floating in the city

government plans to sell UK's canal system

Chancellor Alistair Darling is planning to sell off the M25 Dartford Crossing and the complete UK canal network (above) as part of a £16bn-plus privatisation programme reports the New Civil Engineer.

Speaking at the James Callaghan Memorial lecture Alistair Darling said:

“We need to look at what non-essential public sector assets we can sell, so that we can free up capital for key projects.”

Up for Sale

• British Waterways
• QE II Conference centre
• Ordnance Survey
• Land Registry
• Dartford Crossing
• Royal Mint
• Met Office
• Oil and Pipelines Agency
• Defence Storage and Distribution Agency

This sounds bad, in fact awful, but then we are 'old school' here at Floating in the City. We could easily end up with 'Virgin Waterways' (Sir Richard Branson owns a large barge moored at Little Venice, London). Perhaps this is the only way forward, but why are they saying British Waterways is a "non-essential" asset? Apart from not being true, this is just talking down it's value, so it will sell for even less. They even think the British Weather (the Met Office) is non-essential; we are obviously entering desperate times.

Can we sell Winter and keep Spring?

london swan accuses british waterways

There is a swan emergency going on according to this informant who blames British Waterways, and bad parenting by some humans.  Apparently a family of swans at the Car Mill Dam, St Helens are being forced to live in squalor, trapped in filth and rubbish, at the mercy of local yobs. But the worst thing is they constantly risk getting swept over the overthrow at the dam, and the RSPCA say they won't even bother to save them because it will just happen again. British Waterways refuse to install a safety barrier for the overflow. They say rubbish would get trapped and cause a flood danger. The swans agree rubbish could get trapped, but they point out it is British Waterway's responsibility to keep the waterways as clean as possible, including rubbish collection, so they have no excuse. The trouble is BW are so short of cash, swans are worried that they may soon be charged mooring fees.

Above: Rubbish collecting at St Pancreas lock, London. Just a small example of what swans and other wild life have to contend with while floating in the city.

• 50,000 fish were killed over night on 18th April this year due to a huge sewage spill by Severn Trent into the canal at Wolverhampton. Fish Legal, the legal wing of the Angling Trust is planning to sue. Conservationists are also worried about the impact on birds in the area, such as heron.

• British Waterways have been blaming London boat people for dumping their toilet waste into the cities waterways, but some people are saying if that is really true, it is because BW keep closing down waste disposal points.