Chairmen appointed for partnerships

TWO more Local Waterway Partnerships chairmen have been appointed by British Waterways, for the West and North Midlands.

These are for the trial partnerships, alongside a third trial already underway on the Kennet & Avon Canal, and will work with local waterway managers until the new waterways charity becomes fully operational in 2012.

Black Country regeneration

Peter Mathews CMG has been appointed to be the chairman of the trial partnership for the West Midlands. He is at present chairman of the Black Country Consortium, which works to coordinate regeneration in the Black Country area of the West Midlands, and also chairman and managing director of Black Country Metals, and of his appointment remarked:

"The Midlands canal system has a great story to tell and I welcome the opportunity to enable people in the West Midlands to have a real say in how these local waterways are run and to support their improvement and development."

North West

In the North West, Professor Steven Broomhead, Professor of Entrepreneurial Education at Liverpool Hope University, is to be the chairman of the trial partnership. Steven previously spent eight years as chief executive at Northwest Regional Development Agency, prior to which he was chief executive at Warrington Borough Council. He has held the position of chairman at a number of private and public organisations, and remarked:

"Our canals and rivers are an important part of our heritage and I am looking forward to working with the local waterway manager and the community to rejuvenate the North West waterways and to safeguard their future."

NABO

Roger Hanbury, Chief Executive of the Waterways Trust, worked with David Fletcher, Chairman of the National Association of Boat Owners and the local waterway managers, Dean Davies in the West Midlands and Debbie Lumb in the North West, to find the chairmen.

The chairmen will now work with the local waterway management to fill a further seven member vacancies on each of the partnerships, with the aim of having the partnerships operational during May 2011.

Subject to Defra

Subject to the forthcoming consultation by Defra, each of the existing 11 administrative waterway regions in England and Wales will have local partnership boards appointed by the new charity to guide local decisions.

A written record of all meetings will be publicly available on the web. All positions on the partnerships will be unremunerated, but agreed expenses will be reimbursed.