Certainly I notice that BW have invented new slick methods with which to
carry out maintainance compared to the past - say 20 years ago - when there was
a tendency to send out the much more numerous men in little blue boats to
actually fix things to a certain degree when things went wrong.
Now BW have red tape and health a safety and make use of both not to fix
some things - often leaving them for years until they fall apart before fixing
them. Of course with so few men on the ground now and contractors costin a lot
more than BW inhouse staff used to do the job for, time must also be taken by
more senior bods to assess which jobs have priority and sites must be checked
(H&S) to make sure any men and machinary will be safe on the towpath to do the
job.
With this in mind, if (say) a hole appears near a lock up goes the tape and
signs and it can stay up for years leaving the hole to blossom with weeds -
which can't be cut as red tape cannot be crossed. At one example of this
(behind a lock wall on the downside of the lock) we stop the boat to cut back
the plants growing across the entrance as no-one else does.
In another place the tape later became spordic wooden fencing, then more
tape as bits of the bank fell into the cut until one day a half the towpath
width went and BW closed the path under H&S - one assumes it might now be
fixed. Likewise some locks are getting worse and worse - and this system is not
local to one unit but can be seen across the system.
To Bean Counters such a system makes good sense. Why patch and keep patching
when you can leave it until its unusable and then it can be kept closed while
you do one big job to make it good for 20 years (you hope!). We already have
reactive policing, reactive fireprevention and to BW obviously reactive fixing
(but only when it breaks or they think it needs fixing lest they will get sued)
is an ideal option and one that can be used whether they are strapped for cash
or not.
Now to you and I long termers such a system is a false economy but to 5 year
men its ideal.
Captain Beeky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 2 Dec 2007, at 14:29, Nick Atty & Neil Arlidge wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:24:04 -0000, Neil Arlidge wrote:
>
>> There is one school of thought that says we should just let BW get
>> on with
>> it. The waterways will survive in some form or other. With a slight
>> downturn
>> in the economy BW will hang themselves...after all that is what
>> happens when
>> you mess with virtual privatisation, market forces and 200 year old
>> infrastructure...look what happened to Railtrack...and Metronet.
>> There is another view (mainly subsribed by Steve Haywood) that BW
>> have made
>> powerful enemies in the govt and that the poor waterways will have
>> to suffer
>> as old scores are settled.
>>
>> <The TNC rant removal tool has removed the rest of this text>
>>
>> Hopefully Nick Atty will now pop up and present us with a refined
>> version of
>> his rather accurate view on the way BW "works", in a better way
>> than I ever
>> could :-)
>
>
> I think I am coming to the view that for the waterways as we love them
> to survive a period of downturn is not only inevitable, but essential.
> Given the choice between the atmospheric waterways I grew into, and
> the
> sanitised and tarted up ones we are getting (and I'm not arguing
> against
> the occasional central Birmingham here [the destruction of Gas Street
> excepted]) I find it hard not to wish for a return to the late 70s and
> early 80s.
and after some snippery Steve continued . . .
> So a cut in funding, a few collapses and a lot more scruffiness drives
> out the people for whom a boat is an alternative to a cottage in
> spain,
> and leaves the waterways for those who can see beneath the surface to
> the true heart of the canals.
>
> More cuts! Now!
I'm with most of these sentiments too . . . although a relative
newcomer with a shiny boat (sometimes, except the brass bits). I
can't agree with the knocking of Staffy's faux-warehouse-style-
dwelling though.
When I can't stand our beloved weaterways any more we'll have to take
Uncle Mort to France . . . . . . . . or to the emerald place if the
TNC "You'll love it in Ireland" promotion does not make it too
crowded over there.
Beeky
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