Attracting boaters and visitors to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which passes through the town centre, is seen as a crucial part of the plans drawn up . . . → Read More: Monthly clean-up for canal – News Article]]> Tameside Radio report that British Waterways and Tesco have launched regular clean-ups of the canal in Stalybridge as part of a drive to breathe new life into Stalybridge town centre.

Attracting boaters and visitors to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which passes through the town centre, is seen as a crucial part of the plans drawn up by the newly formed Stalybridge Town Team.

But there have been fears that debris in the canal, particularly discarded trolleys, would continue to be a real deterrent for boaters and that the potential offered by the canal would be lost.

In the past three years more than 200 trolleys have been retrieved from the stretch of the canal taking British Waterways resources away from other projects. Even additional security measures implemented by supermarket chain Tesco have failed to eradicate the problem.

Working in partnership with Tesco, British Waterways have agreed to make regular visits to the stretch of the canal to keep it clear of trolleys and other debris, with the clean-up costs being met by Tesco.

And the move has been welcomed by Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, who has been talking to British Waterways and Tesco about the issue.

Given its picturesque location next to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, Stalybridge should be attractive to tourists and to shoppers, as well as being an ideal place to spend a day out, said Mr Reynolds.

But far from being an attraction, debris in the canal can make it an eyesore and discarded shopping trolleys can make it hazardous for boaters.

I have been talking to Tesco and British Waterways about this issue for a number of weeks and I am delighted that they are now taking such an active role to clear up the canal.

Taking action to ensure the water is clear of debris will help to make it a much more attractive destination for boaters, as well as those looking for a stroll along the towpath.

Supermarkets are clearly not responsible for the anti-social behaviour of those who think it is acceptable to dump litter and trolleys in this way. But the canal-side location of this particular store makes it a particular problem in Stalybridge, so I am pleased that British Waterways and Tesco are taking this pro-active approach.

David Baldacchino, Waterway Manager, Manchester & Pennine waterways said: Litter is a huge problem for the waterways, especially when people are using the canal as a dumping ground for litter and – at this particular location – shopping trolleys.

We have been working closely with Tesco to try and reach a solution to this on-going problem which is spoiling the environment and causing damage to boats. I am pleased that we have agreed to carry out regular clean-ups with the help of Tesco.

In the next few months the guardianship of the nation’s 2,000 miles of canals and rivers will be transferred from British Waterways to become the Canal & River Trust. The new Trust will be calling on the help and support of the local community in Stalybridge to get involved with their local waterway by volunteering and helping care for their canal.

Anna Wisnoiwski, manager of Tesco’s Stalybridge store, said: We work hard to ensure that our trolleys are collected and secured every night. We are always looking for new ways to prevent trolleys being stolen and we’re grateful to customers who make us aware of abandoned trolleys, as it enables us to collect them quickly. We are pleased to join British Waterways in this new initiative to help keep Stalybridge canal clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.

via Monthly clean-up for canal – News Article | 103.6FM Tameside Radio.

The team on the boat at BW's Caen Hill yard ready to begin the refurbishment: ©Bob Naylor

Waterway volunteers will be recognised in the Waterways Renaissance Awards for the first time this year — and a group on the Kennet & Avon Canal have reached the finals of the award.

The Devizes-based Avon . . . → Read More: Kennet & Avon Canal Volunteering Renaissance]]>  

The team on the boat at BW's Caen Hill yard ready to begin the refurbishment: ©Bob Naylor

Waterway volunteers will be recognised in the Waterways Renaissance Awards for the first time this year — and a group on the Kennet & Avon Canal have reached the finals of the award.

The Devizes-based Avon Vale Group completely restored a British Waterways workboat that had sunk on the Bath Flight on the K&A Canal — and they now volunteer for BW clearing offside vegetation on the canal.

The group was formed after a group of canal enthusiasts  realised that financial constraints had led BW to have to concentrate on essential maintenance work at the expense of jobs like off-side vegetation management which meant that the navigation width was rapidly becoming narrower.

They believed that they could do something about it — if they only they had a boat— and in 2007 they heard about a sunken BW workboat on the Bath Flight.

They negotiated with BW to take it over and restore it to its original condition so that they could use it to work on the canal. They towed the boat from Bath to Devizes and took it out of the water and immediately set about removing the engine so that the engine that had been submerged for some time could be brought back into use.

After having the hull grit-blasted they repainted the boat in its original BWB colours, refitted the cabin and replaced the engine and they were ready to go.

British Waterways gave the team five years to complete their refurbishment — but they completed the work by 2010 (two years ahead of schedule) and they immediately began the work of clearing the offside bank on the Long Pound near Devizes to widen the channel.

