THE public is less satisfied with Canal & River Trust than they were a year ago, despite claims regarding 'a year of success', writes Allan Richards.
CaRT has recently published information showing that public satisfaction is actually falling.
A year of decline
A survey published in the middle of last year found that 71% of boaters were either ‘slightly satisfied' or ‘very satisfied' with Canal & River Trust. CaRT set out to increase that figure to 75% but the end result has been a decrease in satisfaction to 64%.
Towpath user satisfaction level has also dropped. Last year (2013/14) it was 85%. This year a target was set to maintain that level but it fell to 76%.Open days
The substantial drop in satisfaction over the last twelve months is only part of the story. Despite heavy promotion of its open days less people visited than last year when 10,096 attended. This year, against a target of 11,000, CaRT only achieved 9,807.
Perhaps CaRT is suffering a backlash against its determination to turn its towpaths into high speed cycle routes.
Whatever the reason, the Trust can not afford to ignore it.