INFORMATION REPORT BWB3440D MEMORANDUM TO THE BOARD
MARKETING & FUNDRAISING REPORT – MARCH 2012
Report by Marketing & Fundraising Director
1. PURPOSE
1.1 To inform the Board of developments and issues in the Marketing directorate (which includes boat licensing policy and fundraising).
2. HEADLINES
7000 attend Bingley Five Rise Open Day (3.2) Drought affects boating – we step up communications (8.1) 2 new BT adoptions this month (Milton Keynes & Watford) (5.1.3) Almost 400 apply to become volunteer lockkeepers (5.1.2) New education brand complete (5.2.1) Montgomery Canal HLF bid ready to go (10.4).
3. COMMUNICATIONS
3.1 Opinion Formers
We sent our latest edition of our newsletter to riparian MPs, waterway societies, third sector partners etc with details of the new contract for the Trust as the main item.
Our other focus has been on preparation of written and oral evidence for the Efra Select scrutiny of the Transfer Order. An oral update will be given at the Board Meeting.
3.2 Media relations
All board members and trustees should be receiving our weekly news update, please let us know if you have any difficulty receiving it.
The most important announcement has of course been the Trust’s funding contract with government, which has received a tremendous response in the waterway and online media.
There has been growing media interest in the drought affecting the midlands and south of England. Whilst canals aren’t at the top of the media agenda (public water supply and farming are the most commonly reported angles), there have been regular reports of navigation restrictions as well as the concept of using canals as part of a national water grid to transfer water from the ‘wet’ north to the ‘dry’ south. We’re stressing that the majority of the network remains unaffected by the drought and that the action we’re taking now will increase the water supply and make the resource available go as far as possible.
Highlights since the last board report include continued and extensive coverage for BW’s winter maintenance and repair programme – with the Bingley Five Rise stoppage alone
attracting widespread regional and national coverage (and over 7,000 visitors). The BBC’s flagship environment programme, Countryfile, was broadcast from the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal while the 200th anniversary of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal generated good coverage in Wales.
Brian Blessed’s backing of our volunteering lock keeping campaign was particularly well picked-up by both the local and national media and well received by the public with over 300 applications to help out across 50 locations.
It is summer holiday booking season and a number of the national papers have featured the delights of canal boating holidays in recent weeks.
4. MARKETING
4.1 Marketing campaign
McCann, our appointed agency, are working on the marketing campaign to attract more of our target audience to visit their local canal and river. Popular canal areas which have a high density of the population meeting the ‘donor profile’ have been selected:
Milton Keynes (Banbury and Tring) Bath to Devizes Birmingham (Hatton and Fradley) Leeds (Skipton, Bingley and Standedge Tunnel Chester (Ellesmere, Anderton and Pontcysyllte) Worcester (Droitwich and Stourport)
These areas are also the ones where fundraising teams will be deployed, so once we drive people to these locations we will encourage them to become ‘Friends of the Trust’.
The campaign will comprise a mix of doordrops and poster ads and the key message is around ‘connecting people with nature and history’ as a reason to visit and get involved. The campaign will go live to coincide with the launch date. Creative will be available soon.
4.2 Rebranding
Signage: Thirty areas have been audited by volunteers for updating signage with Trust branding (largely fundraising destinations, launch event and marketing campaign sites). A whole mix of different size, shape and make of signs has been identified and we are currently matching sign sizes to identify how many vinyls are needed at each site. The next step is to remobilize volunteers to re-cover the old branding at the time of launch. We will also be asking our people to re-cover signs that are not on the priority list; this will be a more gradual process.
Uniform: Every member of staff who wears a uniform will be given their very own Canal & River Trust branded uniform pack in time for launch. Whilst the charity is still in its infancy the main marketing aim of the uniform will be Brand Awareness, and so we will focus on having a logo on the front and back of all work wear. Volunteers will also be provided with newly branded uniform, but these will have a ‘get involved, join us’ message on them. Old BW uniforms will be collected for recycling. Any proceeds of this will be donated to the Trust.
