BW and EA Waterways to become one new qunago/charity/Ltd company

[CJL]

Just found out today that the new Ministers and DEFRA are looking into cutting loose British Waterways from the DEFRA Family.

BW would then become a self funded organisation responsible for the network themselves.

Alarmingly the EA waterways (Thames, Medway and Nene) may be included in this plan and the EA Board are actively discussing the options available.

Will post more as I hear anything.

C

 

[No Regrets]

I'll not expect too much then...

Seriously though, the odd lock failure aside, I enjoy the facilities, and have no real moans!

That Angela Q is pretty hot too ;-)

 

[oldgit]

All non ring fenced organisations are to lose 25% of their funding over next four years and DEFRA is def one of them,it is not suprising therefore that they will attempt to save money by combining staff and offices.

 

[boatone]

You heard it here first !!!

I would respectfully draw the forum's attention to this thread in March this year: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231154&highlight=British+Waterways where I tapped the keys on my keyboard to form the following utterance...

Fact is, at least as I see it, that we are dependent on the folk at Reading to fight their corner in an arena that is facing extreme pressures from every direction to contain costs. Bear in mind, also, that the EA is, itself, a department within DEFRA, as, too, is BW.

i figure the biggest threat we face is from the BW lobby and it wouldn't surprise me to see the Thames become a BW responsibility in the not too distant future :-(

Would it be such a huge surprise if the new COALition government were to DITCH the Thames whilst trying to DREDGE up some sorely needed funds - lets face it, its the only significant dredging of the Thames we're likely to see in our lifietimes.

 

[boatone]

Take a look at this on the IWA website:

http://www.waterways.org.uk/campaigns/news/campaign_news/minister_signals_possible_bw_ea_merger

The new Waterways Minister is Richard Benyon MP who seems to be a bit of an aristo and lives here:

http://www.englefieldestate.co.uk

 

[macnorton]

Just found out today that the new Ministers and DEFRA are looking into cutting loose British Waterways from the DEFRA Family.

BW would then become a self funded organisation responsible for the network themselves.

Alarmingly the EA waterways (Thames, Medway and Nene) may be included in this plan and the EA Board are actively discussing the options available.

Will post more as I hear anything.

C

I did list this here a few weeks back and no-one had heard anything, http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237622
I am still waitng for the documents and when I receive them I will post them here.

I also heard that as a result the licence fees will increase by a large amount but narrow beam boats will get a discount!

 

[Chris_d]

Just found out today that the new Ministers and DEFRA are looking into cutting loose British Waterways from the DEFRA Family.

BW would then become a self funded organisation responsible for the network themselves.

Alarmingly the EA waterways (Thames, Medway and Nene) may be included in this plan and the EA Board are actively discussing the options available.

Will post more as I hear anything.

C

If they cut the Thames loose to look after itself they could call it the "Thames Conservancy" or something, no that would never work

 

[boatone]

If they cut the Thames loose to look after itself they could call it the "Thames Conservancy" or something, no that would never work

Personally, I think the best way to get the Thames sorted would be as a National Park but it wont happen.

Take a look at the Inland Waterways website - they're organised, big, and clearly predominantly representative of the canal users. Our fault, maybe, as we do little to nothing to participate - which may be a big mistake because we NEED a representative body.

Earlier this year we touched on whether or not we should send a contingent to the IWA festival at Beale Park this year but it seemed to fizzle. A goodly turn out of cruisers might be one way of getting noticed?

 

[TrueBlue]

To my mind the only point of commonality is that of "Navigation"

BW's main focus is on providing resources for boaters
BW own the track and a lot of property besides.
BW don't have any major responsibility for flood relief
BW has a lot more income from boaters
BW have very few lock keepers.
BW would probably not exist if there weren't a lot of boaters.

EA's main focus is on flood relief and water management for non boating purposes. It doesn't own much property
EA only "owns the water" and not the track which belongs to the riparian owners
EA's income from boaters is small in relation to it's total
EA has a lot of lock keepers
EA wouldn't miss any boaters

Sweeping statements perhaps and open to criticism, but essentially correct in general.

What is "interesting" is that BW is trying to convert into some kind of charity in order to engage volunteers to do some of the less critical work and possibly raise its profile.

EA on the other hand still needs to be a government agency, because of its water management role. Its lock keepers are also essential to manager the waters as the weirs are not automated, so their function could not be passed to volunteers.


However, its an interesting concept, but bound to be fouled up by politicians in the end.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Personally, I think the best way to get the Thames sorted would be as a National Park but it wont happen.

Very interesting idea B1 with a big but.

Look at what happened to Windermere. Those that run National Parks may self-select to be more "into" the environment as expresed by the lesser spotted thrustwarbler rather than the pleasure of a peacful cruise along the river in a boat. Moving further into the realms of stereotype they can also be politics of envy lefties who see "rich" boaters as a cash cow to fund their pet project to reintroduce the Greater Wobblewort (never native to the country) which only chokes waterways frequented by boaters.

All tongue in cheek but be careful what you wish for.

 

[apollo]

BW would work for me, I happen to occupy the office immediately above their HQ so could go an whinge any time I liked?

 

[Ivyblack]

Bad news if you ask me

BW doesn’t have any money (relatively) and their future looks bleak without government subsidy. Move current EA navigations to them and we will be wishing for good old days with the EA. (even Apollo will).

The income taken from Thames boaters will be spread nationally and not be spent on the Thames. Have you seen the state of Thames locks compared to anything on BW's network?

BW is a navigation authority - they understand the health and safety of public navigations. (they leave cogs and ratchets exposed to the public, no fencing etc).
The EA treat navigations like all publicly accessed flood defence structures - and therefore throw government money at them to make them safe.

The IWA want a one navigation policy. Perhaps the reason for this is because they know that the Thames can operate at a far lower standard and still function, meanwhile the saved cash providing more funding for the decrepit canals elsewhere.

Something Thames users should be concerned about? - me thinks so