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Bristol Unpacked – Amanda Sharman on leading the charge for boat dwellers' rights
Neil Maggs
Hi, Amanda,
Amanda Sharman
Hi there. Neil,
Neil Maggs
How are you?
Amanda Sharman
Very well. Thank you. Yeah.
Neil Maggs
And this is the first, is the first of Bristol Unpacked… I'm sat in my new I got a little cabin studio thing now in the garden, recording from this, which is new for this show, because I've been doing it in various bedrooms. But this is the first of the show, because you're actually speaking to me from a boat.
Amanda Sharman
Yep, I am. I'm on my boat, sat in my kitchen at the moment,
Neil Maggs
Right. What can you see out the window?
Amanda Sharman
Lots of rain.
Neil Maggs
All right, okay. You can't see beyond the rain, though, and so you're to give some context, you're not out in the high seas, in the middle of the Atlantic or anything. You are moored at Bristol docks, in a canal boat, if I've got that right, is it a canal boat? Is that? Is that the right term?
Amanda Sharman
It's, yeah, it's like a canal boat, but it's a wide beam one.
Neil Maggs
Okay, and which bit of the docks are you moored in?
Amanda Sharman
So I'm in sort of the central area, not far from Prince Street and the mud dock.
Neil Maggs
Oh, I know. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Amanda Sharman
So I can see Redcliffe Church, Arnolfini, Thekla
Neil Maggs
Lovely, I bet it's very different in the daytime than it is at night.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, and on a sunny day as opposed to a rainy day, depending on the season as well. But yeah, I can see lots of boats, cafes, the buses going by, lots of water traffic as well in the height of the season. So it's good fun.
Neil Maggs
Yeah, yeah. I mean people who don't know anything about boats or live on boats probably say this everywhere you go, if you're at a party or anything, Oh, it must be such a sense of freedom.
Amanda Sharman
I get it living the dream, but reality is actually quite different.
Neil Maggs
Oh is it? Yeah drunk people wandering by at midnight on a Saturday night, urinating on the side of the boat, all that kind of stuff. Yeah?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. It’s heavily pedestrianised, where I am, lots of foot traffic coming past, and you do get the occasional idiot.
Neil Maggs
But do you have the option of moving around, though? Are you permanently moored? How does it work?
Amanda Sharman
I've got an annual license, so I sort of rent my space off the council. So this is my spot, which I rent. But my boat's got engines, and it does move around the harbour only when we desperately need to. It's a bit too big to enjoy navigating around the harbour.
Neil Maggs
I'm trying to sort of picture what it's like, kind of when you're when you're sort of sleeping at night, or do you feel that you're – and it does sound a bit cheesy, I know, and you hear, probably, as I said, you hear it a lot. Does it feel like you're kind of more connected to your surroundings a little bit, and you're kind of in tune with, I don't know, imagine you could see the stars at night clearer and that kind of stuff.
Amanda Sharman
It's well, we're in the middle of the city. It's a very built up area, isn't it? But because we're on the water, I've just got a nice open view. I can see lots of skies, a fair few trees around the harbour side, all the birds and the wildlife that comes pecking along at the side of my boat in the morning. You do feel more connected to nature. You're right down on the water.
Neil Maggs
Obviously, we're talking to you. You've got Wi-Fi. I can hear your the buzzing of emails coming through in the background for you. So you've got all the mod cons.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. It's just like being in a flat, really.
Neil Maggs
And how long have you been living in boats? Have you lived in houses before?
Amanda Sharman
I did start my life in houses. Yeah, I've been on the boat in the harbour since 2011. It was just always a dream that I had. This was a crazy idea that I fancied living on a boat. And everyone thought I was mad. Yeah, and then I met my now husband, and he just said, yeah, why not? Let's go and start looking. So we did. And we bought this small, a small canal boat. On a bit of a whim. We were saving, saving for a house deposit. Realised that we didn't quite have enough money for a house deposit. Okay, we could buy a boat, and that's what we did. And we did five years on the canal boat, and then we thought that was pretty cool. So we wanted a bigger one, because we wanted to start a family and stuff. So that's
We just, we love living on our boat in the harbour. It's just wonderful, but it just seems to be, the last few years have been really difficult but we're really happy where we are. We don't want to live anywhere else.
Neil Maggs
We'll get into all that, because, you know, there is a political backdrop to all this stuff, connected to Bristol City Council and connected to fees, and it's become quite political. But kind of before we sort of delve into that, I'm trying to imagine how, I mean, I quite like water. I don't mind as long as it's not too choppy. But I would, I would have a fear of just, kind of like falling off the edge into the water. Is that a fear that lives with you constantly?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, yeah. And it does happen in the harbour.
Neil Maggs
You hear about it. Have you ever fallen in?
Amanda Sharman
Nope, not me, sorry to say, yet, my husband fell off the roof last year.
Neil Maggs
Did he, is he okay? I'm laughing, I don't know did he fracture his neck or something?
Amanda Sharman
He's fine, yeah, probably kill me for saying this. No, he was on the roof, but he did have his life jacket on, because it was pouring down with rain blowing a hoolie, he was up there trying to sort of secure our kayaks or something on the roof so they didn't blow away. And he ended up going in, and it was, it was scary, but he did have his life jacket on. So do you. I'm a bit of a nag, and I've had every nightmare possible about, I think, what could go wrong.
Neil Maggs
So it does cross your mind, yeah?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah but it's having those thoughts and sort of preparing that hopefully keeps you safe. We've got two young kids as well, and I'm a much bigger kid who's moved out now.
Neil Maggs
How old are the two young ones?
