Lancaster City Council has begun preparing a new Local Plan that will guide development across the district between 2029 and 2044. The Lancaster Canal Boaters Association is being consulted as part of this process, giving us an important opportunity to ensure that the canal, its facilities and the people who live aboard boats are properly considered.
The council is currently at the scoping stage of the plan. This early consultation asks what issues the plan should address, what evidence should be collected, where future development might be located and how communities should be involved as the plan develops. The current consultation runs from 8 June to 20 July 2026.
What is the Local Plan?
A Local Plan is the framework used to guide planning and development decisions. It influences where homes, businesses and community facilities may be built, which areas should be protected and what infrastructure will be needed to support future growth.
It is not simply a map of potential building sites. A good Local Plan should provide a long-term vision for the district and address its economic, social and environmental priorities.
For the Lancaster Canal, this could influence:
- Development beside the canal and its effect on boaters.
- Protection of existing moorings and access points.
- Opportunities for new residential and visitor moorings.
- Water, waste disposal, toilets, refuse and other essential boater services.
- Towpath access, lighting, security and accessibility.
- The protection of the canal’s heritage, landscape and wildlife.
- Whether new development contributes positively to the canal or simply places more pressure on it.
The Local Plan will not set Canal & River Trust licence fees or determine cruising requirements. Those matters sit outside the council’s planning powers. However, the plan can influence the physical places, facilities and land-based infrastructure upon which boaters depend.
Why the LCBA’s Involvement Matters
The canal is often described as a leisure attraction, heritage asset, wildlife corridor or walking and cycling route. It is all of those things, but it is also home to a community.
People living aboard boats can easily become invisible within traditional planning and housing systems. This is especially true for itinerant boat dwellers, including people without a permanent home mooring who move between lawful temporary mooring places.
Their home may move, but their needs do not vanish into the water.
Boaters still need safe access to drinking water, sanitation, rubbish and recycling facilities, fuel, healthcare, public transport and other community services. They also need safe places to stop and reasonable access between the canal and the surrounding towns and villages.
The LCBA’s role is to make sure the new plan recognises these realities and does not view the canal only from the towpath.
Boat Dwellers Must Be Included in the Evidence
There is a legal basis for considering people who live on boats when local authorities assess housing needs. Section 124 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 requires local housing authorities to consider the needs of people living in, or coming into, their district in relation to places on inland waterways where houseboats can be moored. The Act defines a houseboat as a boat or similar structure designed or adapted for use as a place to live.
Lancaster City Council has previously recognised boat dwellers within its evidence.
Its 2017 accommodation assessment included interviews with houseboat-dwelling households on the Lancaster Canal. The report found that respondents generally believed more permanent moorings were needed, particularly around Lancaster and Carnforth. It suggested that the council consider up to ten additional moorings and work with the Canal & River Trust to help bring them forward.
That research is now almost a decade old. The number of people living aboard, the availability of moorings, the condition of services and the financial pressures affecting boaters may all have changed since then.
The LCBA therefore believes that boat dwellers must be included in the new evidence-gathering process. Decisions for 2029 to 2044 should not be based solely on a small survey conducted in 2017.
What the LCBA Will Be Raising
Through the consultation, the LCBA will seek recognition of the Lancaster Canal as both an important public asset and a place where people live.
We will press for an up-to-date assessment of the number and needs of boat-dwelling households, including those without permanent moorings. This must involve speaking directly to boaters rather than relying only on licence, marina or council records, which may not reveal the full picture.
We will also argue for the protection and improvement of essential boater services. Water points, waste disposal, sanitation facilities and safe land access are not optional extras for people whose boats are their homes.
Where canalside development is proposed, planners should consider its effect on existing moorings, privacy, noise, access, safety and the ability to carry out normal boating activities. New homes should not be designed in a way that creates predictable conflict between residents and an established working waterway.
There may also be opportunities. Carefully planned development could help deliver better access, additional moorings, improved facilities, safer public spaces and stronger connections between the canal and surrounding communities.
The canal should not be treated as the decorative blue stripe at the edge of a developer’s drawing. It should be planned as living infrastructure.
What Could This Mean for Itinerant Boat Dwellers?
A strong Local Plan could help ensure that itinerant boat dwellers are recognised as residents with legitimate accommodation and infrastructure needs.
It could support policies that protect stopping places and existing facilities, encourage suitable new moorings, improve access to services and require canalside development to respect the people already living and travelling along the waterway.
It could also help different organisations work together. Lancaster City Council does not control the navigation, while the Canal & River Trust does not provide every land-based service a household may need. Effective planning therefore requires cooperation between the council, the Trust, health and support organisations, the police, community groups and boaters themselves.
Without this recognition, there is a danger that development will increase pressure on already limited services, reduce practical access to the canal and make boat-dwelling communities even less visible.
An Opportunity to Plan With Boaters, Not Around Them
This consultation is only the beginning of a longer process. No final development sites or detailed policies have yet been decided.
That makes this an important moment to speak up.
It is much harder to add boaters’ needs after plans have been written, sites allocated and development principles agreed. The LCBA is therefore engaging at the earliest stage so that the canal community is part of the evidence, the conversation and the eventual plan.
Our message is simple: the Lancaster Canal is a historic waterway, a green corridor, a visitor attraction and a vital part of the district’s identity. It is also home.
The people living on it must be counted, consulted and considered.