BUSINESS PLAN 2016/17-18/19 1 Introduction 1.1.1 This three year business plan sets out the Trust’s plans to 2019. It reflects the ambitious 10 year strategy recently published by the Trust: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/9347-living-waterways-transform-places-and- enrich-lives-our-10-year-strategy.pdf 1.2 The planning process adopted has been led by this strategy, with resources aligned with the long term targets that the Trust has defined, incorporating also local input from our Waterway Partnerships, and local customer priorities. 1.3 The background to this Plan is a very successful three and a half years in which the Trust has developed, with strong financial performance and growth in a range of other measures from volunteer numbers to active ‘Friends’. 1.4 This success provides a firm foundation for this new business plan especially as this is the second year in which the Government Grant payments include an additional £10m of conditional grant. 2. Summary of the Plan 2.1 The Plan has been formed to incur a £5.5m deficit in the first year (16/17). This draws on the significant surplus generated by the Trust since 2012 and deploys it to ensure that expenditure on the Trust’s charitable activities grows steadily, as shown in the chart below. The plan returns to a small surplus in 2017/18 and 18/19. 250 INCOME 200 150 £m CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE 100 50 0 Actual Actual F'cast F8 Plan Plan Plan 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Income is not expected to grow in 2016/17 after three years of good growth, reflecting the cycle of the Trust’s joint ventures, which are expected to give little return this year during a build phase (ahead of stronger return in 2017/18), with boat licence fees frozen and many other income lines flat as a result of zero inflation for most of the last year. Income growth of £10m per year is anticipated for the second and third years of the plan. An additional £2m is also being diverted to the Trust’s Pension Accumulation Fund each year. The headline Plan numbers are shown in the table below: 3. Breakdown of the Plan Income 3.1 The table below shows the breakdown of income forecast in this plan. Expenditure 3.2 From the table and chart in 2.1, it can be seen that the Trust’s charitable expenditure grows steadily through the plan, broken down as shown below: Figures in £m Charitable Expenditure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Actual Plan Plan Plan Waterway Operations and Maintenance (81.1) (82.6) (83.8) (86.3) Partnership and Customer Service Improvement Projects (1.0) (1.2) (1.0) (0.8) Major Asset Repairs and Third Party Funded Projects (37.5) (37.5) (37.4) (42.0) Dredging (7.2) (7.0) (9.0) (9.0) Museums, Attractions, Education and Interpretation (4.1) (4.0) (4.3) (4.4) Total Charitable Expenditure (130.9) (132.3) (135.5) (142.5) 3.6 The table shows the bulk of the charitable expenditure is on the day-to-day operations, maintenance and ‘asset management’ of the waterways - which includes the winter stoppage programme, vegetation, refuse and other operational contracts, and planned preventative maintenance activities. This shows an increase, as our asset management plans shift the focus slightly from large major works projects to these day-to-day interventions, especially as third party-funded projects rises. The amount committed to dredging also rises over the plan. 3.7 A small separate fund has been set aside for Partnership projects and local customer service initiatives generated through local user engagement by the waterway teams. The projects identified for 16/17 are summarised at Appendix 1. 3.8 The main projects in the Priority Works plan are shown at Appendix 2. 4 Outputs 4.1 Whilst the Trust is increasing its input to the maintenance of the waterways and its wider public benefit delivery, it will also be measuring its output to ensure that it is achieving its objectives in addition to its financial targets. This includes the following key measures: the percentage of assets in the worst condition (grades D and E) will remain around 14% through the plan, well below the threshold level set by Government in its contract with the Trust, with flood-related assets remaining below 2% in the worst condition we target to reduce the number of days of unplanned navigation closures on the waterways to no more than 650 days in total across our 2,000 mile long network, well down on 2015. volunteer numbers will continue to rise, with a target of over 500,000 hours for 16/17 after the success in reaching over 470,000 hours last year Friends and other regular donor numbers are targeted to reach 22,500 by the end of 15/16 up from around 17,000 at 31 March 2016. We are targeting to reach 180 community adoptions by the end of 16/17 up from around 150 today We plan to reach 70,000 school-children with our education programme, up from 64,000 at the end of 15/16 We plan to continue to grow the value of our investments (our ‘endowment portfolio’) by greater than the market increase. 5 Strategic Programmes 6.1 To help focus the Trust on delivering our key priorities, a set of strategic programmes has been identified, shown in appendix 3. 6. Conclusion 6.1 This plan sets out the route to further progress for the Trust. Taking advantage of our financial independence to ensure a steadily rising spend, balancing deficit one year with surplus the next, whilst remaining financially prudent - whilst also extending our impact on public benefit in line with our long term strategic goals and delivering local priorities. This plan gives us a firm basis upon which to build our vision of living waterways which transform places and enrich lives. Richard Parry Chief Executive April 2016 APPENDIX 1: LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS & CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVES Projec Project t No. East Midlands Development of spare building at Drakeholes as a multi-use facility (education / 1 volunteering / welcome station) 2 Installation of mooring rings / bollards on the Notts Beeston Canal 3 Solar lights at Torksey Visitor Moorings 4 Installation of mooring rings / bollards on the Erewash Canal 5 Improvements to canoe trails (Phase 2) Events: A number of events (waterside fun days) are proposed to be run around the 6 Waterway and could include Nottingham, Lincoln, Trent Lock and Worksop 7 Badger Vaccinations in association with Notts Wildlife Trust 8 Bioblitz: Hold 24 hour bioblitz's at 2 sites within the East Midlands 9 Improvement to Barkers Lock site (Interpretation and disabled access) 10 Improvements to Tinkers Lean (Interpretation and clean up) 11 Canoe Trails - River Soar (Stage 2) West Midlands 1 Graffiti removal - purchase of kit or funds to deliver/match fund 2 Engagement initiatives - political, faith, education etc. Anti slip works to visitor mooring pontoons – B’ham, Walsall, Wolverhampton. Replace 3 slippery timber anti slip boards with GRP mesh decking New secure visitor moorings on offside - North BCN. This may require associated 4 dredging 5 Improvement works to Kinver CSF to remove reactive calls. 6 Birmingham City Lighting - new maintenance following transfer 7 Purchase of promotional and events kit for waterway to use at events 8 Growing Youth Volunteering 9 Canoe Trail - Tamworth Loop Destination Management Plans: Develop concept and produce DMPs for key waterway 10 destinations beginning with Fradley 11 Fradley Junction : Improve existing grass surfaced overflow car park to all weather 12 Noticeboards/Information Boards 13 Welcome Stations : Development of welcome stations Kennet & Avon Water Space Study - •Improve our evidence base- this will enable us to make more informed decisions, especially with regards to boating requirements and policy guidance 1 for boat dwellers. •Consult with key stakeholders- this will ensure that local people and businesses are engaged and involved with the process of restoring our river/canal networks 2 Gateway sign at east end 3 Business Plan for Bridgwater and Taunton 4 Destination signage 5 Highways Mitigation Costs at Higher Maunsel (road signs/markings - SCC) 6 Crofton Access Track Repairs 7 Bollards at Great Bedwyn Wharf 8 Bollards at Lock 10 to Deep Lock, Bath 9 Replacement of Non Slip on Bridges London 1 London Mooring Policy continued development working with National Framework Visitor destination management plans including access signage with key develoments in 2 Kings Cross and Camden Develop a new waterside event in conjunction with other organisations eg Hillingdon 3 Council 4 Visitor destination signage/interpretation at 5 sites Provide additional boaters rubbish compounds on the Grand Union canal, including 5 signage Provide additional boaters rubbish compounds on the Paddington Arm, including 6 signage 7 Move waterpoints from lock side to beyond at Old ford on Regents Canal and River Lee 8 Mooring rings winter mooring 9 Visitor /winter mooring signage - consistency upgrade APPENDIX 1: LOCAL PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS & CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVES North East Additional noticeboards covering stoppages, restrictions, events and volunteering 1 opportunities Working with PCAS (Canal Society) to support restoration between Melbourne and 2 Bielby Arm (1.5 miles) Promote destinations (Signage and Interpretation) linked to target communities to encourage visitors to visit and to attract investment, grow fundraising etc. (Salterhebble 3 (2), Fall Ings (2), Brighouse (2), Tinsley (5), Ripon (5), Sprotborough (3), Brookfoot and Elland (2)) Stakeholder engagement plan - continue to build and maintain positive relationships 4 within the regional business and political community Continue to build links with Welcome to Yorkshire - helping to place NE Waterways as 5 an essential offering in WTY strategies and promotions - engage in open days and all waterway related events Develop a range of marketing material which improves promotion for the Trust at Leeds 6 and supports the Waterway / Volunteers at Leeds Waterfront Festival, Brighouse, Goole, Heck (Festivals) and all open days Leeds Waterfront Festival - Contribution to running of 2016 / 17 Leeds Waterfront festival as a key calendar event in the Lead to L and L Bicentenary celebrations.