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CRT's view of the last 10 years.


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6 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Ten years if spin and bollox.

Page 18 was a hoot what a load of rubbish

Did you actually read it? Apart from the title, what it said on Page 18 was this -- which part of it is rubbish?

 

Our historic canal network is fragile and vulnerable. Climate change, and the test of time, are taking their toll.
As a charity, we urgently need more donations and volunteers alongside a continuation of adequate government funding to ensure our canals can survive and prosper.
In the mid-20th century many canals were abandoned and almost lost forever.

Today, under the guardianship of Canal & River Trust, canals are thriving and play a vital role in the community.

But they demand constant care. With costs rising as more intense and extreme weather impacts, and without sufficient funds, they will once again fall into decline.

The devastating picture of what could happen without adequate funding.
Individuals, communities, nature and the planet would lose a vital space, which can never be replaced.

 

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There's some incredible figures in it. For instance, page 5, the whole world population is only 7.9billion but it does say 'c' and a 'guesstimate' for dog visits so I suppose they've covered themselves for making up any number they thought of. Surely CRT could have featured a lock beam that was in good condition, see page 4? 

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I detect a load of cynicism from previous posters, and I can't help agreeing with their grumbles.

However the CRT are charged by government with certain functions, including raising public awareness. So I can't disagree with the production of this booklet. 

I just wonder who will read it, I've only read the bits pointed out so far. I think p18 is pretty fair. What else can they say?

 

 

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1 hour ago, Loddon said:

As I said it's spin and bollox, they might say wonderful words but it's deeds that count and there is precious little of that 

 

For the kind of deeds you mean -- better maintenance -- CART simply need more money, especially to fix the maintenance backlog built up over the past decade of more.

 

How do you suggest they get this money?

 

Please don't roll out the usual "fewer blue signs" rant -- to get more money from the government (or even keep what they get now) they have to try to do *something* to attract the UK population as a whole to use and enjoy the canals more, not just 35000 boats, and the blue signs are one way to do this, including the jokey duck ones... 😉

 

Maybe they work or maybe not, but at least CART can tell the government "look, we're doing all this to try and attract more people", and if the government believes this and it makes them more likely to keep the grant money flowing then surely this is a good thing?

 

If you hate the blue signs so much, would you be happy for CART to stop trying to attract pesky walkers/cyclists/gongoozlers, take all the signs away, watch the government grant disappear, and spend all their money on maintenance and prioritise the interests of 35000 boaters over everyone else? Of course in return they might ask everyone to pay £5000pa license fee, but surely this would be worth it?

 

 Of course in an ideal world the government would recognise that the canals are an important part of Britain's industrial heritage and worth spending large amounts of taxpayer's money on upkeep, but meanwhile in the real world... 😞

Edited by IanD
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 Cart are just unable to manage what they have,

A classic sod the boaters we've got an event to run is here.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/22590-above-lock-41-trent-and-mersey-canal-to-red-bull-aqueduct-macclesfield-canal-and-including-harecastle-tunnel

 

 I don't care anymore as I have left for better waters directly managed by the EA,  good luck you wont have navigation for long :)

 

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6 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Press releases and reports containing only good news (i.e.spin)  have been a feature of things originating from government for decades. 

 

True, but given that the quotes I gave from page 18 were certainly not good news, this doesn't seem to apply here...

2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 Cart are just unable to manage what they have,

A classic sod the boaters we've got an event to run is here.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/22590-above-lock-41-trent-and-mersey-canal-to-red-bull-aqueduct-macclesfield-canal-and-including-harecastle-tunnel

 

 I don't care anymore as I have left for better waters directly managed by the EA,  good luck you wont have navigation for long :)

 

 

So you're just moaning about something you don't even use any more, while ignoring difficult questions about where you think the money should come from and be spent on?

Edited by IanD
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This is not a government department, it's a charitable organisation set up by government to relieve the treasury of the total cost. The CRT as an organisation are doing what they were tasked to do. It's not their fault they are significantly underfunded. 

I don't think the CRT management structure was set set up efficiently  Marketing and public awareness is piece of cake as unlike a commercial organisation there is no cost benefit.

Managing a two hundred and fifty year old infrastructure on an inadequate budget is a different matter.

Does anyone think the senior managers are selected on their civil engineering knowledge?

Ten years ago CRT assets were sold off, just like the Thatcher era, cos it's easy to make short term profits.

 

I'm only here (on the cut) for another five years, so I can manage my lifestyle,  as long as some idiot does not increase my costs significantly. If that happens, I'll sell up.  

