Why not become a CRT'er

[Laurence Hogg]

Just a note to say that having spoken to Simon Salem of CRT today he is amazed at the performance of this forum. He has read all the posts as have many other CRT employees and he takes on board all that is said. I think that 2700 views in three days and 120+ replies rather shows up how badly performing other forums and websites are.

Thank you to all who contributed to the thread whatever your viewpoint, and many thanks to those that signed up to CRT.

[jenlyn]

Just a note to say that having spoken to Simon Salem of CRT today he is amazed at the performance of this forum. He has read all the posts as have many other CRT employees and he takes on board all that is said. I think that 2700 views in three days and 120+ replies rather shows up how badly performing other forums and websites are.

Thank you to all who contributed to the thread whatever your viewpoint, and many thanks to those that signed up to CRT.

Well, they have to read this forum, theirs is rubbish :-)

[Ange]

Having met and drunk with both of you I can say I f you did meet in a pub you probably would end up laughing and having a great night :-)

 

Thank you

[JamesWoolcock]

Laurence

 

Do you not learn from experience? I wish you were right but you're not. You should know better as one who has a genuine interest in the waterways. If you lived on a boat on the towpath you might have a different experience and a different perspective.

 

I have a deep drafted wooden boat - Pearl/ Thomas Clayton - and now consider, and will inform the court, that the canals are no longer safely navigable by boats such as mine.

 

Are you aware that I am being taken to court for not 'continuing my journey' in 8'' of ice?

 

They are a disgrace and I will do everything possible to have them removed from office and prosecuted.

 

The rest of you can 'dream on'.

 

So are you STILL at the Lion Salt works?

[cotswoldsman]

So are you STILL at the Lion Salt works?

 

yes he is.

[Ronniesonic]

my concerns are one of fiscal prudence & Management.

 

Having analyzed previous BW accounts I am astounded. In fact, shocked to the core would be an understatement.

The excessive renumeration packages being the least of my concerns within the numbers.

 

I sincerely hope C&RT are successful. However, it appears to me that it is essentially the BW Team, albeit with a smaller guaranteed revenue stream.

 

Therefore, knowing of their blatant repeat mistakes, catastrophic investments, non priorty of preventative maintenance, to list just a few, that they were so obviously not fit for purpose it beggars belief?

 

I salute the volunteers, workers on the ground, boaters, walkers, cyclists, fishermen & the direct debit donors.

 

Imagine what could be achieved with a leadership that remotely knew what it was doing.........

 

In conclusion, I currently have zero faith on C&RT's capabilities to fulfill it's obligations, based on the evidence available.

[sueb]

my concerns are one of fiscal prudence & Management.

 

Having analyzed previous BW accounts I am astounded. In fact, shocked to the core would be an understatement.

The excessive renumeration packages being the least of my concerns within the numbers.

 

I sincerely hope C&RT are successful. However, it appears to me that it is essentially the BW Team, albeit with a smaller guaranteed revenue stream.

 

Therefore, knowing of their blatant repeat mistakes, catastrophic investments, non priorty of preventative maintenance, to list just a few, that they were so obviously not fit for purpose it beggars belief?

 

I salute the volunteers, workers on the ground, boaters, walkers, cyclists, fishermen & the direct debit donors.

 

Imagine what could be achieved with a leadership that remotely knew what it was doing.........

 

In conclusion, I currently have zero faith on C&RT's capabilities to fulfill it's obligations, based on the evidence available.

Absolutely correct

[fuzzyduck]

Just a note to say that having spoken to Simon Salem of CRT today he is amazed at the performance of this forum. He has read all the posts as have many other CRT

 

Resign Simon!! Let a new management team that hasn't failed miserably step up to the plate.

[DeanS]

Just a note to say that having spoken to Simon Salem of CRT today he is amazed at the performance of this forum. He has read all the posts as have many other CRT employees and he takes on board all that is said. I think that 2700 views in three days and 120+ replies rather shows up how badly performing other forums and websites are.

Thank you to all who contributed to the thread whatever your viewpoint, and many thanks to those that signed up to CRT.

 

 

You sound as if you feel the thread has ended.......it's probably only beginning....some threads on here can go on for ages.....because someone like me will come and say something , and whoops..it's back to the top of the pile.....

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Resign Simon!! Let a new management team that hasn't failed miserably step up to the plate.

 

Simon Salem was one of two BW directors to get an increase in basic salary last year. I can see no reason why he should resign when getting sacked would give him about a third of a million.

 

With the usual narrowboatwold warning Evans gets over £600,000

[Laurence Hogg]

Simon Salem was one of two BW directors to get an increase in basic salary last year. I can see no reason why he should resign when getting sacked would give him about a third of a million.

 

With the usual narrowboatwold warning Evans gets over £600,000

Allan,

I dont care in reality what these guys now earn, now under CRT they should be judged on performance and if its not there its up to CRT to show them the door. Under BW there were many unseen shackles on Simon's feet and Mr Evans, now they arent shackled let them perform to their true ability, give them a chance for god's sake and dont condemn them from day one.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Allan,

I dont care in reality what these guys now earn, now under CRT they should be judged on performance and if its not there its up to CRT to show them the door. Under BW there were many unseen shackles on Simon's feet and Mr Evans, now they arent shackled let them perform to their true ability, give them a chance for god's sake and dont condemn them from day one.

 

Sorry Laurence, I judge them on performance against targets they set themselves.

