Victor: Out with 'em

I JUST have to ask, but does the return of a measly £25,000 for an outlay of just under one and half million quid sound like a good investment to you?

Of course it doesn't. It's obviously the the work of people who really haven't a clue, but that is the outcome, after three years of those ridiculous Waterway Partnerships, as our Allan Richards told us.

And you may remember the £25,000 was to provide moorings to encourage boaters to shop in Atherstone, but as expected, boaters not of course being worthy of consultation, the moorings are in the wrong place, for like us, most boaters in the know moor by the road bridge on the Atherstone Flight and nip across to the nearby supermarket, and not the long way round from the top of the flight.  So it was wasted after all.

Of course CaRT, as British Waterways before it, cannot admit to being wrong so the partnerships will undoubtedly continue, draining away our very limited resources, notwithstanding even the government having its doubts.

Only two

Those of you who read of our problems with the broad locks on the Soar and Leicester Section up to Foxton may remember the many struggles we encountered, so it was with some hope that I perused the winter stoppage notices to see just how many of those locks were to be attended to.  But alas only two.

But alas again, not the ones that need attention, such as those where leakage causes so much trouble in getting the water level that it is a struggle to move the gates, nor those whose gates will not stay shut, and not the one that only has one working out of the original four paddles.

No my friends, they are to be allowed to get worse, with the two that are to be repaired both by Aylestone Park, and in comparison not it too bad a condition. Ahh, but the park is where they will be on public view...

Could be

So are those people who believe that certain sections of the waterways are being allowed to deteriorate to save money on maintenance correct?  The Leicester Section from the city to Foxton, as we discovered, was little used and with the locks coming thick and fast, and in such poor condition, it would make sense.

After some of the dubious decisions of CaRT, and the extent it goes to to hide its nefarious ways, leaving us with no alternative but to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to get any information, I would not be surprised.

Victor Swift