I believe Victor hit the nail on the head when he blamed the contractors for the shocking state of the waterways at present, writes Roger Lang.
It does make sense if people don’t know what they are doing, it will result in a mess to leave it to someone in the future to clear it up.
And how can people who know nothing whatsoever about the working of the waterways know how to repair or adjust, such as locks, as those who have done it for years beforehand?
They cannot, and is why those contractors had to keep coming back time again and again to attempt to make good, and when they cannot they leave it for someone in the future to put right, as people who know the waterways, are now doing.
Once all is eventually done properly, without of course contractors, perhaps then, we will see a reduction in the number of stoppages.