Government CRT funding statement

[Barneyp]

18 minutes ago, Grassman said:

CRT could make a start by clamping down on all the licence non payers. We all know it's much more than the 5% CRT claim it is.

 

Start enforcing it properly and make sure all those boats with no ID either tow the line or remove them from their waters.

This has been covered in other threads, the cost of enforcement would be lots more than the extra money raised, and licence fees only account for around 10% of CRT income so even if all the non payers started paying without any enforcement action it would only lead to a small increase in income for CRT.

 

CRT could (and probably will) raise more money by increasing licence fees,  but not enough to offset the reduction in the government grant.

[RAP]

The video featuring Parry was not produced today. It was made in spring 2023.

Today was a gloriously sunny day in London with reasonably high temperatures. Look at the people in the background wearing warm clothing and the spring leaves on the trees. 

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

For this reason it seems to me that local authorities should get involved with the management.

Why? Local authorities have no more cash to spare than CRT, and a look round most local parks (linear or otherwise) will show examples of lack of investment and maintenance. Furthermore, splitting responsibility for canal maintenance between CRT and a host of local authorities across the network will just lead to inefficiencies with gaps and overlaps and poor coordination between the works done by each.

[Rob-M]

Our local council have reduced the amount of grass and hedge cutting they do so could be ideal for looking after a towpath.

[LadyG]

14 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Our local council have reduced the amount of grass and hedge cutting they do so could be ideal for looking after a towpath.

Cutting grass for safety is essential, and to some extent foe Recreation, but let's concentrate on wildlife. The RSPB took a different approach, education and influence  it's worked for them.

i think that the main problem is the lack of funding from taxation. The idea that we can cut taxation without cutting the services we need is madness.

It's always going to be a competition for funding, the Trust has to broaden it's support  by getting local interest groups onside..

Edited July 11, 2023 by LadyG

[Tim Lewis]

Article in Independent:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/government-therese-coffey-canals-trust-nhs-b2372510.html

[Ewan123]

It is a damaging cut in funding, true, but considering the state of the economy and that the waterways could easily be dismissed as a fluffy nice-to-have but not vital thing (to those who don't know better... e.g. government) this result is actually considerably better than I was expecting.

[Tonka]

Surely the British Marine Federation should be protesting against the cuts as they have a lot of jobs to fight for

[Tim Lewis]

9 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Surely the British Marine Federation should be protesting against the cuts as they have a lot of jobs to fight for

https://britishmarine.co.uk/News/2023/July/Invitation-to-join-Fund-Britains-Waterways

[DaveP]

V short interview with Richard Parry on BBC R4 'Today' programme at about 0855.  He made an overt statement that some canals are at risk of closure, and carried on the appeal of them to the public alongside the risk to neighbours if they're not maintained - including reservoirs...

[magnetman]

10 hours ago, RAP said:

The video featuring Parry was not produced today. It was made in spring 2023.

Today was a gloriously sunny day in London with reasonably high temperatures. Look at the people in the background wearing warm clothing and the spring leaves on the trees. 

He may have been standing in front of a screen. 

 

It would have been easier to arrange for the bird to fly past at exactly the right time if the background was a separate video. 

Edited July 11, 2023 by magnetman

[Midnight]

5 minutes ago, DaveP said:

V short interview with Richard Parry on BBC R4 'Today' programme at about 0855.  He made an overt statement that some canals are at risk of closure, and carried on the appeal of them to the public alongside the risk to neighbours if they're not maintained - including reservoirs...

 
Typical Parry, starts campaign '#KeepCanalsAlive' despite the already established 'Fund Britain's Waterways' supported by big guns like the IWA, RYA & BMF 

 

How about #ReplaceParry&TheBoard

[magnetman]

moved to previous post

Edited July 11, 2023 by magnetman

[Tonka]

1 minute ago, Midnight said:

 
Typical Parry, starts campaign '#KeepCanalsAlive' despite the already established 'Fund Britain's Waterways' supported by big guns like the IWA, RYA & BMF 

 

How about #ReplaceParry&TheBoard

well they are clearly not fit for purpose

[IanD]

12 minutes ago, DaveP said:

V short interview with Richard Parry on BBC R4 'Today' programme at about 0855.  He made an overt statement that some canals are at risk of closure, and carried on the appeal of them to the public alongside the risk to neighbours if they're not maintained - including reservoirs...

