Operational Changes during the Summer Season

The following message was issued by British Waterways -Scotland on 1 March to users of the Caledonian Canal. It has been reproduced here for your informaiton.

On behalf of Russell Thomson

Dear customer

Caledonian Canal - Operational Changes during the Summer Season

As you will know, earlier this month, the Scottish Parliament approved the national budget for April 2011 to April 2012. As a result, we now know that our own grant in aid will suffer from a significant £1.5m reduction on the current year, or 13%. We will also need to meet the further 3% efficiency savings which the Scottish Government has charged all public bodies with making.

Altogether, this means we are entering an extremely challenging year and I wanted to write to you before the season begins in earnest to outline how this may impact on you as a regular user of the Scottish canals.

As a boat owner, I am sure you will appreciate that with reduced resources available, our utmost priority will, and should be, to fulfill our core public purpose that of maintaining the two hundred year old infrastructure in safe condition and a navigable route across the waterways.

By necessity, we will therefore reduce our seasonal workforce and focus our existing operational resources tightly, particularly on planned preventative maintenance work.

In essence, this means that some of you may notice a reduction in the frequency of grass and scrub cutting, litter picking and removal of fly tipped rubbish. Tree management will also be limited to those works required in the interests of safety.

Some of the current bankside services and flexibility we provide may also change as we focus in on planned maintenance works. As each waterway has its own unique character and boating traffic, these changes will vary from canal to canal.

Whilst, the opening hours on the Caledonian Canal will remain the same*, you should bear the following in mind before planning a trip:

o You should have an adequate number of competent crew onboard – British Waterways Scotland will have a reduced ability to assist leisure craft with only one member of crew, which may result in delays

o If you have a large private or commercial craft, you should have operating mooring ropes in place on the ‘working side’ of the lock, i.e. the side on which the lock control boxes are situated, to ensure swift transit. You should also have crew available to handle your mooring ropes through the flights of locks

o Your timings should allow for:

o potential lock flight closures over the lunch period

o that you might not be able to benefit from a double locking or cross-over through the locks

o that flexibility outwith the official opening hours will only be available in extenuating circumstances

As a regular user of the Scottish canals, I hope you can appreciate that making the above changes will be vital if, with reduced budget available, we are to prioritise our activity to those works which help sustain the waterways for everyone to enjoy. We have always worked hard to deliver a high standard of customer care and we will continue to do so, helping everyone to adjust to the changes as and when they are introduced.

I wish you all the best for an enjoyable summer season.

Yours sincerely

Russell Thomson
Waterway Manager - Highlands


** Spring and Autumn 8:30am – 5:30pm; Summer 8:00am – 6:00pm

Have we got your correct email address? Help us save money on postage by opting to receive correspondence electronically.

Email us at enquiries.scotland@britishwaterways.co.uk adding ‘Caledonian Correspondence’ as the subject.

Ailsa Andrews
Customer Relations Manager
Caledonian Canal - Best Visitor Experience Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards 2010

End of message