Memorandum submitted by North Cheshire
Cruising Club (BW 74)
1. The North Cheshire Cruising Club (NCCC)
was formed in 1943 and has occupied the High Lane arm of the Macclesfield
Canal since formation. We have leased the arm from British Waterways
or its predecessors continuously since 1948. We are a company
limited by guarantee. We are the oldest cruising club on the narrow
canals and have 260 current members. We have had a number of leases
from BW or its predecessors and last year completed exhaustive
negotiations with BW Wales and Border counties region for a 10
year lease. In addition we organise a wide range of canal based
activities and our members cruise the whole of the connected system
extensively. We are therefore uniquely qualified to comment on
the questions you have posed.
2. Over the last five years we have noticed
an increasingly hard nosed attitude to their tenants by the Board,
no doubt driven by the new financial regime. In previous years
the Board has accepted responsibility for operational matters
such as dredging, in our new lease we have been forced to accept
responsibility, similarly with environmental matters they also
sought to limit our rights under the Landlord and tenants act.
Further we were required to pay the board's very substantial legal
fee for the preparation of the lease, which was inflated by poor
drafting on the part of their team. When we demurred we were told
bluntly that the fees were not subject to negotiation! This strongly
contrasts with the paternalistic shared responsibility attitude
that we previously operated under and our resentment is heightened
by the knowledge that the board previously agreed to dredge the
arm but failed to carry out this promise. Also any silt accumulation
comes from the board's property as would any environmental contaminants.
All this has resulted in substantial increases in club fees.
3. Another example will serve to illustrate
the appalling lack of tact of the office staff, last Christmas
Eve they phoned our secretary and stated that they were intending
to serve us notice to quit a piece of land, adjacent to the canal,
we have tended and used throughout the life of the Club and for
which we hold an absolute title deed! This contrasts strongly
with the helpful attitude of the on the bank operational staff
when a breakdown occurs, nothing is to much trouble for them.
This contrasts strongly with the indifference previously exhibited
by operational staff.
4. One final example is of the labyrinthine
organisation that BW has become. We the NCCC act as licence agents
for BW, for which we receive commission, but recently we have
been having difficulty with the receipt of commission and our
officer wrote to the address on the letter head to clarify a point.
The letter was returned "address incomplete" Upon phoning
the Leeds number, no one knew anything about the subject. Finally
she phoned the Watford number this was diverted to Leeds but still
failed to make contact.
5. We do not feel competent to comment on
the development of freight on the canals except to observe that
the standards of dredging would have to improve considerably to
make it viable, and as many canals now support more boats than
in the commercial days, use of locks would have to be carefully
regulated to avoid conflict with other users.
6. We feel that the above points together
with the growing limitation on routine maintenance occasioned
by the Defra's cuts are detrimental to good relationships and
the long term future of recreational boating. To sum up, we feel
the BW has a poor attitude towards customer care, and acts in
a disjointed way when dealing with what are important matters
for us. As a result we feel that we have had to pay out a lot
of money unnecessarily.
Dr Noel Christopher
Director North Cheshire Cruising Club for and on
behalf of the Board of NCCC
March 2007
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