Save Our Waterways Blog

Friday 28 December 2007

Flat Cash for BW?

The Waterways Minister, in his meeting with waterways stakeholders (see Will's report) stated that he expected BW's funding settlement to be based on Flat Cash. This would mean that the amount would remain roughly the same, with no increase to allow for inflation.
If this were to prove correct, it would clearly be better than the deeper cuts that some had speculated about.

However, it would still be a cut in real terms, on top of the cuts made over the last year. It would do nothing to reduce the maintenance backlog that is now increasing, with BW having put off some of the repairs and maintenance it had planned this winter.

Elfin Safety

Tony Haynes has (elsewhere) expressed alarm at Surrey County Council wanting to close the Deepcut Flight of locks, on the Basingstoke Canal, for "health and safety" reasons, rather than find the money to improve the state of the flight.

Tony notices that part of the current Save Our Waterways strategy is to highlight structural problems. He wonders whether this could result in further closures due to Health and Safety when funding is not there to fix the problem immediately?

Tony asks whether anyone has seen Health and Safety given as a reason for closure or unnecessary restriction on any waterway.
Your views welcome.....

Wednesday 12 December 2007

Getting the Ball Rolling

This is a new feature on the Save Our Waterways website. You, the reader, get the chance to make comments and say what you think!
This first posting is to get the ball rolling. Please feel free to post a comment to say what you think of the idea!

Comments and suggestions are also welcome about the new version of the website.
Just click the "Comments" link (on the left or below) to write a comment or read other comments.