And so to the year of The Big Society?

Proposed under the last government but spurred on by the election and the coming to power of the coalition government, the proposal to turn British Waterways (BW) into a charity slotted in neatly with the David Cameron’s ideas of ‘The Big Society’ where users and volunteers will have a major say.

As the year progressed, more ideas and proposals have been revealed by officers of BW and Richard Benyon the new waterway minister. He recently described the change as ‘the most significant development and opportunity for the waterways since 1948’.

This may well be the case but one might ask – given also the current spending cuts – how will it be funded? The minister did also say that the body – now being referred to as the ‘New Waterways Charity’ – would not be ‘BW in other clothes’: which was re-stated by BW chief executive at the recent AGM.

Will it be a real opportunity for a good shake up of inland waterway management?  It does appear that now the enabling legislation, the Public Bodies Reform Bill, has been introduced into parliament - allowing the transfer of BW’s property and legal responsibilities to the new trust – that the programme for the new charity is on schedule.

By now Defra should be setting up an appointment panel to decide who will be the initial eight to ten trustees who will dictate policy to staff and volunteers involved in operating the waterways and also advise on appointments to a council. This would be drawn widely from stakeholders in the waterways, local government, other charities and organisations – in which no interests will dominate – and will meet twice a year to discuss policy and will eventually appoint the trustees.

All interests
The proposed structure – also having local committees, encompassing all interests, to represent each waterway - goes out to consultation shortly, with results due in by about April 2011 so the new charity can be legally created with an up and running deadline of April 2012. 

The future control of EA navigations is still the major outstanding question which, reading the hints in the minister’s speech, could be announced as this is being written.

Is the general bringing into line of the EA’s licensing regulations for its main rivers to make them similar to BW’s another indication on the way things might go?
In the short-term, however, with more details of the various government department’s spending cuts being announced by the day, all this could be affected by any slashing of BW’s budget.

Chief executive Robin Evans has already made dire predictions of cuts of at least 20%, but promised to endeavour to protect the current £95m waterway maintenance budget. Operating efficiencies have already been announced in the future closure of certain main offices and the award of long-term dredging contacts.

Water problems are not new, but the surprise of 2010 was that they came in the normally wet north west and resulted in the complete closure of a major section of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal with the resulting disruption.

Low levels
Also surprisingly low river levels in south Wales led to restrictions on the Mon & Brec Canal, although nothing serious. In contrast, worries about the draining of Chasewater - one of the biggest Midlands reservoirs – for repairs, were alleviated by good water control by BW: something which will have to continue certainly through next year as repairs and refilling will be an extended process.

The inland waterway industry continues to be hit by the financial situation. On new and used boat sales Tim Coghlan, managing director of Braunston Marina told us: ‘The year began dreadfully, our worst first quarter since 1998. Things, then picked up dramatically after the election – so in the end our sales level-pegged with 2009.’

Units of sales have not been much different in recent years, but prices are 20% or more below the golden year of 2007, he added, reflected in total sales achieved. We are having to work a lot harder for our money…

In contrast to diminishing boat production there has been a huge increase in marina moorings. On this subject Mr Coghlan said: ‘Canal marina moorings have dramatically moved in 10 years from a dearth of supply to an awesome over-capacity - with the explosion of new marina building on the back of encouragement from the BW New Marinas Unit, the easing of planning restrictions, and farmers receiving diversification subsidies.

‘There are already over 250 empty berths within a 20-mile radius of Braunston alone, before taking account of marinas under construction, including another proposed 600-berth unit, and probably some 1,500 or more across the system. By contrast UK narrowboat production, including imports, is now below 400 a year, down from over 1,000 plus in the mid 2000s.’

Studying the extensive advertising, there are certainly a lot of good deals for boat owners on offer. Richard Steele, a director of Whilton Marina told us: ‘This has been a year in which customers have been looking for value, and want the full package when buying a boat – all the repairs done, and a major overhaul. There are still deals to be done, but the problem is persuading sellers to lower their expectations in terms of price.’