4.3 Digital
We are on the final stretch of developing and designing the new website. The site has been designed with five core goals in mind: Increase awareness of the charity Increase visitor numbers Encourage and take donations Promote and recruit volunteers Provide general information about CRT (boating, trading arm, governance etc)
We have started training a broad range of people to add content to the site, including Waterway Partnerships.
We are on target to release the site as a ‘beta’ (test site) to staff and close stakeholders, followed by interested members of the public around a month before launch. This will enable us to gain feedback and make any necessary tweaks in good time.
The web team has also been working to ensure that the new customer relationship management system (ThankQ) can ‘talk’ to the website. This means that we can have a single sign-on for customers and supporters to enable them to manage their contact details, volunteering, donations and newsletter mailings etc. via the website.
In a wider context we are using digital media to enhance people’s visit to a waterway. At Bingley, on the Montgomery Canal and at Bath we have a mix of QR code and Audio trails which use Apps and links to specific web pages to provide further information and entertainment.
5. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
5.1 Volunteering
5.1.1 Understanding Volunteers E- Learning Programme
This has been rolled out to Directors, Senior Managers, and Line Managers in the past 2 months. Other staff will have the opportunity to participate in March and waterway bank staff in April. There are special measures in place to assist with bank staff completion of the exercise ensuring logistics and IT competency concerns do not hinder completion.
5.1.2 Volunteer Lock keepers 2012
January saw the launch of our seasonal volunteer lock keeper campaign, recruiting volunteers to work at 61 sites around the country. A hugely successful press launch took place on 16th Jan and headed up by actor Brian Blessed (free of charge).
The campaign generated 546 enquiries and 390 completed applications, reassuring us that our initial volunteer welcome is good. The waterway and volunteering team are working hard to coordinate interviews, train and induct all volunteers. It is likely that we will engage all 390 volunteers in some way.
5.1.3 Adoptions with BT
Discussions have been held with representatives from BT offices in Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Watford regarding local canal adoptions. Launch dates have been set for MK and Watford in March with regular dates given for monthly activities.
Within each BT team, the local representatives will act as lead contacts, promoting the adoptions internally and working with the local BW team to plan the activities. Recruitment of the volunteers will be done by BT’s central volunteering team.
5.1.4 Thank Q
There has been continued development of supporter care database Thank Q with testing by the Volunteering, Education and Web teams. Training of these teams and the new Supporter Care Team member is taking place with Thank Q set to be launched in April.
5.1.5 E-induction tool
Volunteer Mick Moreton has developed an e-induction tool for BW volunteers to support their induction. It includes information about BW/CRT, safety induction, customer service standards, Minimum Safety Learning Standards films and our Fast Facts details. A test version is on Gateway to get feedback from both volunteers and their task managers. It can be used as a presentation as well as being used at home by the volunteers as an extra resource at their leisure.
5.1.6 New roles
New recruitment campaigns have been launched for a ‘Moodle’ (an e-training tool) Volunteer Developer in the Learning and Capabilities Team, roles within the engineering and building surveying teams and ‘Orchard’ volunteers on the River Severn lock islands.
5.2 Education and Interpretation
5.2.1 Goodbye WOW – Hello Explorers
Following last year’s evaluation report, testing with children and their teachers, discussion with partners we have new name for our education offer Wild Over Waterways (WOW). Our new name is Explorers – which can then be supplemented by the inclusion of Canal & River, Waterway or Glandwr (Welsh for Waterside).
Considerations in selecting the name;
Explorers came out very strongly when tested with children; they recognise the word and feel very comfortable with it.
'Explorer' strengthens and enhances the main Canal & River Trust brand and ensures the education offer is connected to the trust.
It’s an active word which inspires investigation and activity - it fits with our focus on promoting a national, but local waterway network with free volunteer led sessions.
The flexibility in use of canal, river and waterway enables the brand to be used by long standing partners, in particular the IWA.
