THE incoming chief executive of Scotland’s national jobs quango is facing questions about his record in his current public sector role.

Steven Dunlop is due to start as the £168,000-a-year boss of Scottish Enterprise on May 21.

When Scottish Enterprise announced his appointment in April, it focused on Mr Dunlop’s six years as chief executive of Scottish Canals.

The quango praised him as “the driving force that has transformed Scotland’s inland waterways and made them a catalyst for economic and social regeneration”.

Economy secretary Keith Brown also called Mr Dunlop “a talented leader with a fantastic ability to bring people, partners and stakeholders with him”.

However Mr Dunlop’s record is now under fire after dozens of holiday boat trips were cancelled because the Glasgow-to-Edinburgh canal link has been blocked since February.

Two bridges in need of repair have led to closures at Bonnybridge and Twechar, and there are no plans to reopen them fully, despite the onset of the tourist season, because of a lack of funding.

There was a “restricted” open of Twechar Bridge last Sunday when Scottish Canals said: “we hope to deliver monthly openings but will confirm this at a later date”.

Bonnybridge Bridge opened last Sunday as a one-off, but with Scottish Canals warning: “We will not be able to open it again until funding can be identified for a longer term fix”.

There are also complaints the organisation has been too focused on property development, while neglecting the state of its waterways.

The Scottish Tories said the situation at Scottish Canals, which has a budget of £19m a year, did not bode well for Scottish Enterprise, which has a budget of £200m.

Tory MSP Alison Harris, who has tabled a series of parliamentary questions about the state of the canals, said tourism would suffer if the Glasgow-Edinburgh route was “left to rot”.

She said: “The legacy that’s been left at Scottish Canals is neglect of the very asset needed to make the whole thing work. It’s completely unacceptable that the Union and Forth and Clyde canals are not open the whole way through and cancellations have occurred.

“Staff tell me it’s a top-heavy organisation, with far too many managers, and a preference to use expensive contractors instead of local people who know the canal. None of this bodes well for Scottish Enterprise.”

Ronnie Rusack, of the Keep Canals Alive campaign, said there was “deep concern about the progressive closure of the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals”.

He told BBC Radio Scotland it was a “mystery” why the bridges closed, as they were only 15 years old.

He said: “The impact is massive, because it means no yachts can come from abroad and through the canal to the west coast sailing grounds. No hire boats can transit the canal.

“There’s been many cancellations this year. We see it as a degeneration, and I’m frightened they’re going to close the canals, gradually run them down and close them. It’s getting bad. They’ve not been dredging. The maintenance has gone down all the time.”

Scottish Canals operates and manages the five canals in Scotland: the Forth & Clyde and Union, classed as cruising waterways; the Crinan and Caledonian, classed as commercial waterways; and the “remainder” Monklands canal.

It is in charge of the Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel along the Millennium link, which rejoined the Forth & Clyde and Union canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The Scottish Government said it had hired Mr Dunlop after a “rigorous recruitment process”.

A spokesperson said: “He brings with him a wealth of leadership and economic development experience together with a passion to grow Scotland’s economy. We are confident he will make a success of the role.”

Scottish Canals said its assets were 250-years-old and it had a backlog of more than £70m of repairs.

A spokesperson said: “It is clear we need considerable additional investment in the infrastructure of Scotland’s canals – and have done for a number of years.

“We simply do not have the resources to do all that we would like to do, and have to prioritise our works based on ensuring public safety and projects that bring the widest possible benefits for all the people of Scotland.

“An average of 80 vessels transit the canal coast-to-coast each year, although last year this figure was 50. The vast majority of canal users, from runners and walkers to cyclists and kayakers, will be completely unaffected by these restrictions.”