NABO Home
Challenges in the year ahead
- Details
- Category: NN Chairman's Column
- Hits: 214
Challenges in the year ahead
Mike Rodd considers NABO’s priorities and the way forward.
Coming back into the NABO chair at this time in the history of our waterways is far more formidable that it might seem – the challenges that face us are by no means simple. The next few years will be critical to the future of our waterways, with CRT and EA both facing long-term funding issues. At present, the government grant covers about 40% of CRT’s income but, in about six years’ time, the initial funding stream will come to an end. It was always the intention of government that, by then, the organisation should be essentially self-funding – that is, no further government grant would be needed. Of course, as NABO has always pointed out, such a concept was cloud cuckoo land; however hard CRT might try, there is no way that it will be able to continue without direct government support. CRT Trustees and staff have tried very hard to address this issue; one approach has been to try to show how amazing the waterways are in promoting ‘public wellbeing’. That’s all good stuff, but I seriously wonder if governments of the future will take any notice – especially as many other organisations seeking government support are saying exactly the same thing. Ultimately, some level of government grant seems essential, and making the case for the real value of the waterways is of major public importance. That is really all about recalling their historic significance, as well as recognising the huge numbers of people who use them or benefit directly from their presence, as boaters, fishermen, traders, towpath walkers, bike riders, international tourists, etc.
Editorial, Feb 2020
- Details
- Category: NN Editorials
- Hits: 260
Gently down the stream
Editor Peter Fellows sees rivers featuring prominently in this issue.
Since the last issue, NABO Council members have had a series of meetings with senior CRT staff and it is refreshing to note that the dialogue has improved since 12 months ago when, as Mike Rodd says in his Chair’s column: “we felt that CRT was deliberately ignoring us!” This is good news because, as Mike and Mark Tizard report, CRT (and for that matter, the EA) needs boaters to get behind it for the forthcoming negotiations over renewal of its government grant in a few years’ time.
River Thames Alliance closed down
- Details
- Category: Latest News
- Hits: 291
River Thames Alliance closed down
The directors of RTA Co. Ltd. held a board meeting on 19th December and agreed to cease trading and wind up the company. This followed the AGM in October, which set up an independent Review Task Group to consider all aspects of the objectives, management and governance of the company and to propose a course of action to determine the future of the Alliance. The Group met on 8th November and concluded in a report that it was necessary to wind-up the company. RTA supported the Thames All Party Parliamentary Group (TAPPG), an independent organisation registered in Parliament, and this will be re-registered with the new parliament. The current chair, John Howell (MP for Henley) invited interested MPs to support the new TAPPG at a meeting on 13th January and to find a way to bring forward issues for future meetings. These include the challenge of addressing illegal moorings along the Thames, with actions going through the courts, and a continuing conflict between river users and the EA. RTA was the only organisation on the Thames that was in a position to take an overarching view of the entire Thames to deliver a united view to decision makers. For Thames boaters, the remaining group is the Thames User Group (Navigation).
A qualified pat on the back
- Details
- Category: NABO Responses
- Hits: 265
A qualified pat on the back
Mark Tizard digs into the detail of CRT’s first monthly waterway experience survey.
CRT recently published the headline results of its new Waterway Experience Survey, distributed monthly between April and September to a sample of boaters sighted in each waterway region, to get their feedback on the waterways they cruised. It is designed to complement the annual Perception Survey (formerly Boat Owners’ Views).
First the good news: boaters appeared to be more satisfied; more likely to recommend the Trust’s waterways; and had a more positive opinion of the overall upkeep of the waterways when their answers were compared to the annual Perception Survey. It should, however, be remembered that the level of satisfaction had fallen in the annual survey.
A total of 28,695 boaters were sent the survey so, given that there are only approximately 34,000 licensed boats, it’s likely that a reasonable number of boaters were sampled more than once. This may help to account for the low response rate, as an average of only 14% of the boaters contacted responded.