There was a need to increase the relevance of our education offer amongst our audience and to connect better to current curriculum themes. We also needed to reflect our new focus - ‘connecting people, nature and history’ to achieve this we have referenced nature, the environment and wildlife within our name and logo.
The WOW brand was established 10 years ago and become tired and old fashioned. The name also regularly needed explaining and didn’t link to the main BW brand.
The new brand will be introduced at the Education Show in March although a full launch will be later in the year to complement other launch activities.
5.2.2 Education Show 2012
The Education & Learning team and volunteers will be manning a stand at the 2012 Education Show at the NEC in Birmingham on the 15th – 17th March. The team will be sharing the WOW (soon to be Explorer) educational resources and introducing the services of our volunteers to educational professional and teachers from across the country. The event attracts over 12,000 visitors every year with over 400 exhibitors. www.education-show.com
5.3 Angling and Fisheries
Water levels on reservoirs in the South East remain significantly below average as at the end of February 2012. The fisheries team is currently preparing and costing an emergency action plan to cover the worst outcome scenarios. Concern remains that the fish populations in these reservoirs will have become stressed by the challenging environmental conditions over the winter period and this could manifest itself in a disease outbreak in the spring/summer of 2012.
Fish restocking took place at Toddbrook reservoir.
The National Angling Advisory Group met in January.
Thames Water Utilities have agreed to provide funding for research into the decline of the fishery on the Grand Union canal between Rickmansworth and Denham.
5.4 Other
IWA/CRT Workshop
A stakeholder workshop on 18th February brought together over 100 representatives of waterway societies/trusts and volunteer groups to discuss hopes and fears for the future and opportunities for collaboration and partnership. The workshop was well received and positive and a full report of the discussions has been prepared and circulated. The event was jointly organised by CRT and IWA. A follow up meeting with the trustees of IWA is planned for 3rd April to discuss key themes and agree actions.
National Trust – Urban Sounding Board
On 10th February BW participated in a National Trust Event to explore how NT could become more involved in urban communities. The event was attended by c 50 senior NT employees who have been tasked with developing a strategy to ensure ‘people who live in cities to feel what the Trust does is relevant to their lives.’
Many opportunities for partnership working were identified and a meeting has been arranged with a senior property manager in Birmingham to explore some of these ideas further.
6. CUSTOMER SERVICES/RELATIONS
6.1 The transition of our customer contact center services to Moneypenny is going well. The dedicated team of eight, based in Wrexham, with overflow support from other colleagues, is now handling all our customer services and switchboards calls after four weeks of training and support.
Customer services e-mails transfer to Moneypenny w/c 12 March and we say goodbye to the temporary staff based in Watford on Friday 16 March (three permanent employees took voluntary redundancy and left in early February). Moneypenny will be operating independently from Monday 19 March with support from one member of BW’s customer services team who is staying with us until the end of April to help with any teething problems.
Next steps Remote reception
We are trialling this service which uses call line identification (CLI) to identify internal calls (whether from land lines or mobiles) so that they can be transferred using voice recognition. This is to reduce the calls the Moneypenny team handles which ultimately will reduce costs.
03 number
To coincide with the launch of the Trust we will launch an 03 number and do away with the very many different switchboard and customer services calls we have removing confusion for our customers. 03 numbers recently been introduced by OFCOM to help improve consumer trust and confidence in UK phone numbers. The intention is that 03 numbers will be used by businesses, the public sector and charities that want a presence nationally but want their customers to pay a local rate or free from mobiles if users have free minutes. The cost of calls to a 03 number is generally the same as a local number whether you call from a landline or a mobile. If a mobile user has inclusive minutes they generally come out of that allowance. If the mobile user is on a pay as you go tariff the call is charged at local rate. We recognise that 03 numbers are still new and we will need to do extensive communications with our customers to give them confidence in the number.
6.2 Complaints
So far in 2011/12 we have received 135 first level complaints, a reduction of 34% on the same period last year (2010/11: 204). Of these first level complaints 37 went to the second level to be considered by a senior manager or director, a reduction of 24.5% on the same period last year (2010/11: 49).
