David Cragg wrote: > As someone suggested, I wrote to my local MP (Owen Paterson) in > connection with BW getting some of the £110 million being allocated > for the cost of floods. I suggested he might suggest to those in > charge that BW should get money. (Especially as his constituency has > canals which are suffering due to DEFRAs cutting grants and that the > maintenance on said canals might be further compromised if BW have to > spend money on floods.) > > Unfortunately my MP is now getting on in the Conservative party so > his standard tactic is to send any letter sent to the Government > department responsible and send their reply back with a 'There you > are' note. And this is what happened in this case... > > This means I am now in possession of a letter on DEFRA note paper > from... > Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Marine, Landscape & Rural Affairs > and Minister for the South East. > > The letter is interesting in two ways. The first is it was > obviously written by a human or computer waffle generator and the > Second is how little interest the Minister seems to have in BW and > the waterways in their charge... > > Owen Paterson is told, 'BW spend £6 million on dredging and may > need to spend more on flood damage. (?) This is an operational matter > for BW and their approach must be proportionate: it has to consider > priorities and draw up a programme, which balances the needs of the > network.' > > The Minister continues, 'BWs contribution to flood management on a > national scale is quite limited as locally canals are not designed to > take flood flows, but locally its contribution can be quite > significant.' (Does he mean the - quite significant - River Severn?) > 'BW is currently working on a national flood management plan which > will set the framework... This is due for completion at end 2008' > > Finally on the money for floods the Minister informs that, 'It has > not been decided how the money will be allocated but whilst BW's > claim will be taken into account, given the scale of wider impacts it > is unlikely that any allocation to BW will be a significant sum' > > From the tone of the letter one gets the impression that the > Minister is not exactly striving to help BW in their money problems > and has, indeed, distanced himself from them as in merely wanting > occasional required reports on his desk. > > Given this I wonder if this Minister is any better than the last > no-hoper as far has furthering waterways causes are concerned. > Certainly there is a lot of room for improvement but at the moment I > award the Minister Null points! > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > ------------------------------------
I have heard that the "pot" of money will be shared out amongst *all* claimants...so that BW can expect to get a couple of hundred grand... -- Neil Arlidge - NB Earnest - Shannon Reg 7410 Read about the TNC Irish travels at: http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk/Tour_07/index.html Defend the waterways - Ne sutor ultra crepidam http://www.saveourwaterways.org/ ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
