Ben - 9's Waterways

Thursday 18 March 2010

Joined-up Thinking?

"Joined-up thinking" is one of those irritating buzz-phrases that sometimes get bandied about by those pursuing their pro-active critical missions of client-focused deliverables. Sad, really, because real joined-up thinking can be a positive advantage in so many situations.

To those of us who have spent time on the waterways over the years, "joined-up thinking" is not something that we would automatically associate with British Waterways.

Take two examples that have recently come to light affecting the Huddersfield Narrow Canal...

Many of you will be aware that the eastern half of this wonderful waterway has been closed since early last September, following a sudden worsening of a long-standing problem at Lock 14e of leaking into the nearby mill. (Read about it here.) Since repairs were already scheduled for January it was decided to stick with that date, rather than bring the work forward, and keep the canal closed until the work was done.

They were then taken by surprise when it snowed in the Winter. Apparently this was not expected and so the date for completing the work was put back.

Then, last week, BW announced that the completion date was being put back even further, to the beginning of April. The reason given? The additional work involved in the "relining of the paddle culvert which has to be done to allow the lock to be reopened to navigation."

Excuse me? Why has this come as a surprise? When BW investigated the serious leak last September, it was found that the new flow was coming from the paddle culvert. So why wasn't this re-lining built into the work that began in January? Or rather, why is it being used now as an excuse for the work taking longer than expected? There's either a complete lack of joined-up thinking, or a complete load of spin going on here.

Now take Standedge Tunnel. It was advertised that the tunnel would re-open this weekend for visitors to enjoy the short trips into the tunnel. But there are no tunnel boats there, because they went away to Liverpool last month for a bit of maintenance. (Read about it here.)

BW complains that the contractors have let them down and the boats will be late coming back. Excuse me? Why were they only sent to Liverpool a month ago? Why was the maintenance not planned for early November? They could have been back before the worst of the winter weather arrived and all ready for this year's visitor season. Why cut is so fine?

Being of a suspicious mind, I wonder whether either of these situations has anything to do with the recent re-organisation at BW. Standege Tunnel and the eastern half of the Huddersfield Narrow have been transferred from the Yorkshire unit to the new "Manchester and Pennine" unit, along with the western half of the HNC, which was previously in the North West unit.

Did that imminent change of management lead to decisions being put on hold? Was there a feeling of "well, it will be someone else's problem soon"? Did some people not want to take decisions that would affect their successors? Did some people not want to spend money that would later have to come from someone else's budget?

These may seem rather unkind things to think but they are the questions that present themselves when I ponder on these issues. The only other explanation I can think of is a complete lack of joined-up thinking. Surely not?

Ben

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