The independent Waterways Ombudsman considers complaints at a third and final stage. So far this year she has accepted thirteen complaints for consideration. She has made thirteen decisions - in eleven of these she ruled to not uphold the complaint or pursue the matter further. Two complaints have been partially upheld.
6.3 Freedom of Information Requests
2011/12 stats
FoI & EIR Requests Subject Access Requests Total Number of Average Average Requests Number number of Number number of Received Completed days (20) Completed days (40) April 19 25 17 May 15 16 15 June 22 25 11 July 26 24 13 August 37 27 7 1 30 September 39 24 12 October 25 26 12 November 12 16 14 December 11 9 10 January 19 8 13 4 34.5 February 21 21 13 1 24 March
So far in 2011/12 we have received 242 requests for information, this has increased by 19% on the same period last year (2010/11: 203). June, July and August 2011 saw the largest numbers of requests received; September was the busiest month with a peak of 41 requests received (that’s an average of two new requests received each working day). November and December were the quietest months, however, we are experiencing a steady increase again during January and February this year.
We have recently received some decision notices from The Information Commissioner’s office which are addressed in the Corporate Services Director’s Report.
7. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
7.1 Employee engagement
Jim Stirling, Debbie Lumb and Gaenor Prest have started a series of roadshows to share the feedback from the listening to you exercise and to brief people on the latest CRT news. They have reported a definite shift in attitude with more optimism and people openly thanking them for all the work and actions completed so far.
7.2 CRT preparation
There have been lots of milestones to share with staff recently (or coming up very soon) including Council elections and outcome, Transfer Order, three new Trustees, new partnership Chairs and the revamped Education brand.
7.3 BW Monthly replacement
Research on the BW Monthly replacement has started with the Editor visiting a number of team talks to understand what colleagues would like from their internal newspaper. Quantitative research starts (online survey with hard copies for bank staff) starts on 15 March.
The first edition will be July with a commemorative farewell BW Monthly published in June.
7.4 Launch celebrations
The theme is bringing everyone who cares for the waterways together to celebrate this moment in the waterways history at inclusive events across the country. Staff will be asked to down tools and join the launch events providing a focus for them along with stakeholders and supporters. We’re thinking of ways of making staff feel special and identifiable at these events such as everyone wearing commemorative T-shirts and how we can capture the day’s celebrations, such as photographing every employee for a mural.
Staff will receive the packs given to Friends so they can understand what regular donors receive when they become a Friend and so they too can enjoy the freebies. There’ll be other items too, such as information hand-outs for staff to give to people who enquire about how they can get involved with the Trust.
Overnight practical things such as rebranded office templates and new e-mail addresses will be rolled out and work wear and name badges will be distributed ready for day one to reinforce that we’re now the Canal & River Trust.
8. BOATING
8.1 Drought
The impact of drought on our customers summer cruising plans is of considerable concern. We have worked hard to keep boaters informed and boating organisations have responded gratefully to clear presentations of the technical detail from the Water Management team. We are in negotiation with EA to be able to offer licence concessions to encourage boaters to spend time on the Thames where there is slightly less concern over water supplies for navigation.
8.2 Olympics
Demand for visitor moorings has been less than expected when we launched our offer in Spring 2011. This is fortunate both on account of the water position, and because of the challenge of persuading residential boaters living on the Regents Canal and River Lee to vacate the area during the games period. We are close to agreeing a way forward which will provide resident boaters with an affordable mooring option within the area and minimise risk of bad publicity
8.3 Mooring site refurbishment
Work has just started on site at a notoriously difficult long term mooring site in West London occupied by a large number of static houseboats, many of which are in a poor state of repair. The 0.75 million project includes contingency for damage claims as all boats have to be moved to allow contractors to dredge the site and replace unsafe mooring pontoons. The refurbished site will include additional berths and will generate a good rate of return on capital.
