The document, from chief executive, Richard Parry, reports an encouraging financial situation at the Trust. Commercial success means we have been able to generate significantly more money and spend £4.5m more than planned on the waterways in the past year.
An increase in government grant from the start of this year will help ensure our spend on day-to-day charitable work increases by a further £11m over the next three years, with the bulk of that focussing on operations and maintenance, such as increases in spend on asset repairs, dredging, vegetation management, refuse and other important services.
The plan has been shaped by customer priorities as well as our engineering expertise and features a number of local projects for the year ahead, many inspired by our local Partnerships.
This includes, amongst others, the creation of visitor moorings in Central Shires and additional boater facilities in London, through to tackling graffiti in the West Midlands.
Ambitious long-term targets
Richard Parry comments: “We've just set out our ten-year strategy for the waterways which has ambitious long-term targets to help secure the future of the waterways for generations to come. The three-year business plan is aligned with that vision.
“Our priorities include continuing to improve the condition of the waterways and avoiding unplanned closures for navigation and we've challenging targets for growing volunteering, community adoptions and the number of people giving regular monthly donations to support our work.
“The plan represents a significant step forward for the Trust as it approaches the end of its third year. It gives us a firm basis upon which to work towards our vision of living waterways which transform places and enrich lives.”
