Boaters' Update October 2011
This month we report the new name of the charity that from next April will take responsibility for the care of the waterways in England and Wales and look ahead to what the future holds for the waterways through the eyes of the charity’s transition trustees. With the winter drawing in, we’ve teamed up with the Residential Boat Owners Association to offer guidance for BW mooring customers explaining what services will be provided in extreme conditions.
++ **New name for Britain's new waterways charity**
The transition trustees of the new waterways charity have announced the name of the new organisation - the Canal & River Trust (or Glandwr Cymru in Wales) and have unveiled its new symbol.
The decision has been taken following extensive public and internal consultation and market research into the replacement for the British Waterways’ name and symbol.
Multi-award winning design agency Pentagram provided free design consultancy to develop the new national charity’s symbol. The worldwide agency has a long history with the waterways, creating the BW symbol over 20 years ago. To make maximum impact at minimum cost, the Canal & River Trust will be working with waterway organisations to plan a phased change to signage on the waterways possibly by providing a ‘signing kit’ for people who want to help out and get involved.
The name is a clear marker for change, can stand the test of time, and leave no one in doubt that the organisation is a charity and is here to look after the nation’s wonderful waterways.
The logo, however, is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. It keeps the characteristic humpbacked bridge of the BW logo but introduces the new hero – the swan. A good logo doesn’t illustrate what an organisation does, but it does indicate its qualities. Whilst the National Trust logo doesn’t have a stately home insight, it implies qualities of national pride, heritage and environment. In the same way, the Canal & River Trust’s magnificent swan evokes serenity, protectiveness and much more in people’s minds. From the research and the reaction we know that it resonates well with the general public.
[/features-and-articles/features/introducing-the-canal-and-river-trust/designing-a-logo-for-the-canal-and-river-trust Read an interview about the new logo with John Rushworth, partner at Pentagram]
[/features-and-articles/news/3200/new-name-for-britains-new-waterways-charity Read more about the Canal & River Trust in England & Wales]
++**Waterways trustees report on charity progress**
The Canal & River Trust’s transition trustees have published their first report on what has been achieved since they took up their posts in May 2011.
The report sets out the trustees’ thinking on membership, governance, funding, management and other matters relating to the new charity. It provides greater detail, terms of reference and timetables for the appointment of the Trust’s Council and partnerships and announces the decision to seek three new trustees with experience in finance, investment and engineering.
Tony Hales, chairman of the Canal & River Trust, said: “It has been a fascinating and jam-packed few months and I and my fellow trustees would like to thank everyone who has helped us. It is extraordinarily rare for an organisation the size and complexity of BW to go through this level of change and none of us underestimates how much work needs to be done. We have however been really encouraged by everyone’s enthusiasm and willingness to engage and support us – from staff and stakeholders. I have every confidence that we can provide the new Trust with the firmest of foundations that will support the waterways for many years ahead.”
[/features-and-articles/news/3201/waterways-trustees-report-on-charity-progress Read more about the transition trustee’s first report for the Canal & River Trust]
++**BW’s last Annual Meeting**
The last ever Annual Meeting as BW was held earlier this month in Birmingham. Unsurprisingly, the focus was the move to charitable status in April 2012. The day started with a video address from Richard Benyon MP, the Minister for Inland Waterways in England and Wales, passionately endorsing the Trust status. BW's chairman, Tony Hales, reviewed many of the successes from the year just gone, before BW's chief executive, Robin Evans, spoke about the detail of setting up the new charity. New trustees, Lynne Berry and John Dodwell, themselves both volunteers, spoke about their backgrounds and their first months working for the Canal & River Trust. The morning concluded with an audience question and answer session.
During the afternoon a series of presentations from BW specialists and guest speakers followed. Topics included fundraising for the charity, an overview of how the inherent risk of looking after such an old and publicly accessible network is managed, a celebration of volunteering in action and a local perspective from the recently formed West Midlands’ Waterway Partnership.
Having for some time already gifted all his salary to waterway good causes, BW chairman, Tony Hales, concluded the meeting with two fundraising challenges – one of which was a challenge that if anyone in the room was willing to donate £50,000 to get the Canal & River Trust off to a good start, he would match the donation.