Amanda Sharman
Four and seven.
Neil Maggs
Let's go a little bit back, if we can, to Amanda before she was, you know, drawn to live on boats. I’m detecting a West Country twang. So you're from around these ways, yeah? Where did you grow up?
Amanda Sharman
Born in Bristol, just north of the city, up by sort of Aztec West, Bradley Stoke way.
Neil Maggs
Okay, the Stokes, they call it.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. I've got lots of friends that still live up there, and my family still live up there.
Neil Maggs
Okay, so, 2011 you came into living on the boat. You came into Bristol. Why would you kind of choose, I suppose, to live in a city, as opposed to, you know, I don't know, Bradford on Avon or further up the canal, or up river, or down river, where it's a bit more rural, is that for a particular reason, or you want to be more connected to the city?
Amanda Sharman
Well, yeah, so I was living up north of the city, and then just started coming down to the harbour side for days out. Did the sort of usual ferry boat ride around the docks, and I was just absolutely blown away by this harbour that we had in the middle of the city that I spent all my life in, went to some of the tourist bit,I did lots of traveling, sort of around the world. And then I sort of realised that I hadn't seen any of the tourist sites in my own city. Meeting people over the other side of the world that were telling you about the SS Great Britain. And I was like, I've never been on the SS, Great Britain. So I came back to Bristol, had a bit of a mission about going to see sort of local tourist sites, got involved in the harbour, just absolutely fell in love with it. And it wasn't really a place that when I was a kid, like we used to go to Broadmead, we used to go to the theater or Park Street or whatever. We never came to the harbour side.
Neil Maggs
It was very different then, there, wasn't it? It was just quite derelict, wasn't it? And you had the sort of power boat Racing and stuff like that. And I think it's probably the Watershed that was the first thing that came but you certainly didn't. It certainly didn't have the vibrancy that it has today.
Amanda Sharman
No. I mean, my mum tells me that I did attend the one of the last power boat races in a pushchair, but I've got no recollection of that at all.
Neil Maggs
That makes me sound older than you! George, just edit that bit out. Okay?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, it wasn't a place that sort of, when I was younger, that we'd come for a day out. I mean, having a drink on the Watershed, go into the Wetherspoons, that was kind of my knowledge of Bristol harbour, just up the reach there, going to a couple of the bars. But then when I took the ferry boat ride from down Hotwells right down to the sort of Temple Meads end. I was just absolutely blown away. So we just started coming down to visit, doing the usual sort of walk around Hotwells end. And we just fell in love with the place. And that's when we started looking at boats and decided to just go for it.
Neil Maggs
And there's quite a thriving community there now, isn't there, and you in, I think a few years ago, three or four years ago, you set up the Bristol Boaters Community Association – was there no kind of official body or kind of group prior to that point?
Amanda Sharman
So, no, well, there are, there's a couple of boat clubs in the harbour that have been going for sort of decades, and they sort of manage the moorings in the local area. And we visited a couple of times, and it just at that point, then it didn't really feel… because we, we were living on our boat, yeah. And to my knowledge, then we were the only ones living on our boat. You know, it took me quite a few years to realise that there was a lot more people sort of hiding out, living on their boats.
So we were just sort of hanging out and starting to meet other people living and working around the harbour. And I realised there was a huge community of people here, and that was kind of what brought the foundations of the BBCA, the Boaters Community Association. But of course, back then, it wasn't allowed for you to live on your boat, so it was kind of this underground community of people living on their boat. And that didn't really kind of fit in with the boat club ethos, because a lot of their membership were sort of old leisure cruiser type boats. Yeah.
Neil Maggs
Was there a period when it shifted from that – from people that would use the water for leisure activities, and then more and more people starting to live on boats, like you?
Amanda Sharman
Well, I think since the docks closed in what, mid 1970s, a big commercial port, wasn't it? Lots of ships from all over the world coming in. Big state of decline for about 10 years, and then all this investment and development that you see around the harbour today, lots of leisure vessels here, lots of sort of larger house boats and canal boats. And the housing crisis. I mean, the house prices in Bristol are just insane. So of course, there's that pressure for people to be able to provide their own homes, whether it be in a boat or a van or a caravan, whatever it is, people are just trying to find their own means of affordable accommodation.
Neil Maggs
How many we talking, Amanda? How many boat dwellers in the harbour in Bristol, roughly. Do you know?
Amanda Sharman
Well, we did our survey, in 2022 the Community Association. We didn't get our survey out to every single boat owner in the harbour, but we had about 100 responses, and 57 of those were used for living accommodation, yeah.
Neil Maggs
And presumably in each boat there would be maybe, like yourself – 3, 4, 5, people, kind of living?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, lots of people living on their own, but there are a number of families as well, yeah. And in
Neil Maggs
And for those that don't have a sort of, maybe don't even know Bristol, but don't have a visual representation of the harbour, officially starts where the fountains and stuff are, correct?
Amanda Sharman
So yeah, the city center where the fountain. That is like bang in the middle of the harbour. Then it goes west, down to Hotwells, Cumberland Basin, the Underfall Yard. And then it stretches up to the east, up to, the back of Temple Meads train station, yeah, which is just before Netham Lock. So it's about, it's just under two miles, I think, from one end to the other. It's a huge expanse of water.
Neil Maggs
And you talk about the community, 57 boats. What people kind of live there? How would you describe the boat dwelling community? An outside perspective may think people living on boats are kind of wealthy. Other people might think, as you just said, it's a response to the cost of living crisis. People might see it as like a hippie, bohemian lifestyle choice. What kind of people are we talking about in that community?
