Trustees' Report and Accounts - Canal & River Trust

The Year Ahead
The directors and the Trustees are in the process of developing
the operating strategy and plan targets for the Trust. The principal
features of the overarching strategy for the Trust can be
summarised as follows:
• To deliver a secure safe environment for our people, contractors,
volunteers and visitors;
• To establish the Trust as a respected and valued guardian
of its waterways;
• To grow the Trust’s net income from all sources and seek
efficiencies throughout the organisation whenever and
wherever we can;
• To grow the number of people who use and enjoy the waterways
and who support the Trust through donations and volunteering;
• To meet all our obligations under the funding agreement with
Defra and demonstrate the value of the Trust to Government so
that we secure another funding contract after 2027; and
• To optimise the public benefit we create wherever it is compatible
with our aims and priorities.
In addition to these strategic priorities, for the year 2013/14
resources will be applied to the following areas of development:
• Volunteering – to increase volunteering across the
Trust operations;
• Local Engagement – the Waterway Partnerships have made
an encouraging start and resource will be applied to assist
the Partnerships, where added value can be delivered;
• Boating – to increase resources to improve compliance by
towpath mooring control;
• Marketing and Digital presence – to increase the
marketing presence of the Trust with digital marketing
being the main priority;
• Enterprise funding – further resource will be applied to this area
where additional third party funding of projects that enhance the
standard of the waterways can be delivered;
The main risks and uncertainties underlying the future plans are:
• The safety of the Trust’s staff and the users of the waterways
are of paramount importance. Minimum safety standards are
maintained for waterway assets and infrastructure. Visitor risk
assessments are undertaken and actions completed to reduce
injury risks to visitors and the public. A rigorous safety regime is
maintained to minimise the risk of injury to staff and contractors.
• New legislation may restrict the available water supply or affect
the containment and treatment of waste. This is being dealt with
by taking a proactive role in influencing government policy and
carefully monitoring developments and activities.
• Maintaining the waterways to ensure that they remain open and
accessible for everyone. The Trust has a well-developed asset
management system based on regular inspections and a risk
based approach to repair and maintaining standards.
• Climate change and extremes of weather conditions add to the
risk of maintaining water supply and to the risk of flood and asset
failure. Water management plans are maintained together with
regular monitoring of reservoir levels and lock operations to enable
a staged approach to potential water shortages. Flood alleviation
and response plans are in place to deal with flooding events.
• Control of towpath mooring and boat licence evasion is
essential to managing the waterways for enjoyment by everyone.
Enforcement and checking procedures are in place and being
enhanced to maintain and in some cases improve the standards
of compliance.
• Developing the volunteering and donations programmes for the
Trust is important to maintain the future standards of waterway
maintenance, access and safety. Resources and management are
being applied to the continuing development and marketing
of these activities to increase the scale and output from them.
• Growing the Trust’s net income from activities and the investment
portfolio. The incoming resources are broadly based over a
very wide range of property, utilities, grant and boating sources
which provide a reliable source of income to fund the Trust’s
charitable activities.
• Restoration – resources will be applied to support the restoration
of derelict waterways, whether or not owned by the Trust;
• Museums – the museums of The Waterways Trust were acquired
in July 2012. Resources are planned for these activities to
improve the operational standards and the quality of the exhibits
and visitor experience; and
• Efficiency and sustainability – resources are being applied to
developing and implementing various efficiency measures to
improve the effectiveness of the Trust’s operations. These range
from energy reduction, changes to working practices, reductions
in central costs, changes to maintenance delivery methods, more
effective and sustainable procurement goods and services, and
improved recycling of waste.
Trustees’ Report & Accounts 37