Given the short time he had, I thought he made the case -- to the general public (or the R4 audience...) -- quite well.

 

2 minutes ago, Tonka said:

well they are clearly not fit for purpose

 

Why?

 

What would you do better giving the funding constraints they have, and the targets imposed by the government to make canals useful/attractive to the general public not just boaters?

 

Come on, how about a constructive answer instead of your same old pointless CART-bashing? 😉

Edited July 11, 2023 by IanD

[Ronaldo47]

He mentioned the effective 50% cut in government grant and the increasing cost of maintaining the ageing infrastructure. He could only get in a few points in the limited time slot he had been given.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Ronaldo47

[Tonka]

3 minutes ago, IanD said:

Given the short time he had, I thought he made the case -- to the general public (or the R4 audience...) -- quite well.

 

 

Why?

 

What would you do better giving the funding constraints they have, and the targets imposed by the government to make canals useful/attractive to the general public not just boaters?

 

Come on, how about a constructive answer instead of your same old pointless CART-bashing? 😉

well for a start they should never have got bonus's. If they received more donations in a year then required then that money should have gone into reserve so as it could be used if you got two big pay out jobs. It is common sense to me anyway not to pay a bonus.

Why are the head offices in Milton Keynes away from the Canal when they have buildings like the one at Ocker Hill empty.

They have lied to the government and as such got us here

We need new ideas on a lower pay

 

[IanD]

30 minutes ago, Tonka said:

well for a start they should never have got bonus's. If they received more donations in a year then required then that money should have gone into reserve so as it could be used if you got two big pay out jobs. It is common sense to me anyway not to pay a bonus.

Why are the head offices in Milton Keynes away from the Canal when they have buildings like the one at Ocker Hill empty.

They have lied to the government and as such got us here

We need new ideas on a lower pay

 

I agree about bonuses, they shouldn't have been given -- but this would make no difference whatsoever to CARTs funding problem because the amounts are tiny compared to the budget.

 

How did CART's "lying to the government" (I assume you mean KPI fiddling) get us here? It had no impact on running costs, and if anything made the government happier about how the canals were doing.

 

What new ideas -- a magic money tree to get more income, or a magic new thing like AI to suddenly halve the time and effort needed to fix things?

 

Anyone can say "what's needed are new ideas" about anything that's going wrong with the UK, but that's just whinging unless there are actually any conceivable new ideas that actually can fix things... 😞

 

"What's needed to fix the NHS are new ideas"

"What's needed to stop illegal immigration are new ideas"

"What's needed to reduce inflation are new ideas"

"What's needed to reduce gas/electricity prices are new ideas"

"What's needed to stop mortgage interest rates bankrupting people are new ideas"

 

So do you have any "new ideas" about how to fix our canals?

Edited July 11, 2023 by IanD

[Tonka]

4 minutes ago, IanD said:

I agree about bonuses, they shouldn't have been given -- but this would make no difference whatsoever to CARTs funding problem because the amounts are tiny compared to the budget.

 

How did CART's "lying to the government" (I assume you mean KPI fiddling) get us here? It had no impact on running costs, and if anything made the government happier about how the canals were doing.

 

What new ideas -- a magic money tree to get more income, or a magic new thing like AI to suddenly halve the time and effort needed to fix things?

 

Anyone can say "what's needed are new ideas" about anything that's going wrong with the UK, but that's just whinging unless there are actually any conceivable new ideas that actually can fix things... 😞

 

"What's needed to fix the NHS are new ideas"

"What's needed to stop illegal immigration are new ideas"

"What's needed to reduce inflation are new ideas"

"What's needed to reduce gas/electricity prices are new ideas"

"What's needed to stop mortgage interest rates bankrupting people are new ideas"

 

So do you have any "new ideas" about how to fix our canals?

