On Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:33 AM [GMT+1=CET],
Sue Burchett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am concerned that all the attention is on BW grant cuts, EA have
> had their grant cut as well. As EA hasn't the resources BW has this
> is going to have more of an impact especially in the long term. Sue
The situations with EA and BW are actually quite different, although equally
worrying. Part of the difference is the the Navigation part of EA is a
small part of much larger organisation, whereas the navigation part of BW is
the wnhole of it.
There have been two rounds of cuts. Some were announced quite a while ago,
at the time of year when this is normal. In that round both BW and EA
budgets were cut. BW swallowed hard and started making arrangements to live
within the new grant level. EA had been told by DEFRA that its boaters
ought to be paying more, so decided to pass part of its cuts on to the
navigation department, to be recouped by a varyt large increase in licence
fees.
Then, some time later, DEFRA announced further cuts as a result of its
deepening financial crisis. The EA decided it had already cut its
navigation budget by as much as it wanted to, so placed these new cuts
elsewhere (flood defences, I believe). BW didn't have that choice.
That's all as I understand it, and I'm open to correction from anyone who
knows the facts better than I.
For those of us who are campaigning, it means that we need to say somewhat
different things about the EA cuts and the BW ones. I'm working on that at
the moment.
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus III
web-site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
Defend the waterways.
Visit the web site www.saveourwaterways.org.uk
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