Canal Boat — February 2018

6 February 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

 CRT posts under threat  Rivers transfer request

moves to formal stage  IWA fights cruiser fee rise

 Floating church vision  Water shortage closure

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NEWS

A REDUCTION in the size of the Canal & River

Trust’s team of executive directors has been

followed by the announcement that there will be

further cuts at the highest levels – including a

reduction in the number of regional Waterway

Units, leading to concerns about possible

redundancies.

As reported in our January issue, a reshuffle

of the top roles led to the departure of Customer

Service & Operations Director Ian Rogers, which

(after Sophie Castell left earlier in 2017) brought

the number of directors down from nine to seven.

CRT has now announced that the 10 Waterway

Units – already down by one with the abolition of

the Central Shires unit – will be reduced to six,

each covering considerably larger areas.

Three of the Waterway Managers who head

the Waterway Units – Wendy Capelle (North

Wales & Borders), Chantelle Seaborn (North

West) and Vicky Martin (South East) were

already due to depart by the end of 2017, while

other departures include Head of Community

Involvement Caroline Killeavy and Head of

Boating Mike Grimes earlier in 2017 (only

replaced on an interim basis by the secondment

of North East Waterway Manager Jon Horsfall).

But now CRT has launched a 60-day internal

consultation into what it calls a “significant

reduction in the size of its senior management

team”. Although no details of any redundancies

have been given, the Trust had already said that

it would begin consultation with the trade unions

as appropriate.

CRT said that the aims were “to strengthen

the accountability of regional teams” with staff

from the current national teams “embedded” in

the regions, and to create a structure “to better

face the outside world”. Chief Executive Richard

Parry said the changes were about “refocusing

and simplifying” the Trust, and that “We have to

find ways to do more and cost less” for a secure

and sustainable future.

More cuts at the top for CRT

The Canal & River Trust has

put in a formal request to the

Government to transfer the

Thames, Nene, Great Ouse,

Medway and other Environment

Agency rivers to CRT to a mixed

response from user groups.

The idea has been discussed

numerous times in the past,

and was to have taken place

when CRT was formed from

the former British Waterways

in 2012. But the plan was

scuppered by the twin

problems of the lack of any

EA property ‘dowry’ (unlike

the considerable commercial

portfolio which came from

BW and provides some £50m

a year in rentals), and the

complexity on some rivers of

disentangling navigation from

other responsibilities (such as

flooding) which would stay with

the EA. A subsequent proposal

which made some political

progress fell foul of the 2017

General Election, but CRT’s

latest attempt has reached the

point of a submission to Defra.

The Inland Waterways

Association has written to 100

MPs urging them to back the

plans, on grounds of:

• Economies of scale for a
  larger organisation.


• Better maintenance of
  EA waterways (whose
  condition IWA has been
  concerned about, as a result

of Government funding

cutbacks).

• New funding opportunities
  which are not available to a
  Government body.
  On the other hand the National
  Association of Boat Owners
  opposes the move, and has
  written to MPs arguing that:
  
  
  • CRT has yet to demonstrate
    that it is able to maintain or
    improve its waterways.
  
  
  • Splitting the EA’s functions
    would be inefficient
  
  
  • CRT couldn’t adequately
    future-proof the funding for its
    greater responsibilities
    See Letters
  
  
  
  

The Inland Waterways Association has joined

other organisations in opposing higher licence

fees for ‘continuous cruisers’ without home

moorings, in its response to CRT’s boat

licensing review consultation which offered

this as an option.

As reported in last month’s Canal Boat,

the National Association of Boat Owners had

already responded criticising the inclusion

of this option at all, which NABO said had

been rejected in the earlier stages of the

exercise; while the National Bargee Travellers

Association had predicted that it would “drive

some of our community into homelessness”.

Now IWA too has said that “there should be

a single licence fee for boats with or without

a home mooring”, adding that “mooring

enforcement is a separate issue which should

be tackled separately”. At the same time, IWA

has supported higher fees for wider craft,

calculated on a “length times width” basis

(as happens on the Thames), the retention

of most of the current discounts (such as for

historic boats), and a phased introduction of

any changes.

The consultation closed in December, with

final proposals expected in the spring.

Mixed reaction to EA transfer plan

IWA: don’t charge continuous cruisers more

The Thames... Moving to CRT?