Apologies for the delay, but unfortunately I have been ultra busy with my day job and I have had very little spare time for the last few weeks. To boating business – I met with the BW Customer Services Supervisor for the Coventry, Ashby and Trent & Mersey Canals and a couple of his BW colleagues on 19 April 2010. This was an opportunity for me to air my views about the maintenance issues I have raised in my BLOG.
I have to say that I found these BW guys very receptive and there was very little said (or not said) from their side to suggest to me that they did not know about pretty much all of the issues I have raised. They convinced me that BW does regularly carry out inspections of the waterway in this area. For example, I was told that one or other of the members of the supervisor’s team walked the canals for which he is responsible (at least once every month) and that in so doing the presence of any new issues is noted, as is any deterioration for any known issues. This information is supplied to colleagues in BW and they prioritise/schedule the remedial work required.
Now for the bummer - in the vast majority of instances, unless classified as ’safety critical’, or it gets associated with one or other of the BW ’honey pot’ projects, whatever the issue, it will just sit there in a queue until money becomes available to deal with it. The number of BW maintenance personnel is being reduced, as is the maintenance budget for the area. Ergo, contractors cannot be used if the BW maintenance personnel are no longer available. Overall, I got the impression that these guys were at a stage where getting the OK from above to spend money on tins of paint was becoming an issue, so the issues I have raised will probably sit around for quite some time to come.
The message here is that the waterway is actually deteriorating and will continue to do so. It would appear that the BW personnel at ‘local’ level are more or less powerless to do anything about it, because they take their instructions from above and they cannot do any work without sufficient budget authorisation from above. Any BW funds that do become available will, more likely as not, be prioritised towards the ‘honey pot’ projects.
Fradley Junction is classified as a ‘honey pot’ project. Activities here will become more intense, not so much as a result of more boat traffic passing through, moreover because more and more people are being encouraged to visit the area to take in the nature pool, etc. For sure, facilities for these people will be developed further. Rumour has it that the car parking capacity here is about to be increased significantly. Does this mean that BW has purchased some suitable land nearby, thus diverting more BW funds away from essential waterway maintenance?
A nearby piece of (what was agricultural) land has been receiving spoil (including brick and concrete rubble) for about a year now. As I type, excavators are buzzing around levelling this land - could this be with a view to hard surfacing it for use as a car park I am wondering? It’s certainly no good for growing crops any more.
