And while in overall terms, the report does suggest BW is doing a good job in terms of its overall vision statement, there are those who suggest the document produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is - at best - little more than an excellent example of the civil service closing ranks.

At worst, it highlights an organisation that still cannot distinguish between its role as custodian of one of the nation's most valued assets and an organisation with growing commercial interests, a massive property portfolio and a increasing army of tenants/ clients thoroughly disaffected with the way it runs its business.

The recent appointment of Tony Hales as chairman only adds to concerns that BW is to concentrate more on its extensive property business than on its 2,000 miles of canals.

Hales is currently chairman of Workspace plc, a company "devoted to the provision of office, studio and light industrial workspace for small businesses". See story on page 2.

The DEFRA report actually points out that BW displays a distinct lack of benchmarking and evidence about comparative efficiency. DEFRA said it "found some uncertainty about defining success in terms of value for money", which must cast a great deal of doubt on the entire report's conclusions. And one small sentence that will strike a resounding discord with the British MarineFederation (BMF) and many of BW's tenants can be found under the heading Openness and Accountability.

It reads: "It (the review) concluded that British Waterways fully understood its responsibilities to comply with competition law and trade fairly."

"There was a case to answer to the trade in the weight of evidence produced by the BMF, " commented Tim Coghlan of Braunston Marina. "And the powers that be simply treated it with the contempt they deserve."

"The state of British Waterways is a deep embarrassment for the government, " said Norman Baker, the Lib Dem environment spokesman in an interview with The Observer on April 3.

"It's clear that BW is not an effective custodian of our waterways. It's a poor man's Railtrack, seeing itself more as a property company, " Baker told the 'paper.

Tony Hales takes over as chairman on July 10.