Amanda Sharman
I mean, it is so varied. They're a lovely bunch of people, hard working. It's not easy living on your boat. Everything you've got to hoof… all your energy, your wood, your water, everything has got to be manually lifted onto your boat.
Neil Maggs
So quite challenging then, not easy.
Amanda Sharman
No, you've got to be sort of hard working and willing to give it a go, of a positive frame of mind. Be willing to put up with all weathers.
Neil Maggs
And are you seeing an increasing amount of people like we've seen with, you know, there’s almost an explosion in the city of van dwellers, and particularly in the city and kind of east and west Bristol. Are you seeing more people living on boats as a response to, you know, the cost of living, how much rents are in Bristol, the fact people can't get on the housing ladder, that type of thing? It's become like a, rather than, Oh, I want to live on a boat. It's, well, this is kind of all I can afford.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, and there's capacity for more, that's the thing. It's a legitimate way for people to be able to afford, to provide their own homes. Any of the boats that you kind of see walking around the harbour, if they're big enough to live on. I mean, they're being lived on space. Space is a premium. Everything's so expensive. Some people are lucky enough they've got a house and a little boat to play on on the weekend. That's a brilliant position to be in. But there's lots of people that own their boat and that's all they've got. It's everything in the world.
Neil Maggs
Back in 2023 and we'll get into the disputes that you guys have had with the council. Mayor Marvin Reese kind of waded into this debate a bit, and he called people living on boats privileged, which was a similar kind of a similar kind of a line of attack he'd used against some sort of protest groups and stuff like that in the city. Was that unfair in your view?
Amanda Sharman
Just when you say that again, it just makes me shudder. Actually, that was… to see that on Mr. Rees's blog. I mean, it just put everyone up in arms, because it just completely shows an utter lack of understanding. People on boats are just trying to survive and get by and provide their own home. I certainly don't of think myself, or anyone I know on the boats as privileged.
Neil Maggs
And one of the reasons why you set up the community organization was, the mayor at the time Marvin Rees said it was positive you formed the group to represent people living on boats in the harbour. And he would, of course, meet and discuss with you – this was about public consultation taking place around fees and whether fees should be increased. He expressed that he would work with you and other harbour users and local residents. Did he?
Amanda Sharman
No, no, and we pushed… so we formed BBCA because we heard about this consultation that was going to happen.
We heard that the fees were going to go up, and this commercialization strategy, and we thought, well, hang on, we don't want to be left out of this. There's a massive community of people living here. This is our opportunity to get involved, get stuck in and try and make it like a legitimate way of life, and just make it easier for people, because it's not easy trying to exist when you haven't got an address, or when you haven't got basic provision, you know, being like no fixed abode, it creates a lot of barriers and hurdles, yeah, to things. So we thought this is our golden opportunity, and that's how we kind of all started to form. So we pushed for meetings with the harbour authority and people in the council and the mayor, and we just weren't getting anywhere. Getting a response from Marvin that said that. I mean, we didn't even say anything about people living on the boats, but he acknowledged that in his email back to us, but that's kind of what we were building up towards, was to produce our survey about how many people were living in the harbour and sort of what sort of jobs they had and how they supported the local community, and we wanted to push for this liveaboard licence to be introduced with all these changes, but we just got completely pushed out. And the harbour review just took, took years and years, and we had the pandemic, and we were just kept at arm's length until early January 2023 when there was a big surprise about these fees going up, and they just completely forgot to do any other public consultation that they promised.
Neil Maggs
So at the time, the mayor accused of some people of abusing the system. Yeah, and this is really a quote from him hitting at those living on the water without a full licence as damaging the city's ability to manage the harbour for all to allow for better usage and to improve the facilities. How many people were we talking that didn't have a license?
Amanda Sharman
None. As far as I know, everyone in the harbour has to have a license. Like the harbour issue the license, and we pay the fee. So I and that's where, sort of, I think the cat the council's wording just creates a whole load of misconceptions and misinformation when, when the public are reading it. All boats here have to have a license. So there's different types of licenses. You get a leisure license, you get a visitor license, or you get a commercial license. There wasn't any licence available for those living on their boats. They didn't have on on offer. So I think that's what Marvin's referring to, and that's… after Jan 2023 when they introduced this liveaboard license, that was the first opportunity people had to effectively pay to live in the harbour, because it just wasn't available before.
Neil Maggs
So you saying there wasn't… because he's saying that the amount of money that the council did charge hadn't also increased for years, I guess in line with inflation and cost of living rises and the fees were only brought into line with comparable costs in other cities in the UK. Do you dispute that?
Amanda Sharman
I mean, the fee had always tracked inflation, so it did go up every year, but I think the fee structure hadn't been renewed for 10 years or so. I mean, that's the council's management issue. If they're not going to review the fees and they're just going to be just going to bimble them along with inflation, but then all of a sudden they do review the sort of fees and add in a 10 year increase in one go. I mean, that's just, it's just bonkers.
Neil Maggs
In terms of the licenses. The implication, and I don't know if this is true or not, was that people were on leisure licenses, not on residential licenses, hence, they could only stay for 15 days in a year, as opposed to living there permanently. Is that correct?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, yeah, people were living on leisure licenses, but there wasn't any other type of license. What we wanted. Was a licence that would enable people to live on their boats.
Neil Maggs
But for it to be at the same cost as…
Amanda Sharman
Not necessarily. I mean, I mean, that would have been great, personally, but no, you can’t expect that – it's fair, that everyone who lives in the city pays, pays a fair price.
