The Floater August 2018

August 2018 - When Canal & River Trust decided to tear down the structure established by Richard Parry and the trustees, just five years after those changes were made, we were told that 78 senior posts would be scrapped and replaced by 60 posts and that just 27 of the new jobs would be senior, earning more than £60,000 a year. Allan Richards has been looking at the impact on the Trust’s £65m a year salary bill.

August 2018 - The Lancaster Canal’s summer water supply has been an issue for boaters for many years, with the Ribble Link closed a few years ago because of low levels and the Glasson flight of locks currently shut in order to preserve water. However, simple drought isn’t the problem, as Peter Underwood reports.

At least one angry boater, moored in a Lancaster Canal Marina until recently, has given up in disgust and put his boat up for sale after repeated problems with low water levels and what he sees as a complete failure by C&RT boss Richard Parry to answer his complaints.

August 2018 - Asked to explain discrepancies within its own figures on canal closures, Canal and River Trust’s head of legal services claimed answering the questions, from The Floater’s Allan Richards, would cause: “harassment of, or distress to, the public authorities staff'. He added 'We do reserve the right to bring this behaviour to the attention of the relevant authorities for the purposes of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997”

August 2018 - The sheer scale of the closures and restrictions, both drought-related and the physical failures of the network’s structures has been brought home in Canal & River Trust’s usually chirpy and lightweight Boater’s update, as Peter Underwood observes.

Boater’s Update is usually unrelenting in its cheerfulness but – as it records - June was the third driest month since records began in 1910 – and the hot dry weather has continued.

August 2018 - After earning negative national publicity for its bid to raise the price of London moorings in a series of price hikes more than four times the rate of inflation, as well as now facing a threat of a serious legal challenge, it seems Canal & River Trust is having a rethink. Whether it is simply a pause to allow the heat of protest to die down or a serious bid to engage mooring customers remains to be seen as Peter Underwood reports.