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So, Is The Broads Broken?

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Miles
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So, Is The Broads Broken?

Post by Miles »

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With a new boating season not too far away now, I can't help but wonder if the Norfolk Broads is indeed in a lot of trouble.

Management-wise, the Broads Authority has become more notorious than I thought was ever possible. Alarm bells started ringing when private boaters were charged unfairly during the lockdown period even when most boat owners could not even get to their vessels. However, it didn't stop there as what followed was a huge spike in boat tolls, a staggering stellar leap to be more accurate. Just the straw to break the camel's back as airports and harbours reopened offering folks the opportunity to travel abroad once more. So the appeal of an expensive Broads holiday just didn't cut the mustard and the whole dynamic of the waterways was set into a debacle of potential bankruptcy for some operators no doubt.
More boats came out of the water last year than I have ever seen and many were sold off.
With that financial penalty and its negative consequences, the worst thing that could happen would be to raise the tolls once more but the Broads Authority did...quite astounding when you think of the ramifications and it is inevitable that there will be negative consequences.

Socially the Broads have gone downhill as well with boats dumped in the reeds all across the River Ant. The reasons behind accumulating multiple boats only to dump them and squat in the reeds defies all logic. They almost always end up with the same fate...sinking.

Then there is the issue at Ranworth. I would label that spot as one of the best places to moor up, especially to mud weight too. However, with the toll fees rising quicker than a dog's ears, why not start charging people £10 to moor up? Going to the pub for a beer and a munch costs about the price for one night in a Premier Inn, so having to pay £10 to moor up should not have any effect on the pub's trade at all. It must be a total coincidence that the bar closed its doors in the same year.

To top it off the Norfolk Broads has had the worst flooding in decades. Poor water management and lack of significant dredging have left the whole place in a bit of a pickle. Naturally, the woke community will scream about climate change but they all ought to be more concerned if the climate doesn't change.
Now does the bridge at Great Yarmouth have anything to do with it? Well from a hydrodynamic perspective, the waterway has been significantly narrowed so it must impede the flow of water. How can it not?

So how will this season pan out? I suspect to see even more boats coming out of the water and getting sold off. I see the hire boat industry really struggling as it did last year and now it will cost even more money to rent a boat. Tourism is almost certainly going to crash drastically. If it gets that bad, all the big companies will have to downsize their fleets which could cause the value of private ex-hire boats to plummet. The pubs on the rivers are likely to end up like the Berney Arms.
It's all a bit grim to be quite honest and the sad reality is it's all happening right in front of our eyes so it's not speculation.

But you never know...we might just get great weather. :roll:
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