Rising costs contribute to canal charity’s £5m deficit forecast
INCREASED costs are among the factors leading the Canal & River Trust to forecast a deficit of around £5 million for the current financial year.
With an £87m spend on infrastructure and weaker investment markets yielding a reduced income, work is also ongoing to mitigate the impact of cost inflation.
Chief executive Richard Parry explained that the financial year runs from April to March so it is currently in the last quarter. He told the waterways press: “We expect to be running at a small deficit and a lot of the costs we budgeted for are still working through such as the lock wall issue on the Marple Flight.”
He said this would definitely be closed for Easter but it is hoped it will reopen before the end of June. After settlement caused one side of the wall at Lock 7 to move as much as 150mm, leading to it not being navigable, repairs are taking place with an estimated project cost of £1.89m. Emergency work following the recent storms, including 18 new stoppages and a significant spend on critical assets, are adding to the costs.
The planned infrastructure spend of more than £280m over the next three years includes more than £50m on work at many of the trust’s 70 reservoirs.
Richard continued: “Toddbrook will run right into 2025 but Harthill is near to finishing despite being hampered by storms. At Brent we are using the opportunity of the reservoir being drained to clear out a lot of the clutter. And at Wilstone – one of the Tring reservoirs – we will have to spend more than planned.”
More than 80 construction projects are planned for 2024-2025, including: dredging (19), reservoirs (24), bridges (17), embankments (18) as well as culverts, aqueducts and lock improvements.