AT LAST Canal & River Trust is now agreeing with an article published in narrowboatworld concerning the annual cost of maintaining its waterways, writes Allan Richards.
Legal director, Nigel Johnson, who will not be replaced when he retires next year, has let the cat out of the bag by stating: 'The cost to the Trust of maintaining the inland waterways is approximately £130m per annum'.
Further deteriorate
However, with CaRT spending just £80m on its waterways last year and expected to reduce that to only £75m this year, the funding gap (the difference between what CaRT needs to spend (£130m) on its waterways and what it actually spends) continues to grow, and the waterways further deteriorate.
Judicial review
The legal director's comment is contained in section 23 of his signed witness statement for the upcoming judicial review of CaRT's guidance given to boaters without home moorings (Contempt of Court?). Fully, the section reads:
'The Court will also observe that in terms of securing financial sustainability for the inland waterways under the Trust's control, operational revenues from boating activities are of significant importance. It is anticipated total incoming resources for the full 12 months 2013/14 will be £158m of which £31m will come from boat licences and from charges for mooring on the network. The cost to the Trust of maintaining the inland waterways is approximately £130m per annum'.
Licensing and mooring
The £31m licensing and mooring figure is in the right ballpark. However it should be pointed out that the figure does not include the gross income of £7m from BWML and an estimated £5m from other marinas and boating related businesses.
Total incoming resources (i.e. total gross income) of £158m again looks about right. It is down on last year's actual of £165,481,000 but very close to the figures given in CaRT's first operating plan.
.... and finally, the cost of maintaining the Trust's waterways which Mr Johnson says is £130m per year agrees with the narrowboatworld article, (Our poor deteriorating waterways).
Funding gap
The narrowboatworld article reported that parliamentary records state: 'We were informed by Robin Evans of British Waterways that the company had incurred a £10 million loss in 2010/2011. The total 'steady state' requirement for British Waterways (the amount of money needed to keep the assets in their current condition, neither improving nor declining further) was estimated to be £120 million per annum, Chief Executive, Robin Evans told MPs'.
It went on to explain that CaRT estimates the cost of maintaining its waterways rises at approximately 3% per year which means that today the cost of maintaining the waterways is just over £130m.
..... and this is now confirmed by a CaRT director saying: 'The cost to the Trust of maintaining the inland waterways is approximately £130m per annum'.
The problem
The problem is that, whilst parliament was told that the 'steady state' requirement in 2010/11 was £120m, the interim Trustees were told the figure was much less—some £16.1m less to be exact.
Put simply, the trustees agreed to take over the waterways on the basis that they cost £103.9m a year to maintain in 2010/11 rather than the true figure of £120m.
Duped
Put even more simply, they were duped, and as a result, we now have a £55m funding gap.
The question now is will CaRT remain silent on Nigel Johnson's admission?