"TREVOR BURRIDGE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >A chance for all Boaters and Canal enthusiasts to put their hard earned cash >where their mouth is and to buy shares in the new Company when listed for >subscription if not to gain a serious campaigning interest.
I'm afraid I think this won't fly. >If the only dividend we could expect would be the autonomy of the Waterways >from the Government would this not be a "real" return on our money. There's the rub. To make the proposed company viable, BW would have to come with some financial arrangment to make up for the fact that waterways can no longer make money and have substantial maintenance liabilities. This could be in the form of a promise of an government annual grant, but what rational investor would believe that? So it would probably have to be in the form of a property (or similar) endowment, worth about £1.5 billion. In other words, just the problem BW now faces. So why not fix it for BW, and be more sure that the accompanying requirement that the waterways be kept, and kept up, in perpetuity would be honoured because the government is BW's shareholder?. >No more multiple organisations campaigning for the waterways. IWA, Nabo, WRG >et al but a company owned by its users and enthusiasts.. Rose coloured glasses, there. Do you really believe the whole waterways community would be in agreement about how your privatised outfit would run the waterways? No way! I'm certain that the waterways organisations would soon disagree with it, and continue to disagree with each other. >Shoot me down. Er, "Bang" (see above). Adrian Adrian Stott 07956-299966
