Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs (AWCC) (BW 18a)
SUMMARY
The Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs
(AWCC) submitted a Memorandum to the Committee in January 2007.
We appreciate the invitation to speak at an open meeting at Gloucester
and summarise the comments we would make to you as follows:
— Future development, and enhancement
by Government, of the BW property portfolio is essential to maintain
adequate third party funding.
— More third party funding could be
obtained by seeking co-operative arrangements with other public
bodies, such as English Partnerships and their successor.
— The necessary re-organisation of
the navigation and leisure function of the Environment Agency
(EA) will have consequences upon the long-term funding arrangements
for BW and should not be ignored.
— Our concern that many boaters may
be forced off the waterways because of ever rising prices and
that it is somewhat related to the current funding crisis.
We refer you to our original Memorandum for
a full discussion on these matters.
DISCUSSION
Grant or Property Income? We emphasise
the point that public money is appropriate for the public services
provided by BW. The short-term solution that we proposed is that
the DEFRA grant is replaced by a cross department service contract
to maintain assets that have use by a wider public. In the longer
term, the financial freedoms given to BW within the public corporation
structure should be reviewed and loosened. However, GIA has to
be supplemented by other sources of income.
Other Income. BW should be enabled with
a greater borrowing ability and given a more flexible approach
to the management of their property portfolio, with powers for
greater co-operation with others in the investment in property
and raising of third party income. The search for innovative ways
of achieving extra income must be continued. We recommend that
the portfolio of appropriate property needs to be increased to
a value of at least £1 billion and that this should be done
where possible from government sources. We also suggest that a
partnership with "English Partnerships", could be used
to further develop the BW portfolio. We welcome the formation
of "Communities England", as the Government's new principal
regeneration agency, (to eventually encompass English Partnerships),
with its £4 billion of public assets and a mandate to create
more homes from brown field sites. We anticipate that this will
encourage more partnering deals with regional development agencies,
local authorities and other public and private bodies and we suggest
that BW should be involved.
The EA Connection. We have said that
it is difficult to consider the proper funding needs of the inland
waterways without also looking at the EA. In summary, the solution
that we have put to the EA is to seek the full powers available
under the Trading Fund Act for "Next Steps" Agencies.
This should be done as fully functional trading fund in a separate
agency, or compartment of the existing agency, to cover navigation
and leisure. The alternative is to transfer the responsibility
to BW, but this will require enhanced funding for BW.
Ever Increasing Prices. We do not wish
to present ourselves as a group of moaning boaters having to pay
more for their pastime. However, many of our members, who are
life-long waterways enthusiasts, are now retired and on fixed
income, having put in much voluntary effort in their working lives
to bring the canal system up to its present better state. As we
said before, the history of the restoration has been forged by
the commitments of volunteers both physical and financial. Many
of AWCC's older members helped create and develop club moorings
and facilities on derelict land. Volunteers will feel betrayed
if funds for ongoing maintenance are not to be made available
and prices of moorings and licences continue to rise disproportionately,
thus denying them the fruits of their labour and their boating
retirement. BW has a duty to promote full social inclusion and
we ask the Committee to consider the aspect that we have raised
and how fairness may be extended to all.
Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) Costs. We offer
one example that has arisen since our original Memorandum. The
BSS has recently declared that the scheme is in financial trouble
as both BW and the EA wish to withdraw direct funding (no doubt
brought about by the current wider financial problems). The AWCC
has contributed much to the scheme—maybe more than other
groups—in the many years since its inception. Members of
our National Executive have freely given technical advice and
contributed many hundreds of hours in attending meetings in order
to make it a technically sound scheme. We currently have representatives
on all the BSS Committees and our President has recently completed
a period as chairman of the Advisory Committee. This has all been
done on a voluntary basis. The BSS certificate itself is now to
cost £28.20, more than double the previous cost, and that
is on top of the technical examination, which takes several hours
work by the examiner and is separately charged. It is our belief
that the Scheme will become unsustainable at reasonable cost without
the direct financial support of BW and the EA.
We will be represented at the open meeting by
Tony Mason, AWCC Vice President and for many years National Chairman
of the Association. Tony is also the IWAAC appointed user representative
on the BSS Management Committee.
David Pearce
Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs
March 2007
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