More LibDem Success With Regards to Mutual Enterprise

One of the points in the Labour manifesto at the last election which I liked more than most, was the one in which they mentioned their stated intention that if elected they would transform British Waterways from being a state owned company (similar in structure to British Railways prior to its abolition in 2000) to being a mutual enterprise similar to Glas Cymru (Welsh Water).

To give
more people a stake in a highly
valued national asset, British
Waterways will be turned into
a mutually owned co-operative.
(Labour Party Manifesto April 2010, p.g. 53, 7:5)

When I read through the manifesto just before the election I was stuck by what a transformatory effect even this small move could have upon the UK. For a long time removing an asset from state control has meant flogging it off, however, this does not have to be the case. As Glas Cymru has shown, mutalisation of utilities is often a better way to go. The waterways are for the most part these days used by the communities in which they are situated for recreational purposes. I frequently use my local canal toe-path which has been surfaced and transformed into a cycle path to get into town for free, and sometimes go jogging along it. Millions up and down the country use the waterways for similar purposes, as such they are a great civic asset.

However, in an era of rising fuel and thus haulage prices, as well as environmental concerns, interest has grown in reopening the waterways to commerce and commercial craft. In much of Europe a great deal of bulk freight never made the transition from water; to rail to road. Stay beside a large river in France for instance and don't be surprised if you see and hear barges moving around at all hours. In Germany only 9% of all long-distance freight (excluding parcels) goes by road, whilst 64% is moved by water. Similar figures apply for other central European countries. It makes a lot of sense in a land where most major settlements and population concentrations are next to sizeable rivers like the Danube, Rhine, Seine, Ems, Vistula, Po, Arno, Main, Don and Diniper. The UK isn't so radically different. Think of the River Severn or the Thames easily navigable deep into the West Midlands (as far as Telford) and into the South East (as far as Reading) thus opening up both the industrial powerhouse of the West Midlands (BAE Systems, Bulmers Cider, Lea&Perrins, Worcester Bosch, Royal Worcestershire, Malvern Water, AGA Rangemaster and the heavy and rapidly growing greater Bristol area are within the Severn's catchment area). likewise the other half of the M4 Corridor, the city of London itself and the concentration of heavy industry at the Thames' mouth are all quite literally strung out along the Thames. Likewise the Dee is navigable as far as Chester taking in the Deeside conurbation in northern Wales and western Cheshire, on the other side of the Wirral all of Merseyside and the north Cheshire industrial belt in places like Elsmere Port and Warrington are easily reachable up the Mersey (and already frequented by petroleum tankers), as is Manchester and its city zone along the ship canal (recently upgraded so that TESCO could ship in wine from Chile to its bottling plant in Wigan). Yorkshire, Tyneside, Cleveland and the south coast are similarly privileged possessing great estuaries which lead right into their urban and industrial heartlands, the greater Glasgow region, Fife and Lothian, as well as the Highland cities of Inverness and Aberdeen, are the same. All easily reached by water an asset which is currently underexploited at a time when the country is faced with overcrowded, creaking and in places crumbling; transportation infrastructure. The benefits of water-borne prosperity could be spread evenly. Areas like Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, where there is entrenched rural poverty and underemployment could see their waterside areas opened up to commerce, reaching into the depressed areas of the East Midlands and even the North West (just look on a map at how extensive the Cumbrian and Lancastrian coasts are) In a similar vein in the South West it is possible that areas of northern Devon, poor parts of Somerset like Bridgewater and Cornwall, currently somewhat by-passed by modernity and the sharp inside edge of the modern economy; can be reconnected. Look at Wales. A part of the country with many economic strengths, but an economy currently underpinned by subsidy, public sector enterprise and a manufacturing sector whose competitiveness depended upon the principality begin a low cost place to do business, something which as the generous terms of Walker era deals expire, it is no longer. If we look at the human and physical geography of the place then it is clear that the countries interior whilst in many ways undeveloped and rich in economic potential (minerals, renewable energy, timber etc.) it is the flat, already densely populated, coastal lands (in both the far north and the far south); not the mountainous, underdeveloped and sparsely populated interior, which offer the best chances of a Welsh economic miracle. Water could well play its part. Wales' rail connections are pretty poor and the long drive along the M4 corridor aside so are the road connections. Water carriage remains the cheapest form of freight transport, Wales' industrial areas have great potential for connection to a water network, further integrating it with the North West and maritime Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire and the major ports near Bristol. Water carriage could support Wales' troubled industrial sector and stimulate further growth in the area as the situation is stabilised and markets both locally and further afield are developed.

