'if Its Property Portfolio Is Removed There Will Be Serious Consequences For The Underfunded Waterways, And That Must Not Happen'

摘要

This is a pretty crucial month for BW - and the canal network. The grey men in Britain's rather battered Treasury will be hunched over their tall desks, quills poised over their ledgers as they decide whether or not to take BW's property portfolio into their hands to plug gaps elsewhere in the country's finances.rnWithout getting bogged down in the argument about the judiciousness of a navigation authority turning itself into a property company, there's no question that BW's property portfolio is of great benefit to the network, providing around ￡40 million, some 25 percent, of its annual income.rnShould the number crunchers tucked away in the Treasury decide they have a better use for the portfolio (ie, sell it off as was mooted by the Conservative Party four years ago) the Government would have to increase its grant by 60 percent to cover the shortfall - which isrnabout as likely as a bank saying "we're really, really, really sorry".