View presentations and transcripts of the BW’s Annual Meeting at [http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/annualmeeting www.britishwaterways.co.uk/annualmeeting]
++ **BW’s service pre-payment cards**
The price of BW’s service pre-payment cards will increase on 1 November. The major uses of these cards are for electricity and sewage pump-out machines. Prices were last increased in 2007, since when, thanks to the long term fixed price contract which BW negotiated with its energy supplier, customers have been paying as little as 8 pence per kwh for electricity delivered through prepayment cards. In line with statutory regulations for resale of electricity, BW does not mark up the price of electricity units that it sells – the price it pays is the price charged to customers for each kwh.
Card prices from 1 November 2011 are as follows:
||Card value (units)||10||12||20||25||30||40||
||kwh delivered by card||50||60||100||125||150||200||
||Price from 1 November 2011 ||£6.35||£7.45||£11.95||£14.75||£17.55||£23.20||
There is limited availability of 12, 30 and 40 unit cards – once current stocks are exhausted, BW do not propose re-ordering these denominations.
**Use of cards for pump-out machines**
A pump out requires 25 units, taken from a pre-payment card (i.e. you need 25 units on the card before you start the machine). The price of a BW pump-out will therefore rise from £10 to £14.75. This is a substantial increase, but BW has reviewed its average cost of providing the service around the network and has found it to be in excess of £30. Major cost elements include breakdown call-outs, the majority of which result from mis-use by customers, and the cost of emptying septic tanks where mains drainage is absent in remote areas. New cost monitoring procedures will highlight the locations with highest costs, and providing that alternative facilities are provided by boatyards or marinas in the vicinity BW will consult locally on closing the most expensive sites. This will mitigate further upward pressure on the price of this service. BW regret the size of the increase, but do not feel it fair that pump-out users should be subsidised by the general licence payer, nor that BW’s service should be significantly cheaper than that provided by commercial operators.
BW hope boaters will understand that it could not give advance notice of this increase because to do so would have encouraged stock-piling of cards and the alternative of re-calibrating the card readers would have been costly in manpower. BW is budgeting capital over the next two years to upgrade electricity bollards to include ‘smart’ meters which will provide for more convenient payment systems for customers.
**Card availability**
Cards are available from [/shop www.waterscape.com/shop], from BW Customer Services on 01923 201120, from waterway offices, or in some cases, from local retailers.
++ **Boat checker update**
BW’s Enforcement team carried out an interim boat check during September to monitor performance mid-way through the reporting year. The results have shown a further reduction in licence evasion of 0.3%, with 95.4% of boats now licenced. BW staff check boat index numbers against a database to check compliance, however valuable resources are often wasted checking up on boats that are fully licensed but failing to display their index number. Please bear this in mind and try to ensure your index number is still visible should you plan to cover your boat ahead of the winter season.
During September, customers reported 61 sightings of unlicensed boats. Of these 14% have subsequently relicensed and a further 59% were already in BW’s enforcement process. 11% resulted in new cases being opened for action, and the remaining 16% were boats which were not identifiable through a valid boat index number, but the details have been passed to BW’s enforcement teams for further investigation.
[http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/license-it/license-it-or-lose-it/online-boat-checker Visit the online boat checker]
++ **Caught red handed?**
Canal fish populations in recent years have been under threat from illegal fishing and removal by poachers. Pike, perch, bream, carp and the increasingly rare eel are the main target species for the poachers. BW needs your help in reporting any incidents observed on its waterways. Should you witness people using seine nets, traps or carrying away live fish from the canal please telephone the Environment Agency on 0800 807060 at the first opportunity.
BW’s National Fisheries & Angling Manager, John Ellis, said 'Conservation of fish stocks not only benefits anglers but also the wider canal ecosystem. Many of our most precious bird species such as kingfishers and herons rely on fish for food and if canal fish stocks decline these bird species will suffer too.”
++ **Dealing with incidents reminder**
Every year some boats unfortunately run into difficulty. Engines fail, boats get stuck and occasionally craft sink. BW appreciates how distressing this can be for the owner of the vessel, but reminds owners that it is their responsibility to salvage their craft. This responsibility applies in all situations and, to ensure minimal disruption to other boaters, the owner should employ all effort and resources to ensure the swift salvage of their boat.
++ **Preparing for winter**
And finally, the past two winters have seen exceptionally bad weather and forecasters are warning we should expect more of this before the end of 2011. In order to help BW’s long-term mooring customers it has produced a guidance [/media/documents/24640.pdf document] with assistance from the Residential Boat Owners Association, explaining what services will and will not be provided in extreme weather conditions. Look out next month for Waterscape’s top winter boating tips and reminders.
++ **Register now for the Boaters' Update**
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