The Floater December 2017

That was the year, that was (4)

December 2017 - Chaos and consultations, power grabs and job losses, stoppages galore as the waterways groaned under the weight of inadequate maintenance – but boaters boated on and found their way to their destinations and Canal & River Trust continued to blithely claim everything was rosy and there was only positive news worth reading. Allan Richards and Peter Underwood have been looking back at 2017 with slightly more realistic eyes.

December 2017 - The Floater will not be offering a news service over Christmas and the New Year. We have better things to do and we hope you do too.

We will be publishing a review of the boating year over four days in the week leading up to Christmas so that you can recall the sorrows and joys of 2017 - along with the stupidity, the lies and the spin.

There are no plans to share the reviews widely, so please feel free to share the posts yourselves with waterways FB groups to which you belong.

December 2017 - With figures belatedly published for the first four months of C&RT's 2017/18 financial year, trustees have been informed by Chief Executive, Richard Parry, that the trust will fail to meet this years target for recruiting 'Friends'. This will be the sixth year in a row that C&RT has failed to meet its 'Friends' target and the stage is set for its 2017/18 annual report to show yet another substantial loss against 'charitable giving'. Allan Richards takes a look at the 'Key Performance Indicators'.

December 2017 - Within days of Canal & River Trust admitting that it had, finally, made an official bid to take over the Environment Agency Navigations the Agency itself has made a belated attempt to highlight its investment in its East Anglian waterways, as Peter Underwood reports.

December 2017 - Canal & River Trust has announced yet another half-baked scheme aimed at boaters – this time to 'validate' moorings, as Peter Underwood reports.

After a pilot scheme that resulted in threatening letters being sent to at least one boater and hastily withdrawn C&RT is ploughing ahead with asking mooring operators to confirm that the records it holds for boats’ moorings are correct.

December 2017 - At the Kennet & Avon Partnership meeting on Wednesday (7 December), Canal & River Trust announced that Waterways Partnerships are to be dissolved and made no mention of them being reconstituted under the new structure now out for consultation. Allan Richards looks at what seems to be developing as a substantial move away from the Trust being a navigation authority towards a much more general objective of creating 'wellness' which it hopes will attract more government cash.

December 2017 - Senior Canal & River Trust managers are falling like flies, with controversial North West Waterways manager Chantelle Seaborn the latest to join the exodus from Richard Parry's top team, as Peter Underwood reports.

December 2017 - Canal and River Trust has given a muted and brief confirmation that it has finally bid to take over the Environment Agency's navigations including the Thames and East Anglian rivers, reports Peter Underwood.

The bid to swallow up the Eivironmewnt Agency's waters did not come with a big annoucement from C&RT trustees nor it's Chief Executive; instead it appeared in the in-house newsletter of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) in an apparent leak.

December 2017 - Whether you are on a marina or simply keeping to the 14-day rule it can often seem a pain to have to move your mooring. Peter Underwood has taken a photographic look at the problem on a far larger scale.

It does sometimes seem a bit of a faff to have to untie the boat and shift it somewhere else but it could be worse. The Royal Navy Auxiliary supply ship Wave Ruler has been in Cammel Laird's shipyard for some months and today three tugs arrived just before high tide on the River Mersey.

December 2017 - In September, The Floater asked 'Waterways Partnerships - success or failure?' Now Allan Richards takes a more detailed look, concentrating on one of the failing Waterway Partnerships - East Midlands who are no longer meeting.

December 2017 - The Canal & River Trust has apologised for a press release where it claimed it would spend £7m less this winter than in previous years (Did C&RT really spend £80m on restoration last year?). In response to an information request the trust now says that it got its figures wrong. Allan Richards explains.

The Floater December 2017

That was the year, that was (4)

That was the year, that was (3)

That was the year, that was (2)

That was the year, that was

Floater waves goodbye - but just for Christmas

Targets missed - again - by C&RT

EA begins boasting about spending on Navigations

'Ghost moorings' crackdown – but what's the problem?

Fears that C&RT is moving away from navigation priorities

Another one bites the dust

Trust finally bids for EA waterways

Isn't it a pain when you have to move your mooring?

Waterway Partnerships in disarray - one failed to publish any minutes for 18 months

Trust apologises for press release

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The Floater December 2017