As such Britain's future prosperity could be much enhanced and more evenly distributed if our waterways were upgraded and reopened for business as a few have been. Apparently DEFRA has a team of 10 civil servants working upon the development of the waterways policy and strategies for developing its contribution to transportation and the industrial economy. Some progress has been made with barges being used for waste management purposes in several areas, the transportation of sand and gravel for cement (up the River Severn) and the aforementioned TESCO wine tankers now carrying South American vintage to a bottling plant in Greater Manchester; along the ship canal. It can therefore now be said that Wigan has a pier.

Of course budget cuts mean that the so far limited attempts made by the government to develop a true business model for the waterways may now, in the face of budget cuts, come to nothing (it not as if Labour ever put any political capital into the project anyway). Indeed the planned mutualisation of the waterways which has now been confirmed via the unlikely medium of the leaked "QUANGO axing list" obtained by the BBC (see page 7), may delight casual users of the waterways; walkers and joggers (who find toe-paths a flat, well made and convenient way of getting around) like myself, as well as those rural communities (Worcestershire and Warwickshire have prosperous canal side villages by the score [as Ms Spellman well knows]) with pleasure waterways (Norfolk's Broadland District for instance) and those who boat and fish. However, the "civil society" model may not serve the interests of businesses that could profit from the opening up of the waterways.

It is of course radically better than the current limbo the waterways are in as a heavily centralised, bureaucratic (yet unaccountable) state agency. It is here that we see the positive influence of the Liberal Democrats and the liberal Toryism they have forced into the open. It is not hard to imagine the Tory Party left to its own devices flogging off the Waterway's land bank to property developers to throw up yet more one bedroom flats and leaving the actual waterways to either nature of the whims of local authorities and volunteer associations. Granted both of those agents can and should have an input into the waterways (as the reforms will enable them to do), however, neither by themselves can run what is by its very nature, a national system.

But the work must not stop here. The last governments uncharacteristically well considered plan for reforming the management and governance of the waterways must be supported and enhanced by a commitment to exploiting the very real economic potential of our nations coasts, rivers and inlets. There is a major role here for the private sector in constructing ports, modernising waterways and in developing coastal and inland shipping companies. Local authorities which in many areas are port authorities must play their part in this, using their status as port administrators in conjunction with their powers over transportation, economic development and planning. We have learnt out lesson with state companies. They rarely deliver good results and frequently lead only to waste, inefficiency and the squandering of resources on projects of little worth or practical benefit. However, it seems doubtful that in their present state a private company would wish to take over the waterways. An independent trust reinvesting all of the money that it made, free of unwanted outside pressures but subject to the rigours of the market and public scrutiny in its dealings, would develop the waterways if so charged. As we have seen the potential and the demand is there, it is just a matter of providing the conditions for the sector to develop, flourish and thrive. To do this any company would need firm backing and capital. This could be raised quite easily through a bond issue and a loan from the "Green Investment Bank", when that is finally established. Once the waterways are open for business toll money will sustain them and enable their further expansion. 2,000 tonne barges docking at Leicester or Bedford? Potentially only a matter of time...

It is essentially that the LibDems in government (such as Norman Baker, who has already had a significant impact upon transport policy in the regions) follow this up. The new mutual must focus on the "economic" as well as the "civic" aspects of our waterways and be given remit to act upon it. In future manifestos and policy documents water transport is potentially a strong policy to mention and take forward since it brings clear and proven economic, environmental and social benefits at all levels.