I realise that you are not happy as you have most to lose as your new boat will devalue very quickly

Perhaps the Kpi fiddling gave the government an impression that the canals would get along OK with less funding.

[IanD]

7 minutes ago, Tonka said:

I realise that you are not happy as you have most to lose as your new boat will devalue very quickly

Perhaps the Kpi fiddling gave the government an impression that the canals would get along OK with less funding.

You're wrong, whatever happens with the canals I'm very happy to be getting a boat after many years of hiring ones I didn't really like... 🙂

 

But it will be a shame if the canals continue to go downhill, possibly with some closures, due to lack of funding.

 

However unlike you I recognise where the real blame for this lies -- and it's not with CART, it's with the government (more specifically, the Tories) who got the canals into this mess by trying to get them off their books, and are now proposing to make things worse by cutting funding.

 

Anti-CART rants to divert attention away from this might make you (are you by any chance a Tory supporter?) feel better, but they don't reflect reality...

Edited July 11, 2023 by IanD

[Tonka]

8 minutes ago, IanD said:

You're wrong, whatever happens with the canals I'm very happy to be getting a boat after many years of hiring ones I didn't really like... 🙂

 

But it will be a shame if the canals continue to go downhill, possibly with some closures, due to lack of funding.

 

However unlike you I recognise where the real blame for this lies -- and it's not with CART, it's with the government (more specifically, the Tories) who got the canals into this mess by trying to get them off their books, and are now proposing to make things worse by cutting funding.

 

Anti-CART rants to divert attention away from this might make you (are you by any chance a Tory supporter?) feel better, but they don't reflect reality...

I was actually starting to feel sorry for you. I have noticed you have not made any suggestions as to what is needed but expect other people to. 

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Here is the report on the grant review.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/canal-river-trust-grant-review/report-on-review-of-the-grant-agreement-between-defra-and-the-canal-river-trust

[IanD]

17 minutes ago, Tonka said:

I was actually starting to feel sorry for you. I have noticed you have not made any suggestions as to what is needed but expect other people to. 

No, I've said exactly what is needed -- a bigger grant from the government and better support for the canals. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. Without this the canals will continue to decline, perhaps with closures.

 

You're trying to avoid this fact by claiming that "new ideas" (or "new management") can magically fix it. That's exactly what the government does when they don't want to admit that the real problem is funding, divert attention away by blaming the organisation in question or those who work for it -- see NHS, social care, teachers...

 

It doesn't work for them, and it doesn't work for your claims either (so are you a Tory supporter?) -- you're basically just saying that somebody (but not CART...) should wave a new magic wand and fix it all... 😞

Edited July 11, 2023 by IanD

[Tonka]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

No, I've said exactly what is needed -- a bigger grant from the government and better support for the canals. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. Without this the canals will continue to decline, perhaps with closures.

 

You're trying to avoid this fact by claiming that "new ideas" (or "new management") can magically fix it. That's exactly what the government does when they don't want to admit that the real problem is funding -- see NHS, social care, teachers...

 

It doesn't work for them, and it doesn't work for your claims either -- you're basically just saying that somebody (but not CART...) should wave a new magic wand and fix it all... 😞

No I am not. I am saying every little saving helps and someone needs to look at new ideas to see if they can find something that has not been thought of.

Your idea is just get the government to give more money which comes from where. 

How many local councils have gone bust. The water industry needs more money. The utility industry needs more money. The government have not got a bottomless pocket. 

But I suppose it saves you thinking about other ideas.

[Jon57]

How much revenue doe's Crt get from it's very large property portfolio under it's srewardship. Must be many hundreds of millions. Are they not allowed to spend the money on the actual maintenance of the canals. Or does it go elsewhere.