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THE monthly waterways magazines make much of a 'canal-friendly' waterways minister being appointed, writes Allan Richards. Richard Benyon, the Conservative MP for Newbury is a Vice-President of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.
 They tell us that in 2007 he took part in the Save Our Waterways campaign protesting against funding cuts.
We are also told that Richard Benyon's boss is Caroline Spelman, MP for Meriden, who is now Secretary of State for DEFRA. We now have two ministers who actually have significant waterways within their constituencies. The monthlies however have only given us half the story.
The other half
What they did not tell us is that the new minister is also a keen angler. They are the only other members of the public, apart from boaters, who contribute to the waterways other than via government grant.
Worse still, they did not tell of Caroline Spelman's canal connection. Whilst narrowboatworld is well read it seems that that the monthlies missed its story about her when she was an opposition MP, who most boaters had never heard of.
 In October 2009, Caroline Spelman (then Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) wrote to British Waterways and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs expressing her concern for boaters following a meeting of local boaters in the Knowle area. She complained about second class treatment saying:
'Boat owners pay a fee to British Waterways to use the canal but the service they receive isn't matching up. They have a right to expect better'.
Expecting better
Yes boaters do expect better! We are the major supporters of the waterways being the backbone of all the waterways user groups, societies, trusts and charities. We have a £1 billion investment in BW's waterways due to the value of our craft. Compare that to BW's property portfolio of just £400m. Although we only represent about 4% of visitors to the canals we contribute directly and indirectly about 25% of the £100m pa that BW spends on maintenance. That is in addition to our contribution as taxpayers.
Home truths
BW spends significantly less than half of its income maintaining our canals despite this being the number one priority as agreed with the last government. It also spends significantly less than it needs to stop them deteriorating. BW's chief executive, the previous waterways minister and various labour MP's told us that the waterways are in the best state ever. How can this be true if, year on year, British Waterways spend less than they need to avoid deterioration? How can this be true in light of the narrowboatworld poll and the NABO survey?
Kennet & Avon
BW would like the waterway minister to assume that they are piloting the third sector on the K&A. Absolute nonsense! It is just a publicity stunt. At the very most it is a partnership agreement and BW already have a few of those. Last year BW were very active on Welsh waterways because the last minister had a welsh constituency, without actually achieving anything except a load of talk
It is a little known fact that some local authorities on the K&A do currently contribute to the upkeep of our national asset. It is almost certain that when agreements end they will not be renewed. Local authorities will be hard pressed over the coming years to maintain essential local services so why would they wish to contribute financially to a non-essential national one?
Sell off property
What our two new ministers (and DEFRA) need to do is ensure that BW's three year plan includes a spend of £400m instead of £300m (or less?) on the waterways' maintenance. If BW have to sell off some property so what? BW's property portfolio is costing the taxpayer money to maintain rather than contributing £45m a year as claimed by BW and its lobbying department the Inland Waterways Association.
Our new ministers should already be very aware that our waterways have fallen into disrepair. They will also be aware that the prime minister has described BW's directors as 'fat cats' and actually named four of them. What they may not be aware of is that one of those named was rewarded for losing £2.4m on property joint ventures with a £155,000 golden handshake when he left BW.
Ministers to take action
Boaters look to the ministers to take action. We accept that grant in aid will be cut because BW's sponsoring department, DEFRA, is suffering cuts. Things have changed since 2007 and we have to get real. However, DEFRA should not accept a three year plan that allows further deterioration of our canals, and should insist that property is sold off, if needed. We also expect our ministers to tackle the 'fat cat' issue. The waterways minister appoints BW's board and the board continues to reward the failure of BW's executive directors.
Stories of BW's concerns about water voles eating frogs legs or carp eating dragon flies are nothing compared to our concerns regarding the deterioration of BW's waterways since Robin Evans was appointed Chief Executive.
Ministers should take action now!
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