Piling on the pressure
MANY boaters concerned about the true state of the way that British Waterways is failing in its duty of the upkeep of its waterways are writing to their MP's explaining its failure.
We have received many copies of emails, but of course respect the writers' privacy, so do not reproduce them. However amongst our contributors who have contacted their MP's, our Principal Reporter Alan Tilbury is one, who gave permission for the correspondence to be reproduced. This message was sent by http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
The emails
Friday 18 June 2010
Dear Laura Sandys,
Thanet is very remote from the Inland Waterways of the UK but as a regular user of the canals of England and principle reporter to the narrowboatworld.com website I would like to draw your attention to the total mismanagement by British Waterways over the last few years of our canal system.
They have consistently wasted or invested money in everything but the upkeep of the canals to the tune of millions of pounds, then have the audacity to promote the waterways as being in the best condition ever, when in fact they are falling apart at the seams As a boating fraternity we are pleased to note that the new Minster for the waterways is a canal enthusiast but we would hate him and the rest of the government to be misled by the spin that comes out of BW headquarters.
I know you must be very busy as a new MP but I do urge you just to have a quick read of the website I mentioned above and you will immediately get a picture of the real trouble the canals are in. With all the cutbacks that are coming it is imperative that the money the waterways receive is spent wisely and not paid as fat cat bonuses for failure as has happened recently or spent on hare brained schemes that have little relevance to safe navigation.
Yours sincerely, Alan Tilbury
From the MP
From:
I understand that the head of BW is paid an extraordinary amount of money - I will ask a PQ to the Minister about his plans for BW and see if we can get some understanding of what is happening - however they might not be looking at this as a priority in their first few weeks but it will act as a marker!
All my best wishes
Laura
When writing to your MP you can give a link to any page(s) of narrowboatworld that you feel backs up your email. Allan Richards accurate features or the Editorial are prime examples. Or even the State of the waterways category in the Gallery. Do it now—let them know the facts of how our waterways are deteriorating. There is a chance that this new government may stop the rot before it is too late.