Breach appeal scrapped

CANAL & RIVER TRUST has removed its £1.5m appeal to repair the breach of the Trent & Mersey Canal at Dutton Hollow, near Preston Brook, from the main donation page of its website, writes Allan Richards.

Furthermore, the appeal has been taken from the listing on CaRT's appeals page.

Under fire

Although the appeal was meant to run up to Easter this year, it is no longer being given prominence due to adverse criticism and poor uptake.

CaRT has been under fire because it stated that the cost of repair would be met by using a £2m contingency fund set aside for such purposes. However, it is later stated that the contingency fund has been allocated elsewhere, primarily on the unconnected Mon & Brec.

1% of target

The single reference to the appeal can only be found with persistence, and states that on the 17th December donations stood at £18,277, just over 1% of target.

To put this figure in context, it is significantly less than the amount spent on 29,460 balloons and 48,750 metres of bunting for CaRT's launch—that were never used.

It is less than 20% of the amount that CaRT is spending on 'potty poetry' and other art projects.