Working one day a week they have made a marked difference on the 16-mile Long Pound and the core team has begun recruiting more teams so that the boat can be used more often — and they have also encouraged work to start on other stretches of the canal using other BW workboats.

As well as the bankside work they have also become a valuable resource for BW as a team of boat handlers. They move BW workboats to sites ready for maintenance to start — freeing up BW staff for essential maintenance work.

On a waterway where the culture of volunteering on work directly connected with the canal had been lost — this project is a significant step towards returning to the hey-day of volunteering on the K&A that existed in the 1960s and 1970s. And just like the early years of volunteering on the K&A local businesses have been encouraged to play their part.  The Avon Vale Group say they would not have been able to achieve so much without the support of local businesses like Boat Safety Examiner Mike Price, Victoria and Spencer Collins at The Boat Yard Hilperton, Devizes Marina, Protect Fire Equipment, Devizes Commercial Signs and  HMG Paints who have been generous with materials and services — and they have had regular coverage of their project in local papers and on local and national radio and television.

This project has been an inspiration for other groups along the canal who have drawn strength from its success of this project and gone on to develop their own projects.

Team member John Kirby said: “Our project shows how a small number of people with a vision, determination and passion for what they are doing can make a project happen — and make a difference for the benefit of all users of the canal.”

The Avon Vale has also been used as the removal ‘van’ for a remote canal-side house in the Bath Valley that had no suitable road access.

The group have had a two-stage assessment on the way to the final,  first with Eileen McKeever, the Strategy and Engagement Manager at the Environment Agency and then with Ian George who is the Maritime Technical Director at Hyder Consulting Ltd who are partners with BW in the Renaissance Awards.

The final results will be announced at a ceremony at the ICC in Birmingham on 23rd May.

The Waterways Renaissance Awards is run by The Waterways Trust and recognises exceptional projects that have turned inland waterways into desirable places for living, learning and leisure.

via KAcanalTIMES: K&A Canal volunteering renaissance.

Defra has created a £28m Catchment Restoration Fund to fund volunteers who want to reduce pollution in rivers and canals.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has created a £28m Catchment Restoration Fund to fund volunteers who want . . . → Read More: Volunteers get £28m and the job of cleaning up England’s waterways]]> Volunteers get £28m and the job of cleaning up England’s waterways

04 February 2012

via Volunteers get £28m and the job of cleaning up England’s waterways | Energy and Environmental Management (EAEM) Magazine.

The Canal & River Trust (CRT), the charity which takes over British Waterways’ responsibility for 2,000 miles of waterways in England & Wales in April 2012, is today (Monday 16 January) calling on local communities in accross the country to get involved in a unique opportunity that will see them carry out . . . → Read More: Public invited to ‘unlock’ iconic waterway role]]> 18 January 2012

The Canal & River Trust (CRT), the charity which takes over British Waterways’ responsibility for 2,000 miles of waterways in England & Wales in April 2012, is today (Monday 16 January) calling on local communities in accross the country to get involved in a unique opportunity that will see them carry out an iconic role along their local canal – as a volunteer lock keeper.

Brian Blessed, actor and adventurer, who is as well known for his commanding presence, as he is for his mighty voice, is backing the campaign in appealing to the 13 million people who use the nation’s canals and rivers each year.

Lock keepers have been a fixture on the canals for hundreds of years and the role of the modern-day lock keeper is to provide a polite and friendly welcome to waterway visitors, assisting boaters through the locks and helping to maintain the lock area.

Now, in more than 50 locations across England and Wales, members of the public, canal societies and anyone with a passion for their local canal or river have the opportunity to join in with one of the oldest traditions of the waterways.

Following a successful trial period along stretches around the Grand Union Canal, Kennet & Avon Canal and River Trent, the scheme is now being rolled out to all areas of the country with positions identified at iconic locks such as the iconic Bingley Five Rise Flight in Yorkshire (Leeds & Liverpool Canal), the deepest lock in the country at Tuel Lane Lock (Rochdale Canal) and along the Hertford Union Canal within sight of the London Olympic site.

Volunteers played a fundamental role in saving the canal and river network in the 20th century and their contribution continues to help maintain and preserve the nation’s inland waterways; with their unique industrial architecture and important role as havens for nature. They also contributed more than 24,000 days between April 2010 to March 2011 and over 50 people successfully took part in the volunteer lock keeper trials earlier this year.

Ed Moss, national volunteering manager for British Waterways commented: “The task of a lock keeper is arguably the most symbolic on the waterways and the trials around the country have shown us that there’s huge public interest out there for the waterways. It’s a perfect opportunity for those who enjoy working in the outdoors and are perhaps looking for something different to do and want to help support the Canal & River Trust in what will be its first year.

