Acting CEO’s April 2022 update

Financials

Peter Wilkinson has delivered the Trust’s “provisional” management accounts for the financial year which ended on 31st March. They are described as provisional because they will now be sent to our Swindon based examining auditors for scrutiny and subsequent filing at Companies House.

In summary, we had an overall surplus of £188K on income of £388K. We have built up substantial reserves. We had a good flow of income and limited ability to spend that on new projects because of ongoing Covid restrictions. These reserves will now be applied to fund the five new 2022/23 branch projects which we listed earlier.

Next steps on the M4 Crossing

Our engineering team, led by Jon Coates, submitted our report on the economic and environmental impacts of our M4 Crossing project to National Highways on 14th April. It has been determined that every £1.00 spent on this project will produce £1.79 in economic benefit to the local communities in Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett.

Receipt of the report has been acknowledged by the agency and we are now moving forward to the next phase, a detailed study of an optimised crossing in preparation for the subsequent production of engineering designs. Our first report includes a detailed bid for the funding of the next phase. We are steadily tackling the single biggest obstacle to the restoration of our canal and we can now know see the path to its removal.

Recruiting a new CEO

The trustees approved the appointment of a specialist recruiting agency to find our new CEO. Claverton Consulting, based in Bristol, began work on this project in mid April. We are in continuing dialogue with them as candidates emerge and have established an interview panel to ensure that the selected candidate meets the needs of the Trust going forward.