The eyes and ears in the front line

Mark Tizard, general secretary of the National Association of Boat Owners (NABO), comments on some more topical issues.

IS NOW the time for the Canal & River Trust to stop the constant PR spin and admit that it is beginning to lose the maintenance battle?

When navigation reopened to all on July 4 I thought we needed to take account of potential water shortages when planning our cruising routes. Little did we realise that infrastructure failures were likely to have a far greater influence.

The latest Boaters Update says: “As we might have predicted, despite our best efforts, the combined impact of the extensive winter flooding, the long spring dry spell, and the 2-3 months with very few boat movements, and hence almost no regular operation of paddles, locks and moveable bridges, has led to an increased number of asset failures, leading to unplanned restrictions on cruising in some places.”

This begs the question: who was doing the predicting? Surely not those walking the towpath as they were nearly all furloughed. What best efforts? Surely not those working from home. It must refer to the eyes and ears of those continuous cruisers who have in effect become the first line of CRT’s maintenance regime. Soon there will be calculations of boaters’ cruising hours added to the volunteer hour contributions.

Having reread the above it seems I’m having a bit of a rant and I guess I am. There has been a barrage of stoppage notices in recent weeks and if my memory is correct, seven gate or heel post failures on the southern Grand Union alone.

These failures were not caused by rain or dry weather, not even by lack of paddle movement; these are failures that have taken many non-Covid months of non-detection to develop.

We need to move from just planned winter stoppages to year-round inspection and maintenance. To be fair to CRT, previously unplanned-for costs of reservoir maintenance and the reduction of income from its property investment portfolio no doubt have put pressure on its financial resources.

Training and investment

Now is the time to approach Government for support for a training and investment programme to invest in maintaining our historic waterways, coupled with a change of maintenance regime that currently seems to hope that things don’t break despite ‘our best efforts.’

That the PR spin is failing is evidenced on the reputational survey recently published on CRT’s website. The KPI of overall satisfaction has dropped in three years to 60% (76% in 2017). Here are some of the results that bear this out.

• The perception that the trust is moving away from boating towards well-being.

• Frequent comments refer to the money spent on improving facilities for cyclists and other towpath users to the detriment of boater facilities and the management of waterways.

• Concern that the trust is not investing in planned maintenance. Unplanned stoppages and failed assets are referenced by many as an indication that the trust is not carrying out day-to-day and pro-active maintenance.

• It was felt that improvements could have been made regarding dredging and vegetation management.

• When asked about the conversations they have with other boaters it is clear that the overwhelming tone is negative, with 50% saying they hear other people being critical of the trust and only 16% saying they hear people being positive.

• Only 35% agreed with the statement that CRT valued the view of people who boat on its waterways; widebeam owners again were least likely to agree.

The results echo what NABO and its members have been saying for several years now.

Lastly NABO members will be saddened to hear of the death of Geoffrey Rogerson. Geoffrey was a continuous cruiser on the Kennet & Avon Canal and for many years NABO’s legal officer. His wise counsel will be sorely missed, a true gentleman, RIP.