8.4 Crick Boat Show, Jubilee Weekend 2-5 June
This will be the only large scale event for inland boaters this year as there will be no IWA festival. Our partner, Waterways World shoulders the entire commercial risk for the first time this year and BW stands to earn a share of the income. Plans are proceeding very well and highlights will include 60’s favourites ‘The Bachelors’ performing in the show’s Real Ale Marquee on the Sunday and celebrated folk singer Isla St Clair will perform a fusion of traditional and modern folk classics and waterway themed songs on the Tuesday. Because of the drought, we are encouraging boaters to travel to the show by road rather than water.
9. VOLUNTARY FUNDRAISING
9.1 Individual Giving
9.1.1 Committed giving
In January one of the two fundraising agencies we planned to work with (GIFT) went into administration. As a result of this we have extended the remit and increased the targets of the remaining agency (CM Fundraising) and are seeking a replacement second supplier to take on a smaller contract. This is delaying set up slightly but sites and events at which fundraisers will work are being agreed with waterway managers. We remain confident that we will be able to begin our face to face fundraising in June 2012 and that we can achieve our recruitment target of 7,000 Friends. In the meantime, development of the incentives and benefits package for Friends is progressing well.
9.1.2 Launch appeal
Projects to be featured in the launch appeal have now been finalized. 50 projects will be featured in the appeal, spread across our network, all of which focus on the theme of Bringing the Towpaths to Life. The overall fundraising target for the appeal is £220,000, which will result in over £2 million of work as a result of funds leveraged. Work with Just Giving to develop an integrated online fundraising platform through which people can both donate to and fundraise for one or more of the projects featured in the appeal continues and the development of on-site signage, the web content and PR plans for the appeal are all in progress.
9.2 Corporate partnerships
Our first corporate partner has now been agreed in writing. People’s Postcode Lottery have agreed to support our work with a grant of £100,000 per year (10 year agreement) every year from their Culture Fund. Our role in the partnership will be to provide prizes to incentivize people to play the lottery. Work on the details of the contract will continue through early 2012.
Negotiations continue with Google regarding ‘canal-view’ and conversations are also being opened with other major companies, including Tesco, Land & Water and Jordans Cereals.
9.3 Events
The possibility of a series of ‘Big River Swim’ events is being investigated with the support of the Safety team. If feasible, this series of events would be run in conjunction with a partner charity who would help secure participation and underwrite costs. This event would launch in 2013. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by end March 2012.
A 300 mile charity bike ride from London to Brussels, via Amsterdam is being held in late August 2012 to raise money for CRT. Ten members of staff have signed up to participate in this first challenge event and internal advertising about the event will begin in March. So far 50% of the costs of the event have been pledged by corporate contacts of BW. We anticipate that all costs will be covered, enabling cyclists to tell all their sponsors that every penny raised will be spent directly and entirely on our charitable work.
9.4 Trust Fundraising
Research into the trust funders with the greatest potential for CRT has been commissioned and is due to be completed by the end of April. This will put us in a strong position to begin making applications to charitable trusts as soon as we have a registered charity number.
9.5 Staffing
The Individual Giving Manager has been appointed and has taken up his post. Interviews for the post of Leadership Giving Manager will be held in March. It is expected that a member of staff from The Waterways Trust will also join the team to lead on Trust Fundraising.
10. ENTERPRISE
10.1 Headlines & Key Performance Indicators
Income is ahead of plan £852k new funding secured for 2012/13 through Sustrans/DfT sustainable transport funding
Enterprise England & Wales Full Year F10 Original F8 Forecast Plan Variance Forecast
£ Value of Funding Received 13,093 10,867 2,226 13,127 Return on Investment 8.8 5.0 3.7 8.4 £ Value of Works Not Through The Books 1,629 1,914 (286) 1,640 Salary Cost as a % of Directorate Target 100% 1,507 1,507 0 Payroll Costs Recovered from Funders 559 349 210 541 Expenditure Direct on Waterway 11,782 9,595 (2,187) 11,799
10.2 Funding
There has been a high level of activity within the team as end of financial year approaches for Local Authorities and new funding opportunities have emerged.