Holiday hire
What about the other mainstay of the industry – holiday hire? Hire boat numbers have remained fairly static, but companies have already announced the building of new luxury craft for 2011.

Edward Helps, managing director of the ABC Leisure Group, which operates from 15 bases and also took over the only major casualty of 2010 Reading Marine, told us: ‘The boat hiring part of our business has been much the same in 2010 as previous years, or to be more exact, slightly up. I did not personally see any evidence of the government’s fabled ‘staycation’ in 2010, not on the canals anyway.

‘I understand that the rest of the industry had a mixed bag, with the poor publicity regarding water supply on the Leeds & Liverpool causing concern amongst some potential hirers, who assumed all the canals were closed. Having said this, it is positive that canal boat hiring is holding up in these tough economic times, and long may it remain so.’

It’s not been a good year for the image of shared ownership, although the principle remains one of the current favourite modes of getting afloat. The death of Alan Mathews and the subsequent revelations of the major financial irregularities within the biggest operator Ownerships Ltd.; following the demise of Challenger Syndicateships in 2009 – the aftermath of which still drags on through the courts – did little to help.

The long running annual popular Braunston Marina shared ownership show – now entitled ‘Boat-Share Show’ - is carrying on and will be held at on March 19-20, 2011, BCBM Boat Share having picked up the baton from the defunct Ownerships Ltd.

The boat show situation was interesting in 2010 with the failure of a number of boatbuilders and others looking more carefully at their exhibition budget. This year could be even more so.

Still effective
With a diminishing, but still effective, display of canal craft at ExCeL last year, from this year’s publicity numbers look extremely thin; and the ‘Waterway Feature’ – such as it was – seems to have disappeared.

Birmingham’s NEC show remained a good event for the waterways and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its city centre Bingley Hall origins seems to have another good lineup of exhibitors for 2011.

Crick held its place as the top waterway trade show, but with some notable gaps and spreading out of exhibits. With Waterways World taking over the organisation contract, will we see a difference in 2011?

The competing IWA National Festival & Boat Show – despite returning for a second time to the popular Thames site at Beale Park – had a smaller than expected public attendance. It again makes a return visit to a previous site - Burton-on-Trent - in the heart of the Midlands’ narrowboat country, but also with a new date, moving away from the traditional August Bank Holiday slot after many years, by request of the traders. 

Not strictly a boat show, but the Braunston Traditional Narrowboat Gathering, is aiming for the magic100 historic canal boats. It’s an ever-increasing public attraction which some traders are taking advantage of.

The new one
Then there is the new one – the Liverpool Boat Show. Massive local authority backing – even BW have put biggish money into it – run by professionals, right in the centre of a world class tourist attraction, in a city with an international maritime reputation on a famous river linked to the waterway system by Britain’s newest canal.

Local Liverpool connections do introduce a personal bias here, but if I was a waterway company in the North or Midlands I would be seriously considering it: My hotel room is booked anyway.

With the reopening of the Droitwich Barge Canal – to be followed by the completion of the River Severn to Worcester & Birmingham Canal link by the completion of the Droitwich Junction Canal early in 2011 – we are coming to the end of two decades of major waterway restoration; not forgetting the completion of Ireland’s Royal Canal in 2010 by our friends across the water.

That isn’t to say that steady progress isn’t being made by volunteers on many long-term schemes; a new lock here and a short stretch of re-watered canal being reopened there; mainly by the efforts of volunteers.

Backed by local fundraising and grants from national organisations such as the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), even BW has reopened Bow Locks. But the days of the multi-million grants from bodies line the Heritage Lottery Fund appear to be over.

So December 30, 2010 not only marked the end of a year but possibly the end of an era. The inception of the New Waterways Charity will be the biggest change since the waterways were nationalised in 1948. But the jury is still out.

Is it possible that – despite the whinging about BW’s management - we might look back on the last 20 years as a golden era of the industry and the nation investing in the development and expansion of the waterways?

It’s up to this government to convince us that as part of the ‘The Big Society’ users and the industry will have a real role to play and be a major influence in the future management of our waterways.