Bordering on the delusional
"Sorry but that answer is bordering on the delusional . . . ." That is what Canal & River Trust (CaRT) Chief Executive Richard Parry was told when questioned on the Trust's massive maintenance underspend, writes Allan Richards.
The exchange happened in a little publicised Twitter event a few days ago where Richard Parry answered questions from the public.
The question from David Davis asked ‘If maintenance underspend continues at current rate, how long before all canals un-navigable?'
However, Mr Parry failed to answer it, instead suggesting that the condition of canals was actually improving and spend would increase in future years.
Not to be put off, David Davis responded ‘By your own and BW figures, you are annually spending tens of millions short of the ‘steady state' figure'.
Money tight
Richard Parry again ducked the question by responding:
‘Money is always tight David, but we are confident we can make progress, especially with support from volunteers and local communities'.
That was when he was told his answer was bordering on the delusional with David Davis adding ‘How can "confidence" make up for budget shortfall of tens of millions?'
Richard then stated categorically that he did not believe the the budget shortfall was tens of millions only to be asked if he did not believe BW's annual reports!
Avoiding the question
The exchange was ended with Mr Parry saying ‘I've been in post a year. I've run railways and can tell you no infrastructure company ever has enough'.
Are the waterways an infrastructure company now?
£50m underspend
Two fellow directors have already made statements to the effect that maintenance underspend is tens of millions (£85m is not enough). Richards predecessor, Robin Evans is also on record as confirming a massive underspend and CaRT's trustees have been told that under spending has been going on since 2004.
The best guess is that CaRT are under spending by about £50 millions per year and the extra government funding starting from next year will have a negligible effect on this. What happens when government funding is run down and then ceases after 15 years is not known.
One is left wondering if poor Richard is ‘bordering on the delusional' or simply in denial.