Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court
Main Page: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court (CB)
My Lords, I will speak very briefly in the gap. First, I should mention that I, too, make regular use of canal tow-paths: I often walk along the Grand Union Canal, either through Camden and Islington or, mainly, from Boston Manor, through Osterley and down to the Thames in Brentford. My experience may be unusual, in the sense that I do not detect a huge amount of rubbish; certainly, in London, the trust seems to be doing rather a good job. I do worry about restoring bins. I think a lot of London boroughs have found that, the more bins you set out, the more people will put rubbish in and around them and thus create a real problem. I therefore have some sympathy for the trust in its endeavours.
Like others, though, I worry about funding. My recollection is that the last Labour Government had already decided to bring the British Waterways Board into co-operative ownership, and it was then the Conservative Government that introduced the trust. But—I speak as a former Treasury official—they did endow the trust with a reasonable amount of money, and it is still open to it to earn fees through effective management of marinas and so on. So, unusually for someone speaking in the House of Lords, I do not believe that throwing more money at the issue is the solution.
I do think that volunteers, as other noble Lords have mentioned, have a critical role to play. Is there anything the Government can do to encourage volunteering? Doing voluntary work around the canals is very rewarding; they are an amazing part of our country’s heritage. So, when the Minister replies, I hope to hear of his commitment to encourage volunteering in this space.