Jump to content

Forth and Clyde Closure


Tim Lewis

Featured Posts

I've never been boating in Scotland and maybe never will, but can offer this rather radical idea:

Back in 1707 Scotland got into serious financial difficulties following a failed attempt to colonise Panama, and this was a factor in their agreement of the Act of Union, which it could be argued was something like a modern company takeover. Perhaps there should be a modern canal equivalent, i.e. CRT taking over Scottish Canals? CRT do seem to show more interest in overcoming problems to keep canals open for navigation (e.g. after the floods of Dec 2015), so maybe they'd do a better job? Politics might be an obstacle to this... tin hat on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A radical shift of focus is exactly what is needed to maintain the Lowland Canals. The situation if the 2 bridges being discussed remain closed indefinitely will mean that some larger /heavier boats currently on the eastern side of them would have a real issue with limited lift out facilities available. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Peter X said:

I've never been boating in Scotland and maybe never will, but can offer this rather radical idea:

Back in 1707 Scotland got into serious financial difficulties following a failed attempt to colonise Panama, and this was a factor in their agreement of the Act of Union, which it could be argued was something like a modern company takeover. Perhaps there should be a modern canal equivalent, i.e. CRT taking over Scottish Canals? CRT do seem to show more interest in overcoming problems to keep canals open for navigation (e.g. after the floods of Dec 2015), so maybe they'd do a better job? Politics might be an obstacle to this... tin hat on.

When the change in BW nationally was being discussed, we,  in Scotland, were glad that we would have control of our own canals and all was well for a while then there were changes and we realised that those in charge had no interest in the canals being used for what they  were built for - boating. We still have what is left of the men on the ground doing what they can to look after the canals but the office staff who had any knowledge or affection for the canals have gradually been got rid of and the canals are now managed by property developers. I fear for the future of our canals in Scotland and perhaps we would be better under C & RT (we couldn't be any worse) but it isn't going to happen. 

haggis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea what coverage this closure has had on TV or in the press in Scotland, but would expect that the longer it continues the more they may become interested, and that they may be able to get the public to exert pressure on Scottish Canals to sort it out. Try playing on national pride along the lines of "If CRT in England could get the Rochdale re-opened, how come we can't sort out a couple of dodgy bridges?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anybody who's not a member of the Lowland Canals Association

A concerted effort has started to force/embarrass Scottish Canals and Parliament into taking action. A Twitter campaign (whatever that is) has started to all MSP's, news agencies etc

Anybody with any suggestions of who would be worth contacting put them here, or indeed any useful suggestions of any sort

Time to stop sitting around tutting and do something about it

Please share. Scottish Canals have closed the Forth Clyde canal to navigable craft since they have failed to adequately maintain two key bridges. This is one of the oldest man made sea to sea crossings in the world. They have subsequently failed in their statutory duty. Evidence attached. Please help us firstly raise this issue publicly and secondly perhaps help us crowd fund to challenge legally. As anyone can.

 
LEGISLATION.GOV.UK
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, 13-10 said:

Anybody with any suggestions of who would be worth contacting put them here, or indeed any useful suggestions of any sort

I know they're not chock full of F&C stuff, but what about magazines like Canal Boat and the Towpath Talk newspaper?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ronnietucker said:

I'd also blitz all MSP's with the info. Shoot emails to as many local papers as possible. I'm sure The Daily Record and The Sun would love a rant about it.  :D

 

In hand, if you fancy ranting to your local MSP that would be great

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So glad to hear and see such positivity starting to develop.  A unified, identical email to MSP's is a great idea,  especially if their constituency encompasses the canals.  The desire to create regeneration across the central belt should be something to be embraced by all in government both local and national. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ronnietucker said:

If no one else has done this by tomorrow afternoon then I'll definitely give it a shot and post it here to see what you guys think of it before sending it.

Ronnie, have mailed you the letter. Just adapt it for personal use

2 minutes ago, AllanD said:

Thanks for this Haggis,  is there room for one more???  

Go on the LCA website and apply from there Allan. There will hopefully be a dedicated Facebook page soon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, 13-10 said:

Ronnie, have mailed you the letter. Just adapt it for personal use

13-10, It might be an idea to post the letter on here as there seems to be a few Scottish members of CWDF who could base their own letter to their MP on yours. Not sure if everyone sending the same letter is a good idea as the recipient may treat it as a "cut and paste" rather than someones personal view.  

haggis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, haggis said:

Ronnie, if you join the Lowland Canals Association ( http://www.lowlandcanalsassociation.org/  you will be on the mailing group and the chairman recently shared the letter he sent to the Minister of Transport. You may be able to lift bits of it. 

haggis

I probably will, but even after a quick rummage around their site, I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what they do.

And if there's a membership fee?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ronnietucker said:

I probably will, but even after a quick rummage around their site, I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what they do.

And if there's a membership fee?

Ronnie if you look at the constitution page from para 2 it sets out what the group does and at the moment there is no membership fee. 

haggis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, ronnietucker said:

I probably will, but even after a quick rummage around their site, I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what they do.

And if there's a membership fee?

They represent the interest of all the boaters on F&C and Union Canals 

There's no membership fee. It's all voluntary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, haggis said:

13-10, It might be an idea to post the letter on here as there seems to be a few Scottish members of CWDF who could base their own letter to their MP on yours. Not sure if everyone sending the same letter is a good idea as the recipient may treat it as a "cut and paste" rather than someones personal view.  

haggis

Totally agree. Just e-mailed Graeme to check he's happy for it to be shared

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, haggis said:

13-10, It might be an idea to post the letter on here as there seems to be a few Scottish members of CWDF who could base their own letter to their MP on yours. Not sure if everyone sending the same letter is a good idea as the recipient may treat it as a "cut and paste" rather than someones personal view.  

haggis

Having worked on a project that received a couple of petitions against it and a series of identical photocopied letters with different handwritten names and addresses I can confirm that these don't carry anything like the same weight as individually written submissions, even if they are all making broadly the same points.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Attached is the letter sent by the chairman of the LCA.

As David Mack has quite rightly pointed out a straight cut and paste will probably be ignored by the powers that be so it is more about providing salient points for your own letters

Point to note:  Scottish Canals annual income including £10m grant from Government is around £19m but only £3m is allocated to maintenance.

LCA complaint to Parliament (1).docx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few thoughts to add...

A lot of work has been done on the benefits of scottish canal restoration, mostly by erstwhile colleagues and compatriots who now work for PBA and do much the same work for other organisations. Whilst much of the economic benefit of restoration is not directly related to boating it's a fair bet that a pivotal assumption underlying the work was that the waterways would be navigable. As I work in the same field this is the sort of assumption we have to make - it's very difficult to quantify what the economic benefits would be if the same waterway were not navigable without completely redoing the exercise although some work suggests that navigability adds around 30%. The point is, if the canals are not navigable, the benefits forecast, and currently being achieved will change: I've yet to see a non-navigable canal outperform a navigable one so the benefits will go down.

Interestingly, I'm working on another waterway where the client is adamant that secure, through navigability is critical to the benefits.

Whilst SW and SP may think that it's navigable except for two bridges, the loss of a through route will damage navigation, which in turn will be reflected in maintenance, a lack of which will creep from the bridges, after all, why pull shopping trolleys out of the first hundred yards either side of the bridge when no one can use it? then as one can't reach the bridge why maintain the next lock...

In short, not fixing these bridges is the thin end of a nasty wedge for the lowland canals

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
  • 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.