Enterprising job goes swimmingly

By BARBARA WARD

No two working days are the same for Caroline Killeavy, the general manager of East Midlands Waterways.

One day she might don her hard hat to go out on site to see if a lock gate needs replacing. On another she might attend a meeting to discuss the development of a major regeneration scheme.

She says her previous job as assistant practice manager at Lombard Street Surgeries in Newark stood her in good stead for dealing with a team of 121 staff and an area that covers 3,647 square miles.

“I really enjoy the professional challenge that each day presents,” she says.

Caroline (37) is based at British Waterways headquarters on Mather Road, Newark, but the East Midlands unit stretches from Leicester to south Yorkshire and Derbyshire to Boston. It has 201km of river navigation and 155km of canals.
She joined the company ten years ago and has seen great changes during that time.

She says: “We have become more willing to take measured risk.

“Our government grant has been cut year on year, so we have become much more driven to become sustainable.

“Our focus is to increase visitor numbers and generate new sustainable income to fund future development and improvement work.”

Any profits made are ploughed back into the business.

As well as responsibility for the waterways, Caroline and her team are involved in property development, leisure facilities, wildlife conservation, and making sure lockkeepers are trained.

There are 3,161 craft registered on the waterways in the East Midlands area and customer care and safety is the top priority.
Caroline is particularly pleased with her involvement in the Gateways To Newark Partnership which led to the creation of Kings Marina.

Six miles of the Chesterfield Canal — running through a former coalmining area — have been restored from dereliction bringing more people to the waterways and creating jobs in associated leisure industries.

Other work includes the ongoing restoration of the Grantham to Nottingham Canal and a project to build holiday cottages in the Vale of Belvoir.

In Caroline’s area of responsibility there are four Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Two ecologists are based at Newark helping to maintain and develop riverside areas and woodland to encourage wildlife.

In Newark British Waterways is currently appealing against a refusal of planning permission to build houses on Millgate Field, and a use is being sought for a site near the Town Lock that British Waterways recently vacated.
Caroline, who lives in Lincoln, finds she has no time outside work to spend on the water — it is all devoted to her two-year-old daughter, Emily.

ABOVE: Caroline Killeavy, the general manager of East Midlands Waterways, outside her office overlooking the Trent at Newark. A040906JC1-3

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