It is heartwarming to see the amount of solidarity from across the country even internationally, towards the boaters affected . The main crowdfunder we saw had over £85,000 collected since we looked at it last. Crowdfunder here: https://www.gofundme.
As yet, we don’t know what caused the breach at Whitchurch. There needs to be a proper investigation to find out why it happened and take steps to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. However, as upsetting as it is to say, with the Canal & River Trust (CRT) at the helm, we wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen again somewhere else. They have spent years neglecting the maintenance of the waterways.
The Toddbrook Reservoir incident at Whaley Bridge on the Peak Forest Canal was a prime example of this. In 1970, a spillway was constructed at the reservoir, then in 2016, it was damaged by heavy rain. CRT didn’t repair it, so in 2019, after more heavy rain, major damage occurred. It caused worry that it would flood the town, so 1,500 people were forced to evacuate.
CRT has spent years selling off maintenance assets and laying off operational staff who knew how to fix the waterways infrastructure. If and when they do get around to working on waterways infrastructure, due to needing to hire in third-party equipment and personnel, it costs them a lot more than it used to. Since then they have been busily selling off profitable assets, and the government is hell-bent on totally washing their hands of the responsibility of keeping the waterways flowing. This means CRT won’t have the money needed to keep things running. Instead of addressing these real problems, CRT does year after year of surveys and consultations on how to charge itinerant boaters more and generally make our lives on the waterways worse.