Neil Maggs
Sure, and that would be the counter argument, wouldn't it? For people living in a house listening. You know, we pay council tax. We pay this. We do that. You live in the city, you use the same, you know, facilities, public utilities that we do – you should pay,
Amanda Sharman
Yes and rightly so. And that the banding of the council tax that houses have, I mean, that kind of seems fair, and you know what you're paying for. But they've tripled my fee over that sort of change in fee structure. They're still undecided whether I'm eligible to pay council tax, on top of that as well. And to me, like you pay, you pay to have your boat in the harbour. You pay a fee whether you're on a pontoon, because you get some sort of services when you're on a pontoon, or you pay another fee if you're on the wall.
Neil Maggs
What's a pontoon, in my ignorance?
Amanda Sharman
It’s like a floating platform that enables you to get on and off your boat safely. So you moor up alongside it. Usually they've got some basic sort of services on, like access ladders, some fire extinguishers, life rings and a security gate, so it gives you a bit of security for your boat. But they've introduced this liveaboard licence fee, which is triple any of those other two fees that I said about…
Neil Maggs
So you were pushing for this, so there was no permanent residential permits when this was suggested?
Amanda Sharman
So historically, there's about eight residents…
Neil Maggs
Yeah, that's what I've got here. It says this, I quote from Marvin saying that, yeah, there were only eight permanent in the entire boat dwelling community. And he wanted to obviously act and change that.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. So there's these eight, like, very long term leases for much older, sort of house boats that have been there for decades and decades, and they're managed by the sort of main Council. I don't think the harbour authority has much to do with those, but they wanted to introduce this liveaboard license. Brilliant. It's like absolute gold, because they want to accommodate those that are living on board on leisure licenses. It all sounds really fantastic, but when all of a sudden, overnight, the fee just triples. Yet, still, people aren't getting any of the basic provisions. Still not getting an address. So the ability to access those Council services that this liveaboard licence is meant to be solving for the community. All we've seen is the tripling in fee…
Neil Maggs
Okay, so you weren't necessarily against the bringing in the permanent residential pyramids that the eight people had, I guess, because it's tripled the cost that you were paying you wanted to see, like anybody would if they lived in rented accommodation, to see, actually, what you're getting your money's worth for,
Amanda Sharman
Exactly. Yeah, and that's what we're debating at the moment. What exactly is it that this liveaboard licence is meant to include? Does it include water? Connection to electric? Do you get safe access to your boat? Do you get access to an address, or can you get on and off your boat safely? Are you able to have a pontoon. So many people haven't got these basic provisions.
Neil Maggs
So what's the motivation of the council for doing this?
Amanda Sharman
A very good question. So the foundation, I think, of the liveaboard license, is to enable those that are living on their boats to do it legitimately, which is brilliant. But is it? Is it just a tool for the council to balance their books and make more money and make this harbour sort of self sufficient financially? Or are they trying to alleviate the housing crisis and, like house as many people as possible in this harbour, because this harbour has got a big capacity. It’'s huge, and it is, you can see, if you walk around, it is emptying out, there's lots… I can see, 12345, empty berths from my window. And there's about 50 empty berths in the harbour right now, and there will be more, because lots of people have just been priced out. Unfortunately,
Neil Maggs
I wanted to ask you that, since those changes came into 2023 what have you seen directly? What kind of impact… have many people left? Did you know where they've gone? Are they homeless? What's the picture looking like?
Amanda Sharman
So when they introduced the liveaboard fee and the license, lots of people couldn't even afford that increase. So people didn't take the correct licence that they needed, because they just couldn't start off with affording it, which is just really sad. Those that have sort of taken it and are trying to roll on with their fees and keep up to speed with it. There's a huge financial pressure. People try to maintain, maintain their boats and keep on top of their morning fee. But so many people have left, and that's the sad thing, because of all the changes that have happened, all the kind of the toxic environment and all the way it's been over the last couple of years, lots of people have gone, I can't be dealing with this anymore – I'm out. They've either moved their boats to other local marinas… I know people that have gone to Portishead, Cardiff, Saltford, Keynsham, Bristol Marina as well. They've just relocated.
Neil Maggs
Would it be because it's cheaper?
Amanda Sharman
it is now cheaper in all of those other locations than it is in the harbour. Yeah?
Neil Maggs
Presumably it's also would be cheaper to live there in those places generally, wouldn't it, compared to Bristol in terms of house prices and stuff? Is that not just a reflection of the market?
Amanda Sharman
I mean, of course different locations serve different prices, but what we've got in the middle of the harbour is privately owned and managed Bristol Marina, just at the back of the Great Britain the Albion dockyard. And the fees there are now lower than what they are in the main sort of council managed harbour. But I spent my summer there because my boat got lifted out on the hard standing in the yard, and I directly benefited from the wonderful service that they provide in Bristol Marina, the privately managed marina, and the fees there are now cheaper than what mine are.
Neil Maggs
Oh, interesting. So you know what good service looks like, yeah. So you know the expectation, the bar of what, of what should be being provided?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, I mean, I've, we've done a lot of research over the years in terms of benchmarking and what you get in other places, and how much it is. Life is so much easier when you're in a well managed marina. And that's what Bristol harbour is missing out on. They could have the most fantastic marina running right the way through this city, but it's just had so many years of under investment, and all the basic provisions aren't there.
Neil Maggs
How does that feel, living there, seeing a lack of investment, whilst simultaneously seeing millions being invested into redeveloping… Western harbour. You know, seeing new pubs, clubs, restaurants open up all along there. How does that feel, seeing that juxtaposition?
