CaRT's Soviet ten years plan - Canal myopia

Canal myopia

I think that boaters are blessed with a form of 'minds eye myopia', especially when it comes to the canal. We can all recall those wonderful idyllic days that we enjoyed in our minds eye. We grumble and then largely forget about the times we have to clear collected rubbish off the boat's propeller. We grumble to ourselves about the poor maintenance that creates operational difficulties - difficulties which tend to add an extra dimension to those short conversations about the weather that we enjoy when boater meets boater at a lock in passing - the more visible element of the towpath telegraph.

Most of all, if you ask a boater about life on the canal, you will generally get a jaundiced opinion. It will not necessarily be a negative opinion. This is because boaters who spend time or live on the canal accept all the waterways short-comings. Accepting the life on the canal, warts and all, because it might be the solitude, that floats their boat so to speak. It might equally be those occasional idyllic days. Most of all, it's because of the stoicism in their character. I usually sum this up as 'I'm going to enjoy this, even if it kills me' attitude, which is a much better trait than the much more mythical 'stiff upper lip' character, and is best enjoyed as another heavy downpour finds the gap betwixt head and shoulder and runs down their back.

State of play on the canals

There is the nub of the problem: the general state of play on the canals, which would not be tolerated in the same way elsewhere. The boat licence is for a year, but for a significant portion of the year, canal locations can be closed for planned maintenance. The poor maintenance means that throughout the cruising season there will be other unplanned closures which might be for just a few days or in the worst cases even a few months. When a lock is closed the whole section of canal is effectively closed. Next year the same canal will be closed again, as yet another lock is closed.

Over a decade of deliberate underspending on maintenance, which was started by British Waterways and continued by the Canal & River Trust, has brought the situation to a head. Presumably the underspend will continue for the foreseeable future. So has the change from a quango into a charity, with the same quango mentality, actually brought any benefits? The rhetorical question is certainly a moot point. General acceptance of their lot has changed for many boaters as they have become increasingly sceptical about the future and the direction of the Trust. The politics of the waterways has certainly grown in line with the general level of disenchantment.

Ignore the major issues

It will be interesting to cogitate over what's being described already as CaRT's 'Soviet Ten Year Plan'. Nothing to do with massaged figures for maintaining a false claim about tractor production output. But you can bet austerity will continue for the foreseeable future. The plan is going to be delivered by Richard Parry on 1st April. I can only hope that all the major concerns will be reflected in the commissar's plan. However, I suspect that there will be some notable pachyderm sized exceptions. Just like Chancellor Osborne's recent budget ignored the largest elephant in the room, the NHS. I wonder if the Canal & River Trust will ignore the major issues.

I have hopes for an announcement of a real change of heart by the Canal & River Trust in embracing an open and transparent future. I have hopes for the demise of the Waterways Partnerships which have proved thus far to have the same effectiveness as a chocolate fire-guard in a conflagration. I have hopes for a real plan of action to improve the public's safety from high-speed cyclists on the redeveloped canal towpaths. I have hopes for a real financial plan, delivered without the pie in the sky aspirations, setting even more unachievable targets. I have hopes for an improvement in the allocation, pricing and letting of self managed moorings. But most of all, I hope an opportunity will be taken to announce the immediate departure of the lack lustre chairman of the trustees. 'Taxi for Hales'. But them I am easily satisfied.