 

Shackles do not really come into it as they were known.

[Tuscan]

Allan,

I dont care in reality what these guys now earn, now under CRT they should be judged on performance and if its not there its up to CRT to show them the door. Under BW there were many unseen shackles on Simon's feet and Mr Evans, now they arent shackled let them perform to their true ability, give them a chance for god's sake and dont condemn them from day one.

 

 

I am struggling to understand what these might be, are you saying that the new trustees have already made clear policy decisions that are radically different and instructed the board accordingly. This seems unlikely.

[pistnbroke]

Now its a charity I assume its VAT exempt ....have not seen the fees go down or is that a hidden rise ??

[cotswoldsman]

Now its a charity I assume its VAT exempt ....have not seen the fees go down or is that a hidden rise ??

 

You assume wrong.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Now its a charity I assume its VAT exempt ....have not seen the fees go down or is that a hidden rise ??

 

Fees will go up not down. Parliament's EFRA select committee made an attempt to protect licence charges from rising disproportionately under the charity should projections of income from other sources prove optimistic.

 

However, no assurance was forthcoming.

[sueb]

When do the contracts end?

[Alan de Enfield]

......, I judge them on performance against targets they set themselves......

 

It should be relatively easy to set yourself targets that are achievable - having said that my old school reports said

 

"sets himself extremely low targets which he consistently fails to achieve"

 

Lets see if C&RT foillow in my footsteps.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

It should be relatively easy to set yourself targets that are achievable - having said that my old school reports said

 

"sets himself extremely low targets which he consistently fails to achieve"

 

Lets see if C&RT foillow in my footsteps.

 

I meant the long term targets that BW set themselves regarding eradication of maintenance backlog, reliance of government funding and delivery of public benefit.

 

Unfortunately BW has failed miserably on all three.

[carlt]

 

Unfortunately BW has failed miserably on all three.

That's because they set themselves an impossible target.

 

The waterways will never be self-financing and BW were unbelievably arrogant in making that promise.

 

The claim that they could be self-sufficient was bound to cause a budget cut, so making clearing the maintenance backlog unachievable.

 

I disagree with you on the last point, though. Over the years BW have ensured that the waterways have delivered massive public benefit, despite huge (often self-inflicted) setbacks.

 

The very fact that they have kept so much of the system navigable and restored quite a bit too is not far short of miraculous, considering some of the blunders made at the top.

 

Anyone who thinks that the inland waterways network has not been a huge benefit to the public, even during the grimmest days of the 70s and early 80s, really needs to re-evaluate their hobby or lifestyle.

[Laurence Hogg]

I am struggling to understand what these might be, are you saying that the new trustees have already made clear policy decisions that are radically different and instructed the board accordingly. This seems unlikely.

One example is they could not accept outside funding no matter what shape it was in.

 

I meant the long term targets that BW set themselves regarding eradication of maintenance backlog, reliance of government funding and delivery of public benefit.

 

Unfortunately BW has failed miserably on all three.

Absolute rubbish, this is typical "Narrowboatworld" crap. Many targets have been acheived, here in the Midlands for instance our canals have improved immensly. Get out of you seat and go look around the system is not falling apart its vastly improved!

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Absolute rubbish, this is typical "Narrowboatworld" crap. Many targets have been acheived, here in the Midlands for instance our canals have improved immensly. Get out of you seat and go look around the system is not falling apart its vastly improved!

 

Laurence, I am talking about BW three long term objectives on which they wanted to be measured rather than the number of times I have to go down my weedhatch in the Birmingham area.

 

As an example, I suggest you read my article on Robin Evans visitor number targets here.

 

The graph published is taken from the targets set for Robin Evans and the lower picture from the 2010/11 annual report.

 

The figure for 2011/12 is 3.6m and can be found in the latest annual report which is now published.

 

In reply to Carl's comment about public benefit, that tends to be quoted at £500m a year. The problem is that BW failed to increase public benefit because they failed to deliver on visitor numbers.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Allan(nb Albert)

[carlt]

In reply to Carl's comment about public benefit, that tends to be quoted at £500m a year. The problem is that BW failed to increase public benefit because they failed to deliver on visitor numbers.

Ah! Sorry Allan I was confusing "public benefit" with "cash cow".

 

If you ever thought that BW's claims to be profitable were realistic then you are as daft as they are.

 

The "overall benefit" to the public, of the waterways is immeasurable.

 

The "financial benefit" to the public I'll leave to those who make unrealistic promises and those who have equally unrealistic expectations.

[FadeToScarlet]

In reply to Carl's comment about public benefit, that tends to be quoted at £500m a year. The problem is that BW failed to increase public benefit because they failed to deliver on visitor numbers.

 

Could that be because every time they spent money on initiatives that would bring more non boaters to the waterways- be that hard surfacing towpaths to make them cycleable and accessible, visitor signage, or even radio-controlled sharks, they were lambasted here, on Narrowboat World, and in many other places for wasting money?

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Could that be because every time they spent money on initiatives that would bring more non boaters to the waterways- be that hard surfacing towpaths to make them cycleable and accessible, visitor signage, or even radio-controlled sharks, they were lambasted here, on Narrowboat World, and in many other places for wasting money?

 

I'm not sure that the general public is really aware of what is said on here.

 

The only reason that I have heard BW give for poor performance on visitor numbers is that they do not spend enough on marketing.