Amanda Sharman
It just feels like the water activity is really undervalued here, and the massive benefit that having boats in this harbour actually brings to the city, I think if you come for a walk around the harbour and there was no boats here, it wouldn't be a very interesting walk, or if you couldn't go for a ride or go and have a paddle or whatever it is, on a canoe, it would be a really, sort of dull, lifeless place. So I think the value that boats bring to the city should, should just be be appreciated.
Neil Maggs
I guess people, you know, tourists from all over the world come to Bristol. It's very different than what it was like when we were young. There's clearly money and investment in the city, whether that's private or public or a combination of bothand that is actually happening in the harbour itself, but, but not on what you need.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, exactly. I mean, just for an example, the development outside St Mary Redcliffe church, where they had the Bump roller disco. It's a big development that's been on the cards there for about 15 years. There was a lot more activity about a couple of years ago, and we started talking to the developers, because they're going to put some pontoons and some quayside services in.
So this development at Redcliffe was going to put some pontoons and some new moorings and a ferry boat stop in. Looks absolutely brilliant on the plans. So we started chatting to the developers to try and make sure that we were involved in that process so it was fit for purpose. And it just seemed, I mean, that development’s had trouble after trouble, but it just seems like any of those sort of waterside plans, like right on the edge of the quay side and those services that boaters need right on the edge, that they're just left, or they're painted in the plans, and then they're not done, and it's just kind of a bit of an afterthought. Like the services that we're using right on the water's edge, like the facilities blocks and the water and electric points, they are historic. They're falling apart, and that the council are having a hard time to maintain. Just keep everything running that they've got, let alone actually improve it. Everything here is very old and very crumbly.
Neil Maggs
You said yourself in article in Bristol 24/7 we have yet to see any tangible difference to any basic provisions provided, despite the likelihood of a third year of above inflation fee increases for boaters, if anything is getting worse, there are currently 40 empty bursts, and there are many more people who want to leave the harbour, but can’t. And your role leading the the organization is to sort of lobby and to push and to get heard and try and change this stuff with, I'm interested to know, with the sort of new, the new kind of regime in Bristol, the committee system, the Green Party being, being the lead party in the city. There being no mayor. As you said earlier, you had a slightly fractious relationship with the outgoing mayor Marvin Rees, has that changed? Do you feel you’re being heard and listened to more now?
Amanda Sharman
Well, we've had the opportunity to go to a couple of harbour committee meetings, and yesterday, the economy and skills committee meeting. I mean, there is hope. That's what we're all hanging on for. There is, there is hope. There's a new sort of statutory stakeholder group which is in place, which Bristol Boaters Community Association has a seat on to represent the community. But we're talking about my third year now of the above inflationary increases, yet this process is sort of the committee system, and the stakeholder group is only just beginning to find its feet. And that's the really infuriating thing, that when they decided to bring in these liveaboard licenses and to hike the cost up in 2023 we're now talking about the third level of increase, but we're still talking about the harbour providing the basic provision of water, electric and post for those that are living on their boats. And it's just really frustrating that all we're talking about is fee increases, and I know the council are under a lot of financial pressure, but crikey, so are people living on their boats when they're playing inflated fees, yet still going above and beyond their means to try and provide their own basic provisions as well.
Neil Maggs
I mean, they are saying that the fee hike, which includes inflation and an additional 5% starting from April, right, that this is necessary for services such as mooring, ferry operations, tug and barge use, bridge lifting, aiming to make the docks self sustainable and fund essential improvements. I mean, there is an argument, I guess, to say, if you're not, if you're paying for services directly to impact upon you, directly, as a boat dweller, you know, as you said, you know, had coming on and off the boat, safety, this and that, the other, there's that. And then these other sort of broader charges for services across the harbour. I find that quite interesting, that that's a justification for rises, because you could argue that affects everybody in the city, couldn't you? It's not your responsibility how the ferry operates, is it? Or whether there's a bridge lifting, is that any more your responsibility, than mine? It seems slightly odd.
Amanda Sharman
It's just utter madness. And I think with the change that's happened, with the sort of governance of the harbour, it has to be financially self sufficient. The main general fund of the Bristol City Council, don't want to prop up financially the harbour. That is fair enough. But the irony is that we're trying to prop up the harbour financially, just the people that are on and using the water have got to fund the whole harbour operation. The ironic thing is to provide the biggest free day out for the whole of the city in the region.
Neil Maggs
It’s a strange precedent, isn't it? As I was just talking then I was, I was just sort of thinking that it's kind of like, I don't know. So I I live in, I've moved from Easton I'm in Fishponds… it's like, suddenly, I don't know, they've decided to build a swimming pool in Eastville Park, so only my fees go up, and nobody else's does. It just seems a bit odd, and it's different than Eastville Park, because actually the entire city, and as we discussed tourists from all around the world come to the docks, so who's going to pay more for it? The people that live there? Yeah, it just and are you benefiting from that?
Amanda Sharman
That's the thing – the amount of tourists that come to this harbour is insane, and the sort of booming business economy that's right all the way around the harbour, all the offices, all the shops, and it's a thriving place. Yet how can it be financially self sufficient, just by those people that are floating on the water? It's just, it's just madness.
Neil Maggs
You should be charged with Cabot Circus as well, shouldn't you? You're not that far away!
