Grants to help quieten noisy Broads boats
The owners of the Broads’ noisiest boats are being offered grants to quieten their engines.
The Broads Authority’s Boating Holidays Project has secured £20,000 in European and government funding to make the Broads more tranquil.
The Project is offering grants from next week (from February 14th) to the hire boat industry and private owners of noisy motor boats. The money, from the Rivers and Broads LEADER+ programme, is sufficient to reduce the noise of 150 boats by paying for 40% of the work or up to £160 a boat. The money is aimed at the noisiest boats on the Broads in the first instance, on a first come, first served basis.
Under a Broads byelaw it is an offence for a boat to ‘make any noise or nuisance which gives reasonable grounds for annoyance to any other person.’
Louise Reynolds, Manager of the Broads Boating Holidays Project, said:
“We are hoping that people with noisy boats will take this opportunity to quieten their boats and make the Broads a more peaceful place for us all.”
Invitations to apply are being sent to 200 hire boat yards on February 14th to enable the work to be done by the summer, and further invitations will be sent to private owners with their toll renewals. Boat owners simply have to fill out an application form, and, once given the go ahead, provide receipts for work done. The work is expected to involve, most typically, re-routing straight exhausts. Spot checks before and after the alterations will be made on 10% of boats.
07/02/05
