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WITH narrowboatworlds's Political Journalist quietly wrestling with stiff paddles and a broken balance beam on the Northern Stratford, it seems that the editor has broken his vow of editorial silence to condemn the state of the waterways (Comment—British Waterways has failed), writes Allan Richards.
The editorial cuts right to the heart of the matter, stating ‘The problem is that British Waterways has failed. It is no longer able to complete the purpose of its existence—maintaining the waterways, but wastes it limited resources on schemes that have little to do with its primary objective—navigation'.
Quite right
NbW's editor is quite right! British Waterways primary purpose is to maintain the navigation. An exasperated minister for Inland Waterways, Jonathan Shaw had to remind BW of this very simple fact as recorded in BW's 2007/8 annual report. ‘In England and Wales during this year we have benefited from our discussions with the new Minister for Inland Waterways, Jonathan Shaw, and his team of officials to develop together a ‘strategic steer' which helps us to interpret and prioritise actions to meet Defra's expectations. The strategic steer sets out three priorities in order of importance:
- Maintaining the waterway network in satisfactory order.
- Achieving the shared Government /British Waterways longer term vision of moving towards greater self-sufficiency.
- Delivering a range of additional public benefits.
Underfunded
So there we have it! BW's priority is to maintain the network in satisfactory order. So why has it failed?
It has failed for the very reason given by BW's Operations Manager, Vince Moran. In responding to a new boaters' complaint regarding the deplorable condition of the canal system (Waterways World, November 2009), Vince stated: 'The network as a whole has been under funded for many, many years and there is significant investment required to get it to the standard that we all want'.
Why no investment?
But why has that investment not already been made? Many years ago BW agreed that it could get the system into satisfactory order by 2012. Today, the backlog should only be in the order of £50 million but is probably nearer £300 million.
In recent years, BW made over £200 million profit from property sales. How much of that money was invested discharging BW's primary duty of maintaining the waterways? Not a single penny!
Third sector
The Labour government's plans to move BW to the third sector were all about better governance and reducing grant (BW's second priority!).
Until such plans can show where £300m can be found to make the canals ‘fit for purpose' and an extra £30m per year to maintain them in that state, the plans are about as much use as a chocolate fire-guard.
Hopefully, the new government will acknowledge the problem and tackle it.
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