So it seems Canal & River Trust are not going to get the £1.1 billion they say they've saved the NHS(?) with their ridiculous 'wellbeing' and 'better by water' campaigns? Writes John Coxon.
A 40% cut in real terms of their government grant is what they've apparently been saddled with.
So much...
So much for the policies of spending vast amounts of money on the towpaths for cyclopaths and ducks?
So much for their lavish spending on carving poems into lock gates and sculptures that vandals seem to delight in cutting in half?
So much for their umpteenth rebranding with associated new signage?
So much for sacking all their experienced workforce and employing expensive contractors who appear to not have a clue and take a week to do a job that used to take a few hours only for it fail again in a few days?
So much for the multitude of directors and solicitors with their associated support teams?
Falling apart at the seams
Where has all this got them? It's got them a system that's falling apart at the seams that's where!
Well I think that not only have they landed themselves with an effective 40% cut in government funding but their ridiculous policies have made them a laughing stock into the bargain e.g. painting lines on the towpath for ducks to walk down?
If they had just concentrated on maintaining the fabric of the waterways and got on with supporting boaters and associated water activities they would have a system that was in a far better state than it is at present.
They appear to have been totally focused on trying to please a mass of non-paying visitors on the cheap. They seem to think the more people that they can get to walk near their waterways is all that matters and the bigger the number they can quote the more it will impress the civil servants and get them more money!
Backfiring
Well it's now backfiring on them is it not? Not only have they not convinced the government to pay them more, or even just maintain their existing grant level, they have got to a situation where to recover the fabric of the system back to the same as it was when they look over from British Waterways will take a vast amount more money than they are now apparently being given.
They have succeeding in one thing though and I can vouch for this from talking to some of their precious walkers and cyclopaths. They are alienating those very same visitors by the dangerous policy of not cutting the grass hedge to edge? Another badly thought out policy that's failed to impress!
Can't even see the water
Those same visitors cannot feel better by water if they can't get by the water and in a lot of cases, not even see the water from the towpath! A lot of people have also mentioned that they no longer feel safe walking along what effectively are narrow, blind corridors. They say they can't see if anyone is lurking or up to no good! Is this what CaRT call 'wellbeing by water'?
One problem mentioned many times to me, and I've encountered myself, is the one where walkers feel threatened and intimidated by speeding cyclists on what has become a very narrow walkway! There is no way I, or even many people, would move aside for them as you can't see the edge of the towpath? Not much of a feeling of it being 'better by water' here is there?
Cannot plan a route
They have also succeeded in alienating most boaters, you know the ones, those who pay on average over a thousand pounds a year for their licences. Those same boaters cannot plan a route to cruise for their holidays as they just cannot guarantee getting there and back in the time at their disposal!
Hirers don't come back any more and those who used to come regularly are finding alternatives to spend their cash and time on. If the hire companies fold then CaRT will have even less money to play with?
CaRT need to remember that no waterways = no boats = no licence fees or grant! Not rocket science is it? They also seem to be overlooking the fundamental fact that if they have no waterways then their precious pedestrians and cyclopaths will have no water to be better by. Also they need to realise that they themselves will be out of a job!
Their precious pedestrians and cyclopaths will not want to walk or cycle next to a dangerous, stinking mass of rotten vegetation and gooey mud which is what the canals will become of they are not maintained. I know, I remember the Chesterfield Canal near the collapsed tunnel before it was dugout and re-watered.
Threatened with closure
Now we are being threatened with closure of some waterways because they cannot afford to maintain them all. I would have thought that if they reduce the size of their assets then next time the grant is due it will be cut even more as it could be argued that there is not so much to spend it on?
Perhaps CaRT need a root and branch rethink about their priorities? If they spent their limited funds on maintaining the fabric of the waterways the rest will naturally follow.
If the waterways are safe, functioning properly and well maintained places, people will naturally be attracted towards them. People like water. People like being near water. People like to feel safe near water. If the waterways are a pleasant and safe place to be, then people will come. If the boats are on the waterways then people will come to see them as well.
Will not be 'better by water'
If the waterways are a waterless, boatless, gooey stinking mess of rotting vegetation and mud infested with biting flies and rats then people will not come and it will certainly not be better by water any more nor will there be any positive wellbeing associated with being next to the water.
Perhaps CaRT need to take heed of their own often used saying and 'design a method of repair' before it's too late?