Central winners of Waterways Excellence Awards announced

25 August 2009

On Monday 24 August British Waterways' (BW) chief executive, Robin Evans presented the central winners of the Waterways Excellence Awards 2009 with their trophies and congratulated them on their achievements.

Yesterday’s Waterways Excellence Awards, held at BW’s head office in Watford, were to celebrate individual and team contributions to the achievement of BW’s vision of securing a thriving, sustainable waterway network that is used and cherished by the public. BW wants to promote community interaction and these awards are an opportunity to showcase how the actions of those who work with the canals can have visible benefits for waterway users.

First prize in the central division went to the evasion project team for work towards tackling boat licence evasion; driving the licence evasion rate down from 10.4% to 4.7% at 31 March 2009. In second place was the team that negotiated the new national vegetation and facilities management contract, and the group involved in delivering the Liverpool Canal Link were awarded third prize.

Vince Moran, customer operations director at BW, said: “The central entries were wide-ranging and extremely worthwhile, which made judging very difficult. However, the work undertaken by the teams involved in evasion reduction just pipped to the post those people involved in introducing our new vegetation and facilities contract.

“Both projects are helping to bring major financial savings to BW but the evasion project has successfully tackled a long running problem that has significantly affected our reputation with our boating customers, and that extra dimension was the defining factor.

“The team who helped to deliver the Liverpool Canal Link should be very proud of the legacy they have helped create, and I’m sure they will receive accolades from the industry over the coming year. However, in this economic climate, the projects that have delivered tangible financial benefits today must get the recognition they deserve.”

Robin Evans will be deciding on the overall national winner of the Waterways Excellence Awards 2009 in September.

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