Several expressions of interest applications have been submitted under the new government Catchment Restoration Fund; £700,000 for BW’s SAC designated sites in the West Midlands Waterway and for projects across the Kennet & Avon and South Wales & Severn Waterway. The projects include an application for £935k for new lock bypass weirs at seven locations along the K&A Canal.
Through the DfT’s Sustrans funding two schemes including £302,000 for walking and cycling improvements on the Dudley No2 canal and a further £550,000 towpath improvements on the Staffs & Worcs canal in Wolverhampton have been approved.
We have received confirmation that our £410k European Interreg Project ‘Green & Blue Futures’ has been conditionally approved. The project offers the opportunity to develop new models for resource management through increased involvement of the social economy. In addition we receive £180k for the overall management of the project at 100% which should result in around £80k contribution to our own staff costs. The project runs to mid-2015.
Continuing our strategic relationship with Transport for London BW has secured £415k for the 2012/13 Greenways programme. This will enable us to continue work to help manage walking & cycling growth on London towpaths and deliver towpath resurfacing between Stonebridge Locks and Tottenham Locks (River Lee Navigation) and towpath calming measures on the Regents Canal.
Other funding secured since the previous report includes;
£214k for two further towpath improvement schemes for Aintree and Burscough. £105k for Leeds &Liverpool Canal at Burscough £140k from Bradford CC to develop a scheme for Saltaire WHS. £200k through Sustrans Connect 2 funding for the Oxford Canal £30k for Canoe access points on the Weaver Navigation £80k of biodiversity improvements on BW land in the Birmingham and Black Country area via Natural England’s Nature Improvement Area funding. £100k grant from SITA towards a project to support the re-establishment of Luronium Natans on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
10.3 Business Priorities: Infrastructure Improvements and General Maintenance Assistance
As part of the governments outsourcing of the Community Payback element of the probation service we are progressing with a detailed work plan for Lot 1 London. A comprehensive list of tasks, that BW has to and wants to undertake, identified 5,333 days of work suitable for delivery by CP in Lot 1 which equates to 2.5% of available offender time and there is scope to increase this. In relation to future competitions in the other lot areas, there has been a delay, but an announcement is likely to be made within the next two months. In the meantime meetings have taken place with the remaining two lead Probation Trusts.
Phase II of the towpath and cycleway improvements along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal from bridge 66 to Bridge 74 near Goytre Wharf are well underway – see picture. The £438,000 works have been funded by the Welsh Government via Monmouthshire County Council and are due to be completed by the end of March. The package of works has been developed in partnership with Sustrans.
M&B Canal towpath improvements: March 2012
A number of projects are on site or complete in the South; the River Stort Towpath Bridges, Legible London Signage – works to install 36 signs on the Olympic Walking & Cycling Routes - fully funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority at a total cost of £120k and the rebuilding of the towpath along the historic Hanwell Flight with £180k of external funding from Transport for London.
Tottenham River Hub (Lock Landing) – Agreement is being sought from Haringey Council to vary the existing Growth Areas Fund (GAF) grant agreement for £200k to be utilised for development of an improved Lock Landing below Tottenham Locks, with the benefit of enabling both a 2012 Games service to deliver passengers to the Olympic Park 4 miles south by river and lasting legacy benefits in terms of opportunities for a future hire boat business operating from Tottenham.
Iron Trunk Aqueduct, Wolverton – Repainting is virtually complete and interpretation panels will be installed in March. Brown tourist signs have been installed by the County Council. A successful Open Day was held on Sunday 26th February, with over 1,000 visitors. Activities included free boat trips, guided walks and talks as well as children’s activities, demonstration of traditional horse harness, and historic boats, plus the bells at the adjoining churches were rung in celebration.