Amanda Sharman
But you said about the sort of changing system with the committee system in the council, I listened to the economy and skills one yesterday, where they're considering the fee increases for St Nick's Market, and the amount of care and consideration and transparent reporting that was demonstrated yesterday in that meeting regarding a 5% increase for the market traders. It was carefully considered and the evidence was provided. And I think this is where us boaters on the water, where this decision was made a couple of years ago, in the manner in which it was where none of the evidence that they kept quoting was provided or was transparent. It was all done behind closed doors, and it was all sort of with immediate effect, as from next month, you are paying this amount of money, and it was 200% increase. For me, it's just madness. My fee went up by just under 200% in 2023 last year, I went up just under 10% and then next year, they're talking about a 7% increase.
Neil Maggs
If you don’t mind me asking. What figures are we talking?
Amanda Sharman
To be quite frank, then my fee went from £2,600 for my boat up to next year, over £7,000 pounds a year, and that's a year.
Neil Maggs
That's higher than the highest council tax bracket. If you lived in Clifton, I think.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, and potentially I've got council tax on top of that, they're still undecided two and a half years later, whether I'm eligible to pay council tax.
Neil Maggs
And of course, there is a big backdrop to all this, which is councils. Local Authorities have had their funding cut from national government, so they're just desperately trying different ways to draw money in, whilst also working alongside big developers to bring money and attract private investment into cities. Do you have some sympathy with, you know, with the fact everyone's got to pay their way a bit, and councils are just sort of trying to, I guess, claw money back so they can deliver better public services,
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, and I mean those baseline public services that the council provides, like schools, education, social services and care, they're absolutely crucial, and everywhere’s struggling. So for me on my boat to be moaning about my lack of provision, it seems, it seems not important, as opposed to…
Neil Maggs
A privileged position, as Marvin would say?
Amanda Sharman
Definitely, but for me, what my problems are immediately around me, which is my ability to exist and survive on my boat with my family. I think there is a huge, big financial pressure on the council, and I can see and I get that, but they need to bring people along with them, and introduce these things in a timely manner and have lots of communication.
Neil Maggs
But do you think some of this is also, I don't know. I just wondered whether, because there's a lot of investment coming into the harbour side, and there's a lot of big business and a lot of money, do you think, in a way, you're kind of seen as the old part, the kind of like the new is coming, and that you're a bit of a pain in the arse, and they sort of want you out the way?
Amanda Sharman
I think I would completely agree with that. Neil, yeah, yeah. We talk about gentrification in the harbour. I mean, out with the old and in with the new. And if, if I can't manage to pay my hugely inflated fee, then they keep quoting that they've got this never ending waiting list…
Neil Maggs
Put the squeese on you so you leave… I guess we said earlier about making it residential, but maybe what, I guess, what we're talking about is not independent boats. If they did, they probably. Looking at building what council-owned boats, or something like that?
Amanda Sharman
That would be quite snazzy, wouldn't it? I can't imagine they'd ever do that, though.
Neil Maggs 45:09
No, do you think they want to clear out? Be honest, like, do you think they actually want to clear out the boat dwellers period, really, ideally, if they had their own way?
Amanda Sharman
So we did the survey saying there was 57 vessels being used residentially, but that was like a year, sort of out of date by the time we presented that information. So it would have been more. The council offered 70 liveaboard licenses, yeah, and when they introduced them, only about 30 were taken. Okay, so it's, I don't think it's that they're trying to curb it, but they're certainly not making it with the price they've put on it, able for people, able to get if you know what I mean, they do keep talking about a big reshuffle of vessels in the harbour, and what area is used for what type of boats. That's going to be a hell of a lot easier if they've got less boats here. Yeah,
Neil Maggs
There is some big developments coming, isn't there, all along. And I just wonder whether, for some people, it's perhaps a a bit of an eyesore, or just on the practicalities, which is, actually, we don't really want barge boats outside some big flash, you know, restaurant, I don't know, yeah, just my, my instinct, maybe,
Amanda Sharman
Well, there's a lot of boats that have been here for a long, a long time, and some of them are poorly maintained, and people are struggling to sort of pay their fees. They're clinging on by a thread. You know? Yeah, it's only a matter of time if the council continue down this path of ever increasing above inflationary fees. That you'll see half the amount of boats in this harbour because it's already happening. Anyone that takes a walk around the harbour, especially up the city center, you will see there are so many empty berths.
Neil Maggs
Is that just a general kind of I think there's two arguments, isn't there? I think, you know, as you as you argue people would, I think most people listening would think, you know you need to pay something. You know everyone pays something, whatever you're kind of living in, and that gets resentment from people who pay council tax. Then there's making it affordable. But the third thing is, around the general, maybe not animosity, but uncomfortableness around people that live alternative lifestyles. Yeah, be they in the van, be they kind of in a tent, be they in a boat. I just wondered how much that is to do with it, and whether you think that is still the case.
Amanda Sharman
Well, it doesn't fit in with the sort of Council's way of maybe managing how many people they've got in their city…
Neil Maggs
Is this scenario just another sort of anti alternative lifestyle move by authorities. You know whether that's van dwellers, whether that's people in tents, whether that's travellers, people living on boats. Do you feel that?
Amanda Sharman
How high they've priced this license, making it quite unachievable for people like, Yes. On one hand, they've made it sort of out of reach for about half of the community that are here. But on the other hand, I mean, no, because they've offered this liveaboard license, which is meant to enable us to exist and live in the city. And that's where it's kind of a bit contradictory. I just felt like the council should be enabling people to live in the best means possible, and supporting them where they are, and enabling them to move on to sort of bigger and better things. That would be great, but just by pricing people out in the first instance, they are not out to solve the problem that they came out to solve, which was issuing these liveaboard licenses, let alone providing any of the basic provisions that would be provided at any… like the ‘meanwhile sites’ for van dwellers. They've got connection to water, electric and waste. That is a basic provision that they have to have on those meanwhile sites for the vans. Yet, it doesn't seem to be a consideration here in the harbour.
