ANYONE that uses the canal network can only agree with Kelvin Alexander-Duggan's comments, writes Neil Yates.
On a recent trip we came across one of the few remaining BW employees (and he's about to retire early) only him and one other to look after their patch, and appalled at the wait until it breaks policy, as he was no longer allowed to do any repairs.
Hit Team
They now have to call in a hit team, having lost their own dredging, piling, chippy, blacksmiths, gone are the days of carrying out their own winter works, dewatering locks and pounds to carry out essential pointing, cill and gate repairs to get through the next season, and saving money on costly emergency stoppages,
I've often wondered what the Canal & River Trust entourage would say if stuck on the runway on a flight at Heathrow for a week, while heading off on holiday, with the excuse of sorry but the runway needs fixing, we've known it's needed repairing for six months but decided to wait until it we couldn't use it any more, in the height of the season. No doubt they wouldn't be impressed, but its okay to ruin many boating holidays, as well as making it difficult for those that use the system day to day.
Trying to get to Liverpool
On a personal note we've given up trying to get to Liverpool or the high peaks over the last couple of years, given the sheer volume of stoppages on these waterways, after all no one is going to put us up in a hotel or pay us compensation if our holiday is ruined,
Perhaps it's also time for British Marine and the other waterway businesses to start knocking on the Charity Commission doors to complain about CRT,
CRT is understandably disappointed with the latest government announcement on funding, as CRT has already sold off a lot of the family jewels so must be wondering what can be done next, Perhaps charge the one billion visitors a pound each, but alas we all know that number is fiction. Someone should really proof-read what the PR department publish,
Telling false truths
After all, the days of telling false truths until it is believed is hopefully behind us,
Well I say call the government's bluff and threaten to hand the waterways back, unless of course you get more money, after all it'll cost the government a lot more than the £400 million over the ten years it is offering, but alas I doubt they are willing to give up their big salaries. Instead they'll be hammering anybody with a boat or business after the current 'consultation'.
Bang on the money
An interesting feature by John Coxon—bang on the money! Writes Frank Auffret.
And it looks to me that Theresa Coffey included in her statement some clues which C&RT should take heed of. This bit is interesting:
"The Trust is responsible for maintaining navigability and safety of its waterways including reservoirs, embankments and other infrastructure."
Non-essential marketing campaigns
No mention of 'well-being', cycle paths or non-essential marking campaigns. Could it be that C&RT's dismal record of maintenance, particularly in the North, has reached the ears of MPs? Certainly Toddbrook was a high profile, total disaster which has cost the maintenance budget many £millions. How those in charge kept their jobs after that is just amazing.
It seems apparent from the statement that the government were hoping by now C&RT were bringing in a lot more additional funding. Another disappointment for the government ...'which countless charities across the country do very effectively". The 'Friends' scheme is a flop and unlike the National Trust, memberships were never on offer—interesting annual general meeting if they were, Theresa Coffey adding:
"I can confirm that, subject to certain conditions being met, government will offer a new long term funding package of over £400 million to the Trust."
Need to pull their socks up
Looks like C&RT need to pull their socks up as it seems those conditions refer to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and it's clear the maintenance KPI is woefully off target.
The government are obviously disappointed with CRT's record and the fact they are still offering a (reducing) grant is a big positive. It's unlikely any campaign is going to change things. It looks to me like all the marketing, blue signs and Facebook adverts have failed to impress and as for that NHS saving a £billion (cuckoo land).
Perhaps in hindsight focusing on maintenance and the economic benefits the waterways bring may have been a better tactic.
Someone once said 'The buck stops here'. Where does the buck stop with C&RT? Time for a fundamental change.
Big bet has failed
So CRT’s big bet has failed, writes Dave Irving
Making waterways available to all (which they were anyway) in the hope of getting increased funds to support all those new groups of ‘users’ has failed, and we now see a huge reduction in funding from the government.
Make way for another body
The result for boaters has been less and less money spent on timely maintenance, less and less value achieved on repairs, and ever-reducing availability of the network. It’s clear the canals and rivers need more money, but whether CRT is the body to manage it is much less obvious. It’s time for CRT to re-focus and concentrate on their core customers, the boating community—or to make way for another body to do so.
CRT has spent a fortune on adding new signage to every space possible, to advertise their name, increase ‘awareness’ of their role and ensure the public are ‘engaged’. We crossed the Leeds & Liverpool recently (luckily before Wigan was closed) and found they’ve even added signs next to each swing bridge telling canoeists there’s a bridge ahead and it’ll take them two minutes to portage round it—I had assumed canoeists were intelligent enough to see the bridge and figure it out themselves. What a shame safety signage such as water level indicators has been ignored. But no increased funding, from canoeing organisations or elsewhere.
Spent a fortune
CRT have spent a fortune on ‘improving’ perfectly adequate towpaths to become used as cycle raceways, putting both walkers and boaters at risk from speeding cyclists and motor cyclists—we were quickly passed by a peloton of at least 10 cyclists on a recent trip. At the same time, they’re cutting costs instead of cutting vegetation, leaving the watersides dangerously invisible to towpath users and inaccessible by boaters (we now carry shears, which sometimes help, if we can get to the shore in the first place). But no increased funding, from cycling organisations or elsewhere.
CRT has spent a fortune recruiting new highly paid top-level staff with roles that seldom seem to have much to do with boating. Even the fund-raising one (I can see some logic here) seems to be less effective than hoped: don’t get me started on the fund-raising ‘Friends’ campaign—I joined up in the early days, received magazines quarterly, but found they seemed to completely miss out my main interest (which, of course, is boating) so I emailed them explaining my concern. No response, so I cancelled my subscription. Months later, I got an email asking why I’d left the program… But no increased funding.
All sold-off
CRT have sold their ‘family silver’—they’ve got rid of knowledgeable and skilled staff, sold off the tools those staff could have used, disposed of heritage buildings—all short-term benefits with high long-term costs. But no increased funding.
CRT has cut maintenance to the core with its ‘wait until it breaks’ policy. It’s cut waterways usability by not having the people or the tools to fix breakages when they inevitably arise. It’s increasing long-term costs in favour of short-term gains and in doing so it’s killing its core asset and its reason for existence. But it’s not generating any new funding.
We should recall where many canals were before their resurgence and restoration—‘stinking ditches’, silted up, with limited wildlife and unloved by all but a few with the vision to make them an asset to the country. It’s time for CRT to stop chasing inaccessible funding and to put its money where its interests are, supporting the canals and rivers for boaters, because without boaters the canals are nothing. We—the paying users—need a new approach. Now.
A bit late
There is little doubt that the launch of Fund Britains Waterway (FBW) a couple of weeks ago was a few years late, as DEFRA had already made its decision, writes T. Lang.
Simply replicating the need for for money as have the other various organisations, has got it nowhere.
But what is absolutely ridiculous is paraphrasing Canal & River Trust' silly statement that its 'annual economic and social value of CRT waterways alone has been quantified as £6.1bn, including cost savings of £1.1bn for the NHS'.
Surely no one with any sense is going to believe that silly statement, that I am sure neither have the people at DEFRA, no matter how it is attempted to be justified. Using such a statement has done FBW no good at all, the opposite in fact.
To my mind those organisations would have been better attempting to get Canal & River Trust to cut down on its unnecessary spending and use the money on the waterways to show it is at least trying.
Then DEFRA could have taken a different stance and helped, but by allowing the waterways to constantly fail in an attempt to get more, has failed and certainly not fooled DEFRA.
NOTE—In view of the number of comments concerning Canal & River Trust and its finances we have included them together, in addition to those already published.