IWA meets MPs over new waterway charity
Clive Henderson (left) talks to previous Conservative waterway minister Tony Baldry MP – photo: Waterway Images
INLAND WATERWAYS: The Inland Waterways Association (IWA), led by national chairman Clive Henderson, met waterways minister Richard Benyon MP on February 15 to discuss the new waterways charity, writes Harry Arnold.
The IWA is supportive of the general approach to the formation of a National Waterways Charity (NWC), and welcomes the decisions that the charity should receive the British Waterways (BW) property portfolio in full and that a long term government contract will be put in place for funding.
The association is however concerned that the arrangements must be right for the charity to succeed and therefore the IWA’s support has always been, and is, subject to certain qualifications.
These qualifications are fundamentals without which IWA says the charity will struggle, perhaps terminally. They are that the charity must start life with a viable funding package and that the best prospects for the charity are served by inclusion of the Environment Agency waterways.
They also insist the governance arrangements must be right to ensure that BW undergoes the necessary changes to reflect its change in status and so that civil society in its widest sense really does have the opportunity to contribute to the sound management and operation of the waterways network.
The IWA told the minister it was deeply concerned about the Spending Review 2010 funding arrangements announced on December 20, 2010. The cuts were far deeper and earlier than expected and without indexation. The IWA said it had asked BW how it intended to deal with reduced grant under Freedom of Information and the anticipated reduction in capital spend was very worrying.
The association believes that the NWC is going to be launched with an extremely fragile funding package gravely jeopardising its prospects and also speculates that the funding might be a stumbling block for future trustees to accept, thus preventing the launch of the charity.
Finally, the IWA said that the future management of the waterways offered opportunities for a successful Big Society flagship project; but only if its concerns, as outlined at the meeting, were properly addressed.
The minister listened to the substance of the IWA’s concerns, commenting and questioning throughout the exchanges, but it remains to be seen to what extent Defra takes on board the association’s concerns when the promised consultation document is issued.
In addition to the February 15 meeting with the minster, the IWA campaigns team has also had meetings with both Labour and Conservative MPs, and has specifically been in direct discussions with former waterways ministers Alun Michael MP (Labour) and Tony Baldry MP (Conservative) regarding its concerns over the NWC and also with regards to re-instigating the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group.
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