£1m Lapworth project decimated

IT WAS just about a year ago that Canal & River Trust's (CaRT) Trustee John Dodwell was telling us how great it was to be a charity and that certainty of funding meant that £1m would be spent on 20 locks on the Lapworth Flight in 2013/14.

The reality—underfunding, has resulted in the cancellation of the project, for the locks on the Stratford Canal writes Allan Richards.

Good news

Speaking to various audiences the Trustee would claim that the Trust was 'good news' explaining:

"We can—at last – plan long term, being pretty sure about our income over the next few years. Not so long ago, 55% came from unreliable government grants. The 15 year initial funding contract with government is the first time the waterways have ever had long term financial security. An example is that in the West Midlands there are plans to spend £1m on the Lapworth Flight in 2013-4 with a mass of works over the 20 locks’."

So is the £1m Lapworth project happening? It seems not!

Less and less

Rumours started months ago that the £1m project was being split into two tranches with only the first to be completed this year. This was later confirmed when a stoppage was announced covering works over just seven locks rather than the 20 expected. The two month stoppage in early 2014 included the towpath and was for 'Extensive lock brickwork and coping repairs, ladder extensions, grouting, de-silting, bywash repairs and various works in the pounds between locks....'

But a month ago this was quietly cancelled without a new date being given.

Fallacy

It seems that CaRT's claims that it is 'pretty sure of its income over the next few years' is something of a fallacy. A prime example is its property portfolio which underperformed in 2012/13 producing a net contribution some £2m less than expected.

Of course, income is only part of the story as CaRT's serial infrastructure failures mean expenditure has to be increased above plan or works cancelled.

One solitary lock

Sadly, the only work that will now take place on the dilapidated Lapworth Flight this winter is £9,000 of repairs to the Top Lock.

So the much vaunted CaRT £1,000,000 project has just become a £9,000 project.