The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has today published a follow-up report on British Waterways which concludes that if Government wants to obtain the public benefits of canal investment, it should bear the costs. BW should not be expected to bear most of the financial risk.
The report praised the setting up of the Interdepartmental Working Group for waterways but was critical of the way BW withdrew from the Cotswold Canals restoration.
For more details about the Committee's findings, please see our blog item "EFRA: Sharing the Costs of Canal Restoration" and add your comment.
It is being reported that the Environment Agency is putting on hold its plan to sell off 10 houses and rent out 12 others. This follows a wave of protests and a petition on the 10 Downing Street website.
After a meeting with the Minister Phil Woolas and MPs Martin Salter and Theresa May, the EA has agreed to put the proposals on hold until it has completed "a full review of waterways staff roles and responsibilities, and terms and conditions", which will take around 6 months.
EA has said that any future review of the lock keepers' houses would involve the MPs as well as lock keepers' representatives.
EA's proposed sale of lock keepers' houses on the River Thames has led to John Thompson of Yachting and Boating World Forum setting up an online petition at the 10 Downing Street website. To view or sign the petition, go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Thames-Locks
Following EA's proposed sale of ten lock keepers' houses on the River Thames, British Waterways has announced a review of its residential property estate, which includes operational and heritage buildings.
Robin Evans of BW says that the review will consider if there are better ways to get more public benefit from the property. "Two options include transferring properties into a specialist associate company part-owned by BW or placing parts of the portfolio on the market and reinvesting the income to generate greater long term funds for canal maintenance."
It is shameful that the current funding level for BW is such that it is even contemplating the option of a possible sale of lock cottages and other property.
See blog item "Selling off the Silver?" and add your comment.
The Environment Agency's plan to sell off 10 houses and rent out 12 others has led to a wave of protests.
The River User Groups (RUGs) along the Thames along with the IWA have been lobbying MPs. Ian Taylor MP has introduced an Early Day Motion on the subject.
Objectors are concerned that the heritage of the river will be preserved and sustained. Only one of the houses to be sold (Bell Weir, Staines) is on a lockside. However, some of the houses to be let are lockside and there are fears of reduced efficiency if staff no longer live on site.
[Read EA press release(Word doc)]
The May edition of the Towpath Talk newspaper featured a 4-page special supplement about Save Our Waterways.
Save Our Waterways evolved from being an informal campaign to a constituted membership organisation at an Inaugural General Meeting held at Stafford Boat Club.
British Waterways is seeking to double the number of days that volunteers spend working on its canal network.
To help implement this aim, Ed Moss has been appointed as BW's first national volunteering manager.
Volunteers currently give 5,000 days each year assisting BW with projects such as heritage work, vegetation management and clearance of towpaths.
Mr Moss, who was special projects coordinator with Droitwich Canals says that BW hopes to build on the huge and positive contribution that volunteering is already making to its network.
Read Save Our Waterways Blog entry and add your comment.
The Inland Waterways Association has awarded the title of "Waterways Parliamentarian of the Year" to Charlotte Atkins, MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, in recognition of her support for the inland waterways over the past year.
Charlotte has secured two adjournment debates on waterway funding, tabled many questions on waterway matters, met with the minister on many occasions and given her time in other ways for the benefit of the waterways.
It is vital that the underfunding of the waterways remains high on MPs' agendas, and it is to be hoped that this event will achieve this. To that end, SOW continues to encourage supporters to write to their MPs, especially with concerns about the effect on their local canals and rivers.
Read IWA News Release. [external link]
Read Save Our Waterways Blog entry and add your comment.
DEFRA has announced its grant to British Waterways for 2008/09. The grant is £56.624 million (like for like comparison 2007/08, £56.4 million), once repayment of £1.024 million of National Loans Fund is excluded. This is what has been predicted in recent months.
Robin Evans of British Waterways said: "In the current difficult government funding climate this is a reasonable settlement and in line with our expectations. It shows that Defra has listened to the arguments that further funding cuts would be very damaging. I would like to thank our minister, Jonathan Shaw and his team of officials, for all the hard work they have put in to protect waterways funding."
"Flat cash" means more or less the same money this year as last year. When you take inflation into account that amounts to a reduction in the value of the money received. This is clearly bad news for our waterways although not as bad as if the funding had been cut as it has in 2006 and 2007.
British Waterways has withdrawn from its involvement in the Cotswold Canals Partnership. This shock announcement in February follows the diversion of significant funds for the urgent repairs to 16 miles of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal in Wales.
BW's Robin Evans said, "Ultimately, we have a finite pot of money and the needs of our existing waterways must take priority. These works are essential for those businesses and communities that depend upon and contribute to the canal and we are committed to getting it up and running in time for the 2009 cruising season. We hope that the £1.5million we have invested in the project to date will help to lay the foundations for the canal's ultimate restoration and reintegration with the national network."
BW's contribution is only a part of the total funding that has been agreed for "Phase 1a" of the restoration (see figures), but its withdrawal may mean that the scheme comes to a halt. The Heritage Lottery funding is dependant on match-funding from the partners, which included BW. Other parties will find it difficult to find extra money to make up for BW's share. Other parties may be alarmed by BW's lack of commitment to the project and withdraw their own backing.
What is particularly disturbing is that, after the cost overrun liability problems had been solved, BW did not first consult with the other partners to find alternative funding, before pulling out.
BW's withdrawal from the Cotswold project is a direct result of the cutbacks to its funding by DEFRA, as it desperately looks for money to pay for the major breach on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Gilwern. Already this winter, BW deferred a long list of repair work that had been planned, and cut back on all culvert inspections in most regions. (See Our Heritage at Risk.) Government spokemen have said that BW now gets significant income from its property portfolio but the current slump in the housing market must be reducing the money available from that source.
Cutting back on repairs and maintenance may well lead to further expensive failures in the future.
Read Save Our Waterways Blog entry and add your comment.
The Inland Waterways Association is to give an award to the "Waterways Parliamentarian of the Year" in recognition of those parliamentarians who have been prominent in their support for the inland waterways over the year.
Read IWA News Release. [external link]
Read Save Our Waterways Blog entry and add your comment.
Waterways Minister, Jonathan Shaw met with waterways "stakeholders" on 11th December.
He said that he thought BW would be given a "flat cash" funding settlement and that an Interdepartmental Working Group was to be established.
Read a report of the meeting.
There is to be a Private Members' Debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 11th December between 9.30 and 11.00 am.
Michael Fabricant MP has secured the debate on the "Future Funding of Canals".
It should be possible to watch the debate via this link.
In spite of last year's efforts and achievements by waterways campaigners, the Government is still looking towards the waterways as a soft target for making further funding cuts.
News reports suggest that the Treasury has told DEFRA that it must make between £130 million and £270 million of cuts to its budget. It is likely that such cuts would be spread across all the bodies that are funded by DEFRA, including Britsh Waterways and the Environment Agency.
It is not yet known to what extent BW and EA will be affected by these reported new cuts, but it has been claimed that BW could be particularly hard hit.