Iron Trunk Aqueduct - Before And after refurbishment
A £50,000 DDA compliant ramp giving much improved access to the Staffs & Worcs canal has been completed and is now open to the public. This is an interesting project as its need was highlighted by an active local community group including civil engineering professionals who (with guidance from BW) went on to design the facility, apply for grant funding and work closely with the contractor to deliver the works.
New DDA compliant ramp Staffs and Worcester Canal
Dredging works and interpretation have started utilising a £60k grant from Welsh Assembly Government Ecosystem Resilience, Diversity and Compliance Fund to enhance nature reserves, protect aquatic plants and improve visitor access on the Montgomeryshire canal.
Three towpaths schemes in the North and North Wales area are to complete or due to complete this month; Montgomery Canal – £270k project on site, Llangollen Canal - £280k for the canal towpath near Chirk and £250k towpath scheme for the Hyndburn area on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
10.4 Strategy
A paper to set out our strategic approach to funding from Heritage Lottery has been considered by Directors. We have been historically successful in securing Heritage Grant funding on a project by project basis, recent increases in funding to the HLF are improving the opportunity and regional grant approval has increased from £1M to £2M. We intend to continue this project approach along with a larger, national bid (>£2M) every 2-4 years.
We believe as the third largest owner of heritage structures we can realistically secure around £20-£25M over a 10 year period. We have mapped out a series of projects which we can prioritise for regional HLF approval and these include, Marple Aqueduct (currently under round 1 consideration in North West), Pocklington Canal (North East), West Midlands Bridges(WM), Gloucester Museum and Docks (South West) and Olympics Legacy (London).
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bid Your Heritage up to £100k Heritage Grant <£2m Heritage Grant >£2m (National Bid) 20 - 25M 10 Year Total
Our current national bid is for the Montgomery Canal at an HLF contribution value £3.25m which will be submitted this month, this is a cross border project with Wales and therefore automatically requires a national HLF Board review. The project focusses on habitat improvement, funding support for on-going volunteer restoration works, dredging in Wales and nature reserve extension. It is proposed to match the HLF funding with a European LIFE+ application for £900k which will be the first submitted by BW. This will focus on the Special Area of Conservation in Wales for which BW is the UK lead partner for the aquatic plant species Luronium Natans. The work on this project is being led by the partner funded post which is hosted by BW/TWT.
10.5 Wales
Positive and supportive comments were made by three Ministers in the month with respect to waterways and Glandwr Cymru with questions being asked resulting from the Cross Party Group and briefings. Details have been prepared on the income, expenditure and desired expenditure within Wales to assist in preparing a bid for funding to Welsh Government to support Glandwr Cymru.
Andrew and Tim Eastop met with Arts Council Wales. BW/CRT will be one of just 6 national project partners in Wales. We see this as a starting point for the discussions leading to a final Agreement. ACW has £130k per annum to support residencies nationally.
Assembly Members Cross Party Waterways Group Meeting of Feb 8th was well attended. Two complementary presentations were made on the regenerative impact of canals; firstly the outcomes of investment in the Scottish Canals and secondly the potential in Trevor.
Mon & Brec 200 Anniversary Celebrations were launched in February. Eighty guests including Tony Hales and Robin Evans attended the Anniversary Dinner on February 4th at the Angel Hotel, Abergavenny.
On February 10th Mon&Brec200 - was launched with the ‘Ringing the Bells’ event at Pontymoile Basin celebrating the joining of the two canals in 1812. The striking of’ the Bell’ by Cllr Bob Wellington, Leader Torfaen CBC and Robin Herbert, great, great, grandson of Benjamin Hall ( the bell Big Ben in London being named after him ) was followed by a peal of church bells along the length of the canal – 30 churches / communities being involved as part of the celebrations.
Excellent PR coverage for the event included a feature on ITV Wales 6 o’clock news, S4C’s Wedi 3 welsh language afternoon programme and several radio programmes for BBC Radio Wales / Cymru.
Ringing of the Bells Event at Pontymoile Basin Cllr Bob Wellington, Leader Torfaen CBC and Robin Hall of Lanover Estate.
