The Editor’s Column
Editor John Sadler
It was great news to hear about the Better Boating plan. At last we thought, CRT is going to fulfil its remit as a navigation authority.
As we try to give some thought to a cruise plan we realise that all is not well with the network. With continual reference to the stoppages and bad news arriving daily, I imagine that those waterways which are still navigable will be extremely busy. If the new Boaters Satisfaction survey 56% approval result is to be believed it can only be because more boaters are content not to move, which the lock-use figures tend to support as a theory. This will be a great help to the net-zero campaign, we’ll be able to connect to mains power and dispense with diesel and gas supplies.
With some justification boaters will wonder why they don’t economise on a boat and just enjoy the countryside in other ways. But what about those people who live on their boats? Well, they will just have to pay more to support the failing infrastructure. We will see what the independent licensing review comes up with, the results are due to be released in September 2025.
The creation of a charitable organisation to operate the UK canal network was at best a gamble. There was no statistical evidence to predict its failure or success, just a desire for the Government at the time to reduce its expenditure. No measures were put in place to assess the condition of the network after the move to charity. So how do we judge the performance of CRT? What happens should the experiment fail? Did anyone ask that question in the first place, I’m sure someone did although I haven’t seen a slide show on the subject. The Government of today seems to be quite happy to continue with the un-funding of waterways, so unless replacement funds can be generated, we are probably witnessing the run down of services and ultimately of navigable waters. The Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign is doing its best to make government aware of the danger to a unique national asset which should be part of the infrastructure. It also attempts to highlight the deterioration that has already occurred and the increased affects of climate change. The campaign is requesting that there should be a review of all Britain’s inland waterways and a workable solution found for the preservation of our canals and rivers for future generations. We can hope that the boats outside the Houses of Parliament will encourage MPs to listen and perhaps take some action. On a recent trip on the North Staffs and Worcester most of the paddle mechanisms were well lubricated, a welcome improvement, but most lock gates were still leaking. Was the general condition of the locks also recorded by the person(s) greasing the paddle gear? The lack of acknowledgement and reaction to boater reports has, I believe, added to a general air of apathy and failure anticipation amongst boaters accompanied by undeserved better approval ratings at CRT.