases for the Norfolk & Suffolk Broads with Press Releases and Articles from the Broads Authority in East Anglia, and the East of England UK.

Increased tolls for boats on the Broads from April 1st 2006 will mean an extra £98,000 will be spent on the waterways next year to meet the aspirations of boat owners.

The money is to be ring fenced for three major projects. Jenson's Island, at the entrance to Oulton Broad, will provide a dredging disposal facility for the Oulton Navigation Channel, and new stern-on moorings in old wherry dykes.

St Benet's Abbey on the River Bure will be upgraded as an informal mooring site with improved footpaths and two new Navigation Works Technicians will be employed to increase tree and scrub clearance and maintenance.

The money will be added to an additional £500,000 National Park grant to make a real impact on the Broads. Next year half of it will be spent on dredging. The extra grant of £1.5 million for three years was announced on the understanding that toll payers made an "appropriate" contribution to the Broads.

At its meeting on November 25th the Broads Authority decided to reduce the ratio that the hire fleet pays from three times that of private boat owners to 2.9. This means that hire yards will be contributing an extra 9.2% on their tolls.

Private boat owners will pay an extra 13%. This means that a yacht will pay an extra £5 with the toll going up to £49 a year and the tolls for the largest motor boats will rise by £27 to £240 a year.

Tony Coe, Vice Chairman of the Broads Authority, a member of the Navigation Committee and of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association, said: "the sums we are talking about in real terms are modest. A large four berth motor cruiser which might cost some £150,000 new will now be paying a little over 50p extra per week.

"The cost to the hire boat industry in a 20 week season would be less than an extra £3 on a £1000 weekly hire cost. I don't think this will deter the potential hirer. For the first time we have an opportunity to deliver significant improvements to the navigation and that opportunity should be taken."

Reproduced by kind permission of Broads Authority.