Neil Maggs
In some ways then, it's worse for you guys than the van dwellers?
Amanda Sharman
I mean, there's a difference between being a van dweller just on the roadside or being in one of the council’s meanwhile sites.
Neil Maggs
If you're paying kind of a rent and you're paying a fee for a service, they're getting a better service, the van dwellers than people living on boats?
Amanda Sharman
The mooring provision is so varied throughout the stretch of the harbour. I mean, some people have got lots of provision and services and security and connections to stuff, and there's other people dangling off walls without water or electric and with just a ring to tie a rope through. And that's where the flattening of the fee structure that the council introduced in 2023… the fee structure used to be quite sort of varied based on what provision that you had. It was like a sliding scale, and that's what they completely flattened out. And it's just one fee for everyone, just regardless of what you can directly access on the quayside.
Neil Maggs
There's that whole debate around alternative living as a response to the cost of living crisis, to a sort of lifestyle choice. And of course, you know, everybody has the freedom for a lifestyle choice. And I think this is, this was a sort of bugbear for the previous mayor, a bit that people were sort of pleading poverty, whilst often, you know, not being from the city, being from kind of middle class areas, coming into Bristol from the outside and to live lifestyle, and then sort of comparing themselves to, I don't know, an Irish traveller or a Gypsy Roma traveller. It's two very different things. Do you think that the mayor probably saw boat dwellers in the same way… that actually, these are just sort of posh, middle class people, most of them, most of them aren't even from Bristol, moaning about something that they should be able to afford?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. Well, I think again, like misinformation. I mean, when we formed the association, we were reached out to by the council's own Gypsy Roma Traveller Liaison Team. Through SARI, Stand Against Racism and Inequality, we were invited onto their group as a representative organization of people living on boats. So we went along to a couple of the meetings. I never realised that boat dwellers were included in the category of GRT, not in terms of ethnic sort of travellers, but in terms of new age, cultural travellers. I didn't realise this was a thing until we got invited onto the council's own group. So we dealt with the council's GRT lead, and he's been brilliant, but it seems like that body of the council, their GRT team, and the main body of the Council, where Marvin saying that like, Who are these people? They're not classed as GRT, the posh, privileged few. There's a discord. But until anyone in the council actually makes the effort to come and speak to people on boats, they've got no idea what they're dealing with. They don't know. They don't know what types of people on board, because they just, they've put their walls up, and they haven't engaged with the community.
Neil Maggs
If they did come out, then who? What people would they see? Would they see many Bristolians like you?
Amanda Sharman 55:56
Yeah, yeah. Lots.
Neil Maggs 55:58
So this is a stereotype, then this is a stereotype that's sort of been perpetuated, that's fundamentally not true.
Amanda Sharman
Well, I I think, obviously, with house prices going up, there are lots of people, say, leaving London and moving to cities like Bristol. There's lots of people leaving Bristol and moving to like Newport or across the bridge or Frome or whatever. Like people are moving around because they can't afford to live in the city in which they grew up. So inevitably, that sort of shift of people is happening based on costs. It's just local people generally can't afford houses in the city. Start off on a boat, and then they think, Oh, this is nice. I like it. I'm gonna stay.
Neil Maggs
Okay. And do you have any councillors, at the moment – there have been some Green and Labour councillors that have spoken out against these latest rises. Have you got, have you got certain councillors that are championing your cause a little bit?
Amanda Sharman
We do yes, and they've come along to a number of our meetings. Patrick McAllister, Ani Stafford, Townsend, Kye Dudd as well. He's been along, and I can hear them in the committee meetings, sort of championing for us, but there's only so much that they can do. And it's… the last meeting I was in there, sort of reports by the harbour Master and the director, reports that are being shared in the committee meeting that I know are just full of misinformation, some of the aspects in there, and that's what these decisions are being based on, reports which aren't really reporting the truth of what's going on…
Neil Maggs
In what way?
Amanda Sharman
For example, when they justified how these liver board licenses are affordable. They said that in the last harbour committee just a couple of weeks ago, that apparently my fee compared to the house in which I moor up against. And they did this kind of really rough cost comparison, but it's like comparing apples and oranges, because right, yeah, they're averaging the length of the vessels and are just including the mooring fee when they're weighing up my cost. But when they costed the house which I'm moor up against, they included all the utility bills, the council tax, the service charge, and they totaled all those costs up, and that's how they justified that my fee is affordable.
Neil Maggs
And when you say they, who? Who's they? This is the harbour Master. The City Council? The harbour Master is employed by the city council. Is that right?
Amanda Sharman
The statutory harbour authority. They kind of govern themselves, but I don't know. Where is this boundary? It seems like you , like the harbour authority, and they blame the main body of the council, and then you speak to the council and they blame the harbour authority.
Neil Maggs
So this feels, I mean, in the last episode, we spoke to somebody from the Barton Hill Somali community around the liveable neighborhood scheme they felt, she felt, and was sort of speaking also on behalf of other people, that they were never consulted properly. They don't like what's happening in their community. Don't feel like they had a voice. They had a say. This sounds quite similar, yeah, what you're conveying to me from your experience and the organization that you represent…
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And this is 100% why we formed as an organization, because there was meant to be this public consultation, and we wanted to sort of energise the community to get involved, and like, as a one on one, and then we also wanted to represent the community as a larger organization to try and make some positive changes. For people on boats in the harbour.
