Will not improve their dilapidated state
THE answer to Ralph's question regarding who painted the gear at Great Heywood lock is a group of people who were on community service.
Painting the lock beams and paddles will not improve their current dilapidated state, it just puts a gloss on the equipment for Joe public, and interestingly only in areas which are likely to be subject to a decent foot fall from walker/cyclists, writes Andy Bayley.
Basically sound
Whilst not wishing to whinge at the idea of community service people doing work, for I think the idea is basically sound, and cannot understand why it could not be extended to train maybe prisoners/long term community service people into doing some of the more urgent remedial work. Yes it would need training, yes it would need risk assessing but it would also give the people some extra skills to take away (maybe with some form of NVQ accreditation).
I didn't see any activity when in the middle of nowhere where you only get the odd dog walker. I understand the need to cut back and canals will not be a high priority on the list of things that need fixing at a national level, so alternative means are needed.
Our own boat is quite deep draughted at around 2'7", so we are fully aware of the state of the system under the water, not just the obvious things above it! In our recent autumn cruise on our narrowboat Brindley we have seen a couple more examples of this.
How much longer
I have found myself beginning to think about how much longer I am prepared to put up with this, and when would we want to sell our boat, based on grounding on shallow canals and working ever harder lock gates and paddles. Whilst this may seem to be giving in, practically I see no other ultimate option as there will come a time when we cannot physically cope. The current people who are supposed to be the leaders within the British Waterways environs do not know what to do so what chance with the same people in charge of a lower funded organisation?
A recognition of the truth and an acknowledgement of how much maintenance is needed would be a start, my experience in engineering management over the last 30 years confirms that the first steps in any problem/crisis is to understand the depth of the problem you are trying to fix no matter how frightening that seems. Only then can you address the correct priorities and get some form of acceptance from everyone concerned—they may not like it but at least they understand what you are trying to do and it is better than doing nothing.