Jump to content

BW announces job losses

Eugene Baston

By Eugene Baston
in General Boating

 Share

Featured Posts

Hairy-Neil Veteran

Hairy-Neil

Posted
Posted (edited)

Both the BBC and the London newspaper have reported the possibility of some canals closing... which would those canals be if it come to having to close them?

 

I would shut the Oxford Canal, Dukes Cut to Isis Lock, stank it off and drain it down and then napalm the shanty town. :lol:

 

The sad thing is the jobs that are likely to be going at BW will be the incidentals like License Evasion. :lol:

Edited by Hairy-Neil
Link to comment
Share on other sites
adam1uk Experienced

adam1uk

Posted
Posted

Both the BBC and the London newspaper have reported the possibility of some canals closing... which would those canals be if it come to having to close them?

 

It's not really about chosing canals to close. It's more a matter of whether BW would have the money to fix a big problem. For example, if there was another breach like the last one on the Rochdale, would BW be able to afford to repair it, or would it have to close the canal instead? So the thinking is that the ones most in danger would be ones with lots of embankments, tunnels, aqueducts etc -- ie things that fail and are expensive to repair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cris P Collaborator

Cris P

Posted
Posted

I'd vote to stop publishing Waterfront too. It's shockingly poor in every respect bar the quality of the glossy paper and some nice photos. It contains no information which isn't presented in more depth elsewhere, and the writing seems to be aimed at the average 6 year old.

 

Closing canals should not be an option. They are a massive national resource, and seem to bring regeneration, jobs and money wherever they re-open. Simply having a boat community in an area almost certainly improves crime levels, and soon everyone else wants to join in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John Orentas Veteran II

John Orentas

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's not really about chosing canals to close. It's more a matter of whether BW would have the money to fix a big problem. For example, if there was another breach like the last one on the Rochdale, would BW be able to afford to repair it, or would it have to close the canal instead? So the thinking is that the ones most in danger would be ones with lots of embankments, tunnels, aqueducts etc -- ie things that fail and are expensive to repair.

 

 

This story first appeared in the Daily Telegraph 2nd Oct. The story focused for some reason on the canals of Greater Manchester, "In fact, three of the first canals expected to close - the Rochdale, the Peak Forest and the Ashton ......".

 

Why they picked on the first two I have no idea, there have been no major problems with with either for many years. As for the Rochdale, yes we have had problems but this canal is exceptional in many ways, firstly British Waterways do not own it, they have however contracted to maintain it for 50 years from 2002 and just because it has had more than it's share of problems since it's re-opening BW can't now throw it's dummy out of the pram and shout foul. Had it been trouble free and become a 'nice little earner' we would have heard nothing of all this.

 

Indeed some of their problems should have been identified from the beginning of their agreement, for example why did they not discover the fact that the old canal company had sold off all the adjoining land to the very edge of the water, this has and will into the future add a lot of cost to the repair and maintenance of the canal, they should have seen it coming.

 

For once BW's problems are not generally of their own making, but that is not to say they should not be fighting their corner, as we all know now the DEFRA situation has absolutely nothing to do with the waterways, everybody should be fighting the massive cuts but as BW are at the centre of it they should be taking the lead.

Edited by John Orentas
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnOnTheWey Contributor

JohnOnTheWey

Posted
Posted

This story first appeared in the Daily Telegraph 2nd Oct. The story focused for some reason on the canals of Greater Manchester, "In fact, three of the first canals expected to close - the Rochdale, the Peak Forest and the Ashton ......".

 

[snip]

 

 

 

 

The theme continues in today's Independent:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_brit...icle1834346.ece

 

In the paper version it was on or about page 6 or so, but I found it quite encouraging nonetheless. I thnk Chris Huhne's comment was quite pertinent and endorsable.

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites
roger Collaborator

roger

Posted
Posted

I'd vote to stop publishing Waterfront too. It's shockingly poor in every respect bar the quality of the glossy paper and some nice photos. It contains no information which isn't presented in more depth elsewhere, and the writing seems to be aimed at the average 6 year old.

 

Closing canals should not be an option. They are a massive national resource, and seem to bring regeneration, jobs and money wherever they re-open. Simply having a boat community in an area almost certainly improves crime levels, and soon everyone else wants to join in.

 

Waterfront is not anything brilliant best let it be in pdf format only - and BW can save on postage and printing costs.

 

Closing canals if their infrastructure fails dramatically is not really an option. In some ways the defra thingy may be a prompt for BW to look at more ways in which they can get revenue and I dont mean clobbering the boater or forsaking our waterways heritage further. BW'll just have to be a bit more imgainative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tillergirl Experienced

tillergirl

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not sure wether to view this as media scaremongering or unwelcome news for someone who is planning to take to the waterways in the next couple of years!! Surely BW will not close those canals where freight is carried? (I live close to South Yorkshire). In any case surely no one has the right to leave people who live on the water stranded?

 

Typical of this country - spend £21m on say the Rochdale canal and then close it 4 years later!

Edited by tillergirl
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GRPCruiserman Proficient

GRPCruiserman

Posted
Posted (edited)

Now WE have to pay fines for DEFRA. Why should this be? Surely when the fines were imposed it would be obvious that some of the public would end up paying for it.

 

Well they won with me, I've sold the canal boat and am looking for one for tidal waters, so no more BW for me.

Edited by GRPCruiserman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.