.: Elspeth Attwooll MEP ( Liberal Democrat - Scotland)

Approached  Elspeth Attwooll MEP  on  6th July 2008 via e-mail with a letter of introduction and again on 10th July 2008, also via e-mail,  with an apology for technical site problems.

We received the following e-mail from Chris Loudon, assistant to Elspeth Attwooll MEP on 24th July 2008:

Dear Mrs Woods

Thank you very much for your e-mail to Mrs Attwooll about live-aboard sailors and the problems with safe havens on Europe’s coastlines. I understand you have also contacted the other 10 UK Liberal Democrat MEPs, whose staff I have liaised with.


I have read with interest the details on your website. Certainly yours has been the only correspondence we have received regarding this issue and it was not problem I was aware of before.


The solution you have proposed would certainly help live-aboard sailors but on the face of it I’m not sure how workable it would be. Also your suggestion that sailors could dock at specific Marinas for long periods of time at no cost would, I suspect, be opposed by Marina operators.


My advice at this stage would be to encourage other sailors to join in your campaign and collectively to show to non-boaters how this is becoming a problem: focusing on specific areas where there are no ‘safe havens’ for example and showing how sailors are genuinely in danger of not finding anywhere to land. The argument that landing is becoming expensive is unfortunately not in itself enough to warrant the reforms you are seeking.


I would also suggest that in the first instance you might write to some of the authorities and national agencies for the places in which the disappearance of safe havens are becoming a problem. It may well be that they are happy to meet to discuss your concerns and to recommend a way forward. I suspect this would be easier for all concerned then the establishment of a sea pass, which would need to be administered and paid for and would of course be subject to forgery or manipulation even if any agreement could be reached with both public and privately owned ‘havens’ around Europe.


Yours sincerely

Chris Loudon
Assistant to Elspeth Attwooll MEP
ASP 10G 215
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
Tel: 00 32 (0) 2 2 83 7795
Fax: 00 32 (0) 2 2 84 9795
elspeth.attwooll-assistant@europarl.europa.eu
www.elspethattwoollmep.org.uk
 

We replied, via e-mail on 24th July 2008, as follows:

Dear Chris Louden,
Many thanks for your e-mail. As you mention, I have contacted the entire Liberal Democrat contingency and we have been very gratified by several of the responses we have received.

One of the reasons we have begun this campaign now is that the practice of buoying off anchorages, limiting stays and charging high fees is relatively recent but is beginning to proliferate. We feel that waiting until it has already become a widespread problem will make it much more difficult to tackle, as public funds will have been spent on the labour and materials required to set the buoys, creating a reason for local authorities to resist any change to the new system. For this reason, you have probably not been bombarded with complaints, as yet. Most people will wait until there is nowhere left to go before raising an outcry!

My communication skills are clearly inadequate! It was never my intention to suggest that live-aboard sailors should be accommodated in marinas! Indeed, anyone who considers a marina a fit place to live should seriously consider moving ashore... No, what we are asking for is what we already have, and have had for centuries, to remain available to us, i.e. anchorages where one can drop the anchor and chain and remain in peace for as long as the laws of the country would allow one to remain on their soil.

This costs no-one except the boat-owner any money (he has to buy the ground tackle, as anchors and chains are called) but the sea bed was provided by nature at no cost to any government. Indeed, in some places, with important life on the sea bed, or that are popular as visitor anchorages, we can see the point of laying down moorings, to protect the environment or enable more boats to fit into the bay at one time. We can even accept a nominal charge for using those buoys (although administrating the collection of charges might cost more than the fees collected) but 40 euros per day in Italy and 20 euros per day in Spain, to quote but two very recent examples, is far too much to pay and being allowed only three to five days stay will turn sea-dwelling people into involuntary 'new age' travellers.

Actually, I'm not convinced that what we are seeking are 'reforms' (apart from the fact that we are trying to be proactive before the need for 'reforms' arises) because it would appear that the European Commission already has an opinion on this subject. We read recently that one of the conditions of Greece being allowed to join the Community was a willingness to abandon this very practice... Since this was a comment on a blog, we cannot state unequivocally that this is the case but it might bear some investigation, perhaps.

Unfortunately, attempts to have discussions with the authorities I could actually reach (we have no budget for travel or any other expenses, all we can contribute is time and effort online) were less than edifying and there has been a somewhat defensive air about the responses when I am asked the purpose of my requesting an appointment...
The only way forward that was recommended to me was in the direction of the exit, along with the suggestion that I could always go and live somewhere else... In my case, this is gloriously and fortunately true but this campaign is not about me. It is about others who are working locals and visitors, for whom voting with their keels is not an option.

Whilst marinas may be privately owned, I would imagine that natural bays in most of Europe are not privately owned. Here in Spain, the coastline is open to everyone, by law. Not that this prevents the Spanish authorities from doing their share of buoying and charging...

Nonetheless, we appreciate your taking the time to respond at length and in such a thoughtful manner.

Best regards,

Linnet Woods