Not making boaters' lives better by water
IN ANSWER to T Lang's point 'Is Canal & River Trust making boaters life better by water?'
I would say from experience that CaRT are deliberately trying to make the lives of boaters as bad, uncomfortable, difficult and expensive as possible, writes John Coxon.
Abandon to the elements
It really appears that CaRT have a policy to rid the canals of boaters. If seems as if they think that if they could reduce the boater population to such an extent that it is not viable to maintain the system then they could just abandon it to the elements.
They unnecessarily decree that weeds are allowed to grow right next to the waters edge to prevent mooring and access to boats. They're reducing the facilities provided for boaters such as rubbish bins etc. They're increasing the licence fee payable by boaters, all boaters that is, even though some are being deliberately and unfairly targeted to have to pay more than others.
They make no effort to reduce the danger from cyclists on the towpaths, in fact they have a policy of upgrading the towpaths to allow cyclists to go faster making it more dangerous for boaters! Their rule banning e-bikes and e-scooters has had no effect around where I am at the moment!
Maintenance management a disgrace
Their maintenance management is a disgrace, more stoppages in a month than there are days! Stoppages lasting weeks and in some cases months. Then after they're fixed only to fail again within days! No policy of preventative maintenance at all it seems.
Wasting money on pointless activities such as rebranding (twice so far), painted lanes for ducks, carving poems in lock beams, thousands of new blue signs, many of which are totally unnecessary, etc etc etc.
All this and none of it of any benefit to boaters, in fact, in most cases, quite the opposite? Their weekly brag rag, or as they call it, Boaters Update, is always full of articles bragging how good they are? Well, if they are so good how come we had to endure 38 stoppages in one month and 42 in another? How come we still have to endure e-bikes and e-scooters? How come we are losing rubbish disposal facilities?
Edges grown into mature trees
How come we can't get to the bank along mile after mile of waterway because of overgrown vegetation? They say that they cut the whole system hedge to edge at least once every year, this is definitely not so. Some of the growth along the edges of the canals is definitely over a year old! Some has even grown into mature trees which if they were cut yearly would never be more than saplings?
Even their winter works programme can't be relied upon. Boaters can no longer use the list to plan winter routes to avoid getting stuck as more and more are being added or removed!
It is now apparent that they can't even plan the emptying of cess pits and septic tanks before they overflow. We are getting more and more facility closures due to full cess pits or septic tanks. The planning of emptying of them is a very basic procedure! They have all been there long enough to establish a time frame for emptying, preordering this is a very basic management process!
Serious matter for a boater
When your Elsan is full and you can't empty it, it becomes a serious matter for a boater. It then means a longer, sometimes very much longer, journey to empty it. In the winter this may mean travelling in the dark with all the inherent dangers that brings. Going through locks in the dark on a frosty winters night when you are all alone is definitely not safe!
Better by water? Perhaps if you were on a Mediteranian cruise it may be but on any waters controlled by the Canal & River Trust it most definitely is not.