Edited by LadyG
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20 minutes ago, IanD said:

So you're just moaning about something you don't even use any more, while ignoring difficult questions about where you think the money should come from and be spent on?

 

There should have been a proper funding package put in place when cart was created. They were warned at the time it wasn't enough  but said no no this will be fine so they could start building their empire. 

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8 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 

There should have been a proper funding package put in place when cart was created. They were warned at the time it wasn't enough  but said no no this will be fine so they could start building their empire. 

 

Yes there should be a proper funding package. Maybe they were warned it wasn't enough (by who?), but I doubt that they really said it was fine because they wanted to "build an empire" -- do you have any evidence of this?

 

Like some others on the forum you seem to take every opportunity to slag off CART -- in spite of not being on the canals any more -- while refusing to either acknowledge the difficult position they're in, or that there might be any reason for them doing what they do with blue signs etc. in spite of it being explained several times, or that prioritising boaters needs over everyone else's -- which is what you seem to want -- is likely to result in a massive increase in license fees.

 

So why don't you tell us all what *you'd* do to solve the funding problem -- in the real world, not the imaginary one in your head -- if you were running CART instead of Richard Parry? Over to you... 😉

Edited by IanD
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They never said they wanted to build an empire that was seen later as  a possible reason for saying its fine.

I wouldn't have taken it on in the first place with the funding offered. 

The difficult position is of their own making so no sympathy from me.

I'm glad I got out when I did and feel sorry for those just buying into canals, the best years are passed and wont be coming back. 

Canal boating is cheap especially if you  don't have a mooring so no reason not to increase the licence fee for those that don't have a home mooring.

I'm not a clever business man so don't have the answers to your problem in the last sentence. 

Edited by Loddon
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20 minutes ago, Loddon said:

They never said they wanted to build an empire that was seen later as  a possible reason for saying its fine.

I wouldn't have taken it on in the first place with the funding offered. 

The difficult position is of their own making so no sympathy from me.

 

Canal boating is cheap especially if you  don't have a mooring so no reason not to increase the licence fee for those that don't have a home mooring.

 

Canal boating I'd cheap for those on £70 K per annum like the train drivers, but not for others, you can't be a charitable organisation , like the CRT and squeeze the commercial  pips.

Most people understand that we try to live within income and luxuries like boats still comply.

 

Edited by LadyG
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18 minutes ago, Loddon said:

They never said they wanted to build an empire that was seen later as  a possible reason for saying its fine.

I wouldn't have taken it on in the first place with the funding offered. 

The difficult position is of their own making so no sympathy from me.

I'm glad I got out when I did and feel sorry for those just buying into canals, the best years are passed and wont be coming back. 

Canal boating is cheap especially if you  don't have a mooring so no reason not to increase the licence fee for those that don't have a home mooring.

I'm not a clever business man so don't have the answers to your problem in the last sentence. 

 

So what you said wasn't actually true, but you would somehow have known better and refused the "deal that CART were offered" (as if they had any choice), so it's all their fault -- and in spite of all this they should somehow have waved a magic wand and fixed it all?

 

Or is the truth that the real fault lies with the government, but you don't want to admit this because you support them, so it's far easier to blame CART and Richard Parry who you seem to hate anyway?

Edited by IanD
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I think you must be getting confused, has it been a hard day at work?  I dislike cart a little bit less that i dislike this government.

I would happily flush both if them down the toilet. 

 

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Just now, Loddon said:

I think you must be getting confused, has it been a hard day at work?  I dislike cart a little bit less that i dislike this government.

I would happily flush both if them down the toilet. 

 

 

I'm not confused, but your endless slagging off of CART and Richard Parry while refusing to acknowledge the difficult position they're in due to lack of funding, or having any suggestion about what they could do about it, while rejoicing in the fact that you don't even use the canals any more, seems like it belongs in another forum. Have you thought of the Daily Wail letters page, that seems more appropriate?

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12 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Plonk!

 

you are off to join Justin and others 

Oh dear, don't you like being contradicted or having someone point out that what you wrote was wrong? Sorry if I've hurt your feelings... 😉

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2 hours ago, Loddon said:

There should have been a proper funding package put in place when cart was created. They were warned at the time it wasn't enough  but said no no this will be fine so they could start building their empire. 

 

BW / C&RT and DEFRA were actually told that the package on offer and the business plan put forward were sustainable, and whilst 'Charity Giving" was "important it was not critical to achieving viability of the new Trust"

 

The trust was considered to be viable with the identified income streams and the DEFRA grant

 

 

 

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