Now its £107m
This is now the third figure, with the redacted document released by Canal & River Trust (CaRT) giving the figure as just under £107m rather than the £105m given by Vince Moran or the £130m by Nigel Johnson/Robin Evans.
Stepping down
Canal & River Trust (CaRT) 'legal director', Nigel Johnson, is to step down a full year before his normal retirement date at the end of 2014 (Johnson to go). The announcement follows several articles in narrowboatworld condemning the director and suggesting he should go sooner rather than later.
It would be easy to suggest that Nigel Johnson's demise is due to narrowboatworld articles rather than a wish to retire early. In particular, (CaRT director under attack) ended with the suggestion 'Perhaps he could be persuaded to retire early'. Alternatively, it could be suggested that the sudden announcement of his departure is linked to his embarrassing sworn statement which suggests that the Trust has a funding gap some £25m higher than that claimed by Operations Director, Vince Moran at a recent press briefing (£105m or £130m).
Not unnoticed
That the press briefing was held on Friday 8th November and the press release, announcing Mr Johnson's retirement, was made the following Monday evening will not have gone unnoticed.
[Allan tells us that if Nigel Johnson has had his contract terminated, he will be entitled to about a third of a million pounds in salary/benefits/bonus and pension. If he did give notice in April then he would not be entitled to this.]