Neil Maggs
And has that been happening?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah and no. I think the introduction of the liveaboard licence has just been brilliant, like the fact that they're offering that. That is a really golden thing. We're trying to sort of fight the latest increase, the above inflationary increase. I understand things do need to increase, but I just don't feel like it should be above inflation considering the last two increases that we've had.
Neil Maggs
What should it be for you?
Amanda Sharman
Considering my fee went up 200% last year, I'd just like it to be as as possible, because there's still so many people that can't obtain this licence in the first place. It just needs to be affordable for people.
Neil Maggs
And so these councillors that are lobbying and supportive of you, your Bristol Boaters Community Association, what do you hope to happen? What's a good outcome for you with the pressure that you're trying to apply at the moment?
Amanda Sharman
That people stay in the harbour and don't just quit and leave. People that need the liveaboard license, hopefully can afford it, and that once they've got a liveaboard license, that they can access the basic provisions that any home should come with, ie, an address, water, electric and safe access. And that's just, that's just the basic, the basic thing that I think we need, and we want to maintain the community that's here and grow it. You know, there is space in the harbour for more people, more boats, more water users, but it does need a bit of investment. And I know that's what the council's long term aim is.
Neil Maggs
Tens of millions in maintenance are saying they need…
Amanda Sharman
This harbour is more than 200 years old.
Neil Maggs
Yeah. But that cost shouldn't just fall on you. You need to contribute, but it's just a feeling of being a little excessive.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. And that ever increasing focus on a smaller amount of people on the water. If it continues going in this fashion, there's just going to be less and less people paying fees in the harbour, but more and more financial pressure from the crumbling infrastructure that lines this harbour. Yet more and more tourists coming to visit.
Neil Maggs
And of course, people in your situation, you've got young children, they've grown up on a boat. It's your lifestyle, it's your family… to have that squeese put on you, your hand, to be forced to move, as is happening with with some boat dwellers. It's really tough, isn't it?
Amanda Sharman
Yeah, yeah. I mean, people are struggling to survive on a daily basis, let alone kind of thinking about the the bigger picture in the Council, where this ring fence just being put around the harbour, and the financial pressure, long term, I just, I just can't see it being sustainable…
Neil Maggs
No, and it's interesting, because this isn't just Bristol. This is happening, and there's been protests this year in London over fee raises and the Canals and Rivers Trust around London. So there's clearly a big issue for people living on boats. In cities, then, this is a big question that we'll end on. Is there a future for people living in boats in cities?
Amanda Sharman
Oh, I'm really hopeful, but it's very worrying. I'm not sure. The amount of time and effort that a lot of the people that are involved in the community association are putting into attending the meetings, submitting public questions for the forum, sending letters left, right and center to anyone that we think might be able to support and help. The amount of effort that members of the community are putting into surviving here is quite incredible, and I don't know how sustainable that is.
Neil Maggs
I just wonder, with cities becoming more modernised, you know, as we move forward through the decades, whether that could be that that actual lifestyle in a city could be a threat.
Amanda Sharman
I really, really hope not. I mean, I think it's a benefit to have a diverse housing stock in the city, family homes, small homes, apartments, boats, caravan parks, whatever it is, a diversity of housing and affordable housing to give people choices and steps up so they can work their way up to a better place. But just by sort of quashing out the van dwellers or the boaters or the people in tents on the bridges, it's it's not helpful in the long run, is it need to enable these people to exist and survive, and then maybe one day in the future, they could thrive, but just by trying to quash them out on the lower levels of the housing sort of areas just isn't isn't nice.
Neil Maggs
Well, I salute you for everything you're doing, and I wish you well with your campaign, and I hope your husband doesn't fall in again. I have sympathy with him, because I definitely would be a person that would… I would have been the drunk guy years ago that, when you had a party, that fell over with splash! I’ve matured now, and I'd like the sound of it. I mean, in fact, I've never done one, but I've, for several years, I've been speaking about doing the Norfolk Broads, moving the boat on the canal. And I can totally see the the attraction, yeah, on the boat, living on the boat. And it would be a shame, wouldn't it, to lose all you guys living your dream.
Amanda Sharman
Yeah. I mean, it's a really vibrant place. It's a mixed bag community, lots of different types of people, boats, uses. I mean, it should be, yeah, it should be cherished and expanded upon, rather than stamped out.
Neil Maggs
Final final thing. If people want to get involved, if anyone is, you know, you might have some supporters. Listen to this. They don't even live in boats. I think I'd like to support this campaign. I'd like to support your cause. Can people get in touch with you, or can people come along to any of your BBCA meetings? What do they do?
Amanda Sharman
Certainly they can. So you can go on Bristol boaters dot org and have a little look at our website and what we're up to. And we also hold kind of community events based around education and safety. So for example, this Friday, we're doing a session on board the John Sebastian Lightship, Homer Cabot cruising club with Avon Fire Rescue. It's like a family friendly fire safety talk. And we're also having a fundraiser on Saturday, raising money this year for Bristol Sea Cadets, as well as all the lobbying and the trying to make it a better place for us. We're also trying to up the safety and education and sending some funds to the Sea Cadets. Last year we did the boat builders at the Underfall yard fundraiser, and it's something we like to do every Christmas hold a bit of a fundraiser,
Neil Maggs
Sounds nice. And they're probably, are you going to be having Christmas turkey, a Christmas dinner on the boat?
Amanda Sharman
Not this year. I'll be at my mom's house this year.
Neil Maggs
Okay, okay. Thank you for being the first person I've ever spoken to live interview on a boat. Oh, I enjoyed it.
Amanda Sharman
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Neil.
Neil Maggs
Thank you all the best. Cheers. Amanda, bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai