Please explain why your log of cc'ers movements are still not always correct? Last year you told us a new system would be put in place therefore correctly logging boaters movements but this system is just as ineffective. Boaters ate repeatedly having to justify their movements when in actual fact you are the ones with the inaccurate information. Why is this? What are your plans to make amends to your system? The towpath is patrolled on a daily basis by a number of Towpath Rangers who travel on pedal cycles and “sight” each and every boat. These sightings are carried out on a very frequent basis so we are able to accurately plot boat movements. The sightings are recorded within an iPad app which downloads overnight to allow us to view the boats last recorded sighting the following morning. The boats precise location is marked by its Easting and Northing position on the Canal or River which is very accurate. If a customer is being asked to justify movements it’s likely that they are not compliant with their Terms and Conditions. We will investigate with the customer why that is and offer assistance and advice where we can. It may be that it’s a matter of education and interpretation. Nothing is perfect but we believe that the system we operate is highly effective on most occasions. Please can you tell us your future plans for vegetation management and dredging? There seems to be many issues with not enough mooring places/spaces, which has been widely reported by yourselves, canal organisations and the waterways press, yet there would be plenty more places if vegetation was cut back and if the water was deep enough, if you could actually see the towpath in some areas it would provide much more space. This also has an impact on navigation as it makes it very difficult in some areas to get one narrowboat through let alone a widebeam or to pass another boat. You're spot dredging isn't going to make much difference as this is not widespread enough. We have five years strategy with more works prioritised for Oxford and Grand Union Leicester. The offside vegetation has been put into a 5 year programme, unfortunately since this programme was agreed, I’ve been made aware that the budget for vegetation works has been cut so the original plan will have a backlog which will need to be delivered next winter. So for this winter, we will be cutting the offside at the following locations: Grand Union Canal Welford Arm Leicester Line Welford to Kilby Bridge Oxford Canal Napton to Bridge 30 Brinklow. This is a total of 75km Much of the woody vegetation on the towpath canal wall has been cut last winter, however we have been made aware that some areas were missed by our contractors. Our length inspection team is using a mapping system to record these areas over the next few months so we will be able to target these areas once the information is available to deliver to the contract manager. CRT has a Hydrographic Survey team which carries out a rolling 7 or 8 year programme of surveys of the mainline channel of the network. This team determines if the surveyed channels are compliant with a “Dredging Prioritisation Trigger” (DPT) box, set to allow passage of two of the widest and deepest craft that can navigate any given waterway based on published maximum dimensions. This data is then used to help inform the Trust’s dredging priorities, together with other sources of information (such as feedback from members of the public).There is no current information on our webpages regarding planned dredging works, however, we are able to provide you with some localised information on what is planned around the south-east of our network: • With regards to the Oxford Canal, there is a planned project to spot dredge between Enslow and Upper Wolvercote in the next few years (the scheduled date is open to change dependent on the changing priorities around the network) • With regards to the southern end of the Grand Union, the following dredging projects are planned over the next few years (the scheduled date is open to change dependent on the changing priorities around the network) o Near Bridge 18, Muscott Mill Bridge o Near Bridge 24, Weedon Road o Lock 49 to 51 o Near Cassiobury Park o South of Bridge 68 & near Bridge 72 o Locations between Bridge 81A Campbell Park and Bridge 93A Bletcham Way • This year, the following locations along the southern end of the Grand Union are being dredged: o Locations between Bridge 108 Chelmscote and Lock 27 Leighton Lock o Locations between Lock 29 Church Lock and Lock 30 Slapton Lock o By Bridge 51, Blisworth The maintenance across the whole canal corridor seems to have been forgotten about and I have seen a significant decrease in all areas of maintenance since you transferred over to a trust. In some areas lack of maintenance is putting boaters at risk due to dangerous issues eg. Holes in towpath, strengthening bars protruding from the canal edge, sunken boats being left for months on end, broken lock gates, trees growing out of the towpath making the bank unstable. Please could you tell us what the future plans are to maintain the area to an acceptable standard? Please could you train your ground staff to moor boats up correctly? The majority of the time they need to be moored up again. The canal is 200 years old and has for quite some time had various defects that require attention. Indeed it does sometimes feel that as quick as we repair the worst of the current defects another asset deteriorates. Since becoming a Trust the teams in the South East have been as busy as they have ever been. The Waterway Customer Operations teams are delivering the same level of pre planned maintenance as they always did to the same frequency. An annualised hours contract has been agreed that provides an extend availability of staff on site and cover 7 days a week. This was an efficiency that was delivered at no extra cost. The budget for offside vegetation has increased and has been delivered every year. The number of stoppages delivered by our Construction Teams each year has if anything increased. This continues to be the case. The plant and equipment for bank protection and towpath works seems to be in use for much of the year. Also increasing is the volunteer activities and the contribution they bring. A great example of this is the Northampton Arm. I can honestly say I have never seen it look as good as it does currently. Volunteering has undoubtedly been a great success.We do appreciate your observations and value the constructive feed back that we receive from many of our visitors. Indeed this feedback is given careful consideration and is frequently a deciding factor in prioritising works. Examples recently would be the dredging at Leighton and the grouting of the locks on the GUS. If there are specific instances of defects that you feel are a high priority we will always be happy to hear from you and even if it is not possible to undertake repairs straight away we will be able to include the defect in the list of works to plan. We are sure we will never be in a position to state that everything on the South East Waterway is in an ideal condition but we can say that the team will strive to deliver the high standards we aspire to and that you have a right to expect. Could you please explain why there is a threat from the government to withdraw their funding and how this came about? Why has this come about? Why is boating barely mentioned in your 60 page report? It seems as though towpath users are more important than boaters. Why were canals built? Have you forgotten the mainstay of the system and those who contribute more finance than any other users? Our current Grant agreement with Defra provides the Trust with approximately £50 million each year until March 2027. However there is no certainty over what comes after that date. So this is not a new threat, but it does mean that our performance between now and 2022 - when we make our next funding submission - will determine how effective we are in convincing Government to continue our Grant agreement beyond March 2027. As we have been unable to clarify with you which report you are referring to, we are assuming that you refer to the recent 'Waterways & Wellbeing, First Outcomes' report. In order to build a case for ongoing public funding, it is essential that the Trust demonstrates the benefits that the waterways provide to the 400 million towpath users who visit our waterways each year. As the Trust increases it ability to demonstrate measurable outcomes from the multipurpose nature of our waterways it will increase the ability to persuasively influence statutory and voluntary funders and partners.The canals and rivers are an asset for many millions of visitors and we strive to provide an enriching environment for all. ‘Given the varying standards of work by differing contractors…is CRT willing and able to re-introduce the equivalent of a clerk-of-works function to ensure contractors’ compliance with contracts and standards of work required on the waterways?’ It would be helpful to understand what contract the varying standards of work refers to. Under the Fountains contract the specifications of grass cut vary for example from stretch to stretch depending on what asset management have stipulated in terms of the local management regime.