10.6 Engagement and Partnerships
Following the reopening of the Droitwich Canal last summer a new partnership has been established in Worcestershire with the aim of developing an arts trail around the 22 mile mid-Worcestershire ring.
An expanded Stort Waterway partnership has led to key projects around the River Stort at Bishops Stortford to be agreed following engagement of planning, highways and town centre teams from Herts CC, East Herts DC and the CEO of Bishops Stortford Town Council.
Our Dewsbury Water linked Big Lottery funded project is establishing well with six volunteers already signed up to be part of the Water linked Action Team and more expected to follow. Our project officer will organise the ‘Outdoor Dewsbury’ festival this year in August and the festival with have a waterways theme and is a partnership between Kirklees Council as well as other organisations. The event will be a good opportunity for face to face fundraising.
Aire Action Leeds, river management project for Leeds is working in partnership to develop the 5th Leeds Waterfront Festival on 30 June/1 July 2012.
The Leeds Dam Island partnership project £30k (adjacent to Fearns Wharf Office) is underway and plans to link with the launch of the Canal and River Trust. In kind survey and drawings were completed this month by a local architecture firm and the Arts council bid is near completion.
10.7 Wider Regeneration Activity
In Stoke on Trent the local MP Joan Walley chaired a meeting with Stoke City Council to look at regeneration opportunities around the Burslem Arm. Outline agreement was subsequently reached with Steelite (local pottery manufacturer); the Prince’s Trust (currently developing a regeneration scheme in Stoke) and the city to jointly fund a strategy to set out the areas priorities.
We are actively engaged with Sheffield and Rotherham master planning which has the potential to centre its activity on the underutilised South Yorkshire Navigations.
Four projects have been shortlisted for the 2012 Waterways Renaissance Awards. Dudley No2 Canal Community Spaces project, Dewsbury, Middlewich Links to Schools and Leeds Waterfront Festival.
Llangollen World Heritage Site Steering Group have established a link with Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Chair and Denbighshire lead officer regarding co-operation now that the AONB includes most of the WHS.
10.8 Restoration
A workshop held in Birmingham last month highlighted the enthusiasm of canal groups and restoration societies to be in some way favourably linked to the Canal & River Trust. Further work is now being developed to capitalise on the strong enthusiasm shown at the workshop.
The Pocklington Canal Audience, Conservation and Interpretation Plan is out for public consultation until 20th April. The canal is one of our heritage business priority areas, and plans are underway to submit a round one regional Heritage Grants application to HLF with the full support of partners by June 2012.
Students from Manchester University are using the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal as a ‘client based project’ for studies in Urban Design/Urban Regeneration. During the 3 month project they are collating all the existing and relevant historical information about the restoration the Canal into a prospectus of short, medium and long term ambitions. It is also hoped that we will be able to us this prospectus as a basis for future bidding for resources.
10.9 Stakeholder Relations
A celebration event to mark the end of the Community Spaces funded Dudley No2 Canal Project took place late February attended by the mayor and chief executive of Dudley Council and many local community representatives. Anne Cranston West Midlands Waterways Partnership member and Groundwork UK director spoke on behalf of the partnership and BW.
Three monthly meetings have now been established between British Waterways and Worcester City Council to look at the river and canal water frontages through Worcester. The aim is to develop a shared vision document for the future of the waterfront which will enable improved partnership support and the securing of planning gain.
A new regeneration partnership group has been established for the Bridgewater & Taunton Canal with Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane BC, Somerset Waterways Development Trust and Sustrans.
West Midlands EM met with ISIS and Colliers plc as part of a workshop to discuss the regeneration of Warwick Bar in Birmingham’s Eastside. Early proposed projects include access enhancements, removal of boundary walls, and increasing perceptions of safety for towpath users. The site is now also home mooring for the Slow Boat project managed by the Ikon art gallery in Birmingham and which is hopefully to play a key role in the CRT national art strategy. Isis has agreed in principle to support the next stage of the Slow Boat project.
Simon Salem Marketing Director March 2012