Questions on maintenance spending in Parliament

THE ongoing emails from boaters to their MP's on British Waterways' lack  of expenditure on maintenance is causing questions to be raised in the House of Commons, Alan Tilbury tells us.

On Monday (28th June) Joan Walley MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, with waterways within her boundary, questioned Defra about British Waterways repairs and maintenance, prompted by her constituents. Her Parliamentary Question:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what expenditure British Waterways has incurred on maintaining and developing waterway network infrastructure in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of such expenditure was on infrastructure not classified as a principal asset in each such year; what estimate she has made of such expenditure in each of the next three years; and if she will make a statement. [3316]

Not recorded

Richard Benyon, the Waterways Minister replied that British Waterways does not record information in the format requested, answering:

British Waterways has spent £334 million on major infrastructure works and dredging over the last 10 years, of which £218 million (65%) relates to work on what they classify as 'principal assets'. In addition British Waterways has spent £347 million on third party funded restoration and regeneration projects.

Make of that what you will...