Tiller Slave Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 BW Annual Accounts have now been published: http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/do...nts_2007-08.pdf This large document makes for worrying reading. Page 44 Board Remuneration- apparently the executive did so well in running BW they justified large bonuses ! The Chairman of BW states - on page 4-: "The balance of the income needed to fund our total operating costs comes from a wide range of growing commercial activities such as utilities, property development and pubs. The capital invested in these commercial activities is carefully managed to build up a progressive stream of income to pay for the maintenance of the waterways in the future. It is the Board’s second priority, endorsed by governments, to continue to grow this commercial income for the future benefit of the waterways." Unfortunately the accounts show that on their commercial joint ventures- they actually lost money see page 11 and page 68 - loss of £2.4 million after tax on investment of net assets £76.9 Million- BUT it gets worse pre tax they made £0.4 Million on Net assets valued at £76.9 million a return of 0.005% any one can get at least 6% in risk free Government Bonds i.e at least £4.6 million! so a differential of more than £7 million than if they had put it in the Post Office! These "joint ventures" are in non operational assets i.e office buildings, pubs etc. Perhaps the results may account for the abrupt departure of the BW Commercial Director? And on page 8; "Maintaining inland waterways Last year (and in our forward business plan) we had insufficient funds to fully meet Steady State. We would like to do more as would our customers like us to do more. However, by focusing on key risks and priorities, we were able to ensure that our waterways remained safe and met the minimum demands of our customers. Our total Steady State expenditure on maintaining the network was £95m. We continued our upkeep through major planned engineering works such as repairs to locks, tunnels, bridges and embankments as well as the day-to-day routine work such as grass cutting, clearing litter and painting lock gates." In other word there is a major shortfall of money going in to BW repairs to actually stop the exiting canals deteriorating - therefore expect more major breaches but the "customers" are happy! Puts into context, apparently, the need to get more money out of boaters via licences and mooring fees, as BW is not very good at commercially managing its £500 million of assets. I am not an accountant perhaps someone who is might like to really analyse the accounts? What other horrors lie within? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahoom Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 What other horrors lie within? Their big bonuses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Their incompetence at being unable to perform a straightforward civil engineering task within a reasonable budget and then blaming everyone else and expecting the ordinary boater to pay for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Wilson and Family Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 (edited) Perhaps a petition, highlighting the incompetence and protesting the bonuses (or even the fact that these people still have jobs) is in order? It seems like a lot of the petitions I've seen come through have protested the way something was done without citing enough to prevent it from being sidestepped. Perhaps protesting an award for good performance while citing multiple instances of horrid performance would get some attention. Better yet, perhaps this needs to go to press. As for the sections highlighted above, it seems to state pretty clearly they're sinking money into tourist traps while ignoring the main thing that draws their customers in. I can't help thinking someone with experience would plan to consistantly reach 'steady-state' first then, once some more money is available work on these projects to bring in more people. Edited September 15, 2008 by Jason Wilson and Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Pink Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Their incompetence at being unable to perform a straightforward civil engineering task within a reasonable budget and then blaming everyone else and expecting the ordinary boater to pay for it. except that the 'ordinary boaters' have passed the bill to the other 20% (whoops nearly said hippie scum there) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis R Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Would it be an outrageous assumption to expect the likes of IWA, etc, to carefully scrutinise these accounts and then give us the synopsis of a letter we should be writing to our MPs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Would it be an outrageous assumption to expect the likes of IWA, etc, to carefully scrutinise these accounts and then give us the synopsis of a letter we should be writing to our MPs? They'll more likely approve it and have another whist drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix_V Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Would it be an outrageous assumption to expect the likes of IWA, etc, to carefully scrutinise these accounts and then give us the synopsis of a letter we should be writing to our MPs? Judging by their failure to answer my queries on the divide and rule proposals - yes it would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis R Posted September 15, 2008 Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 I guess it was more in hope than anticipation.... I'll mail them nevertheless and see what comes back..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiller Slave Posted September 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2008 Perhaps a petition, highlighting the incompetence and protesting the bonuses (or even the fact that these people still have jobs) is in order? It seems like a lot of the petitions I've seen come through have protested the way something was done without citing enough to prevent it from being sidestepped. Perhaps protesting an award for good performance while citing multiple instances of horrid performance would get some attention. Better yet, perhaps this needs to go to press. It has ! As for the sections highlighted above, it seems to state pretty clearly they're sinking money into tourist traps while ignoring the main thing that draws their customers in. I can't help thinking someone with experience would plan to consistantly reach 'steady-state' first then, once some more money is available work on these projects to bring in more people. There are some real issues in the accounts/ annual report; enough to get even the most mild mannered contributors to this forum frothing at the mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Featured Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now