We hold various legal responsibilities for inland river, estuary, and harbour navigations in England and Wales. To cover costs, we charge boats using our waters.
Types of charge
Most boats pay an annual fee, but short-term licences are also available. Details of the individual regional schemes are available in our register your boat section.
How the charges are structured
Boat registration schemes vary in each region and are based on the category and class of your boat. All schemes are made up of registration fees over a timed period.
Anglian Region
- Anglian Region waterways are the rivers Great Ouse, Nene, Ancholme, Stour, Welland and Glen.
- Navigation charges are payable under section 144 of the Water Resources Act 1991, as applied by Section 17 of the Anglian Water Authority Act 1977.
Southern Region
- We are the statutory navigation authority for the non-tidal River Medway.
- We are the harbour authority for the Harbour of Rye.
Thames Region
- We manage the freshwater (non-tidal) River Thames (from the town bridge at Cricklade in Wiltshire to the boundary obelisk just downstream of Teddington lock).
- The navigation also extends up the River Kennet from its junction with the Thames to a point 65m (70 yards) downstream of the High Bridge at Reading.
All users wishing to visit any of the Environment Agency or British Waterways controlled rivers and waters must purchase the relevant licences and permits for that waterway unless they are a Gold Licence holder*.
*The Gold Licence is a joint Environment Agency and British Waterways licence, issued and administered by British Waterways.
Accommodations
We are responsible for issuing licences for accommodations on the non-tidal River Thames. Accommodations are private structures such as mooring piles, slipways and landing stages.
An annual charge applies to accommodations and the billing year runs from 29 September to 28 September of the following year. Please see our Thames accommodations page to find out more.
For more information about these licences and our related charges please contact our Accomodations Team on 03708 506 506.
