Bodach
Canal is a historic link to past
THE news that Scottish Canals are undertaking a pricing consultation is receiving a mixed reaction. Most customers are under the impression it means price increases for residential moorings, leisure moorings, transits and navigations. Some of them will be right, but there is a very real possibility that prices for some canal customers will actually fall.
Scottish Canals commissioned independent consultants to create a single strategy for pricing that covers all of Scotland’s canals, based on a matrix of location type and facilities. People who keep their boats on the canals network will fall into a particular category, based on where the boat is moored and what suite of facilities is immediately available. The matrix will define a particular mooring location type and allocate a fee based on the length of the boat, and will do away with different pricing structures for different canals and independently negotiated deals with individual customers.
The consultation element is about customers agreeing with the description and price category of a particular mooring location – and differences of opinion are inevitable. The fundamental purpose of the exercise is to make sure that Scottish Canals generate enough income to cover their operating costs. Some observers are asking if that is even a possibility, considering public ownership and a long history of uncertain financial viability.
The Crinan Canal Company was formed in May 1793 and was empowered to raise a maximum capital of £150,000. Construction began in 1794, the final route and dimensions being decided by chief engineer John Rennie the following year.
Inadequate finances delayed completion of the waterway, which opened to traffic in 1801, even though it was in a quite unfinished state. Flood damage in 1805 necessitated cutting a new line; the canal was reopened to navigation in 1806 and finally declared complete in August 1809. More flood damage occurred in 1811 and the canal was closed for a year. Two years later, engineering superstar Thomas Telford reported the canal to be in “a very imperfect condition” and repairs estimated at £18,250 were executed under his supervision between 1816 and 1817. The canal was again reopened in 1817.
The maintenance of the canal has involved a continual need to repair and upgrade the 15 locks along its route, especially the sea-locks at each end; to deepen the eastern approaches at Ardrishaig and to provide an adequate and properly controlled water supply. The hardness of local schist and softness of peat moss contributed to difficulties of construction. In her authoritative Canals
of Scotland, Jean Lindsay records that blasting operations on the south shore of Loch Crinan left rocky projections that sank 11 steamers between 1885 and 1921.
The funds of the original company – already burdened with public debts – were exhausted by 1812. The Commissioners of the Caledonian Canal effectively managed the waterway from 1817 and formally from 1844, transferring responsibility to the Ministry of Transport in 1919. The British Waterways Board was established in 1962 and took over a year later.
Alternative revenue development for the Crinan Canal has been on the proprietors’ agenda since 1956, when income from 1790 passage vessels reached just £10,298 against an operating expenditure of £25,915. Since the early 1990s, British Waterways Scotland has sold six former lock-keepers' cottages and the original canal manager’s house to stem operational losses and meet everincreasing maintenance costs.
Thinking changed in the new millennium, and a number of significant improvements have been made over and above large-scale civil engineering projects to stabilise the banks, preserve the workings and protect the water supply. Toilets and showers have been introduced at key points along its route, affording customers modern conveniences expected by today’s leisure market. There are laundry facilities too and a basic marina, at Bellanoch near Crinan, has grown to accommodate increasing numbers of leisure berth holders.
The towpath has been upgraded and there are useful information panels every mile or so along its nine miles.
Paddle sport enthusiasts are positively encouraged to use the waterway, and a number of special access platforms have been introduced to jetties and pontoons. A few keen rowers can be seen when the canal is quiet, and significant numbers of walkers and cyclists of all ages can be seen on the towpath every day. Optimistic anglers fish from pontoons, piers and bridges, and the everyday movements of people going about their business punctuate the stunningly beautiful surroundings.
The money for all of this has to come from somewhere. If Scottish Canals are prepared to consult their customers, the organisation must be prepared to accommodate sensible suggestions and uphold fairness. I don’t think many customers will object to modest and justifiable price increases if the money is reinvested to their advantage and the preservation of some of the world’s finest transport monuments. The consultation is open until October 21.