“The waterways are an important heritage asset that needs looking after and our volunteers have been able to provide so many additional benefits on top of the fantastic work our own staff carry out which is really beginning to make a difference. The key qualities we’re looking for are enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Whether it’s helping a boat through the lock, talking to customers, litter picking or undertaking vegetation works, it can really make a great difference to a visitor’s appreciation of the waterways.”

The Canal & River Trust will care for 1,654 locks and there are approximately 5 million ‘lockings’ each year (passages through locks). Over 32,000 boats now call the waterways home; a figure higher than at the height of the industrial revolution.

Brian Blessed comments: “Ever since I was a child I’ve loved our canals and rivers, going off exploring on my bike and looking for wildlife. They’re unique places so I would urge people with a real passion for their local waterway to get involved as a volunteer lock keeper or take advantage of one of the many opportunities to support the Canal & River Trust. They meant so much to me as a child so I think it’s important we all do what we can to help protect them for our next generations to enjoy.”

Volunteering will be integral to the success of the Trust which will become one of the biggest charities in the UK, giving local communities a bigger say in the running of their local canal or river.

A full list of volunteer lock keeping locations is available by emailing volunteer@britishwaterways.co.uk, visiting www.waterscape.com/volunteerlockkeeper, or phoning 01827 252097. Willing volunteers can start quickly and no prior experience is necessary as a full induction, training and a uniform will be provided.

via Newsroom – British Waterways.

An appeal has been launched to restore a historic canal boat at Stourport Canal Basins. The Bramble was donated by British Waterways to local group Stourport Forward.

Volunteers from Stourport Forward plan to refurbish the Bramble so that it can be used for education and possibly boat trips. Some of the volunteers . . . → Read More: Help save historic canal boat in Stourport]]> 9th Jan 2012

An appeal has been launched to restore a historic canal boat at Stourport Canal Basins. The Bramble was donated by British Waterways to local group Stourport Forward.

Volunteers from Stourport Forward plan to refurbish the Bramble so that it can be used for education and possibly boat trips. Some of the volunteers also give their time to the British Waterways Historic Working Fleet, so they are able to bring their heritage expertise to the project.

The appeal, which is being run by local community newspaper The Shuttle, aims to raise enough money to give the boat a new prop shaft, carry out mechanical and electrical work, new covers and fenders, and carry out mechanical and electrical work. The volunteers also intend to repaint the boat and furnish the interior with historical replica items.

Life on a working boat

Jim Amos, the Stourport Forward volunteer in charge of the Bramble Appeal said: “This is such a wonderful opportunity to restore Bramble for use as a historic working canal boat on site.

“Visitors will be able to step inside the recently restored canal boat, see the way that the boat would have been furnished with rag rugs, lace plates and even a table that converts into a bed and learn about what it would have been like to live in tiny living quarters and the physical labour involved in working on a canal boat in times past.”

If you would like to donate to the Bramble Appeal, make cheques payable to Stourport Forward Limited and send them to Jennifer Meierhans, at The Shuttle, 6 Towers Buildings, Blackwell Street, Kidderminster DY10 2DY. Please include your contact details as Stourport Forward would like to respond with letters of thanks to all those supporting the appeal.

If you can help with materials for Bramble’s refurbishment, contact Jennifer Meierhans on 01562 633346.

For more details of the appeal, contact Shuttleeditor Clive Joyce on 01384 358282.

via Help save historic canal boat | News | Waterscape.

Local volunteers are being called upon to help make the Coventry Canal a cleaner, greener place to visit by taking part in a canal clean-up.

Potential volunteers are being encouraged to give up just a few hours on Make a Difference Day on 29th October to help make the canal a more . . . → Read More: Volunteers needed to ‘make a difference’ on Coventry Canal]]> 19 October 2011

Local volunteers are being called upon to help make the Coventry Canal a cleaner, greener place to visit by taking part in a canal clean-up.

Potential volunteers are being encouraged to give up just a few hours on Make a Difference Day on 29th October to help make the canal a more welcoming place for people and wildlife.

The activity, organised by Voluntary Action Coventry and British Waterways (BW), will see volunteers clearing litter from the towpath and even taking to a BW workboat to clear litter from the water and areas not accessible by foot.

Make a Difference Day is organised by CSV, the UK’s leading volunteering and training charity, and provides thousands of people across the country with the opportunity to try out volunteering. More than three quarters of a million people have taken part since the launch of CSV Make a Difference Day in 1996, and thousands more are expected to give time rather than money to improve their local community this year.

Stuart Collins, volunteer leader for British Waterways, said; “We’re looking forward to taking part in Make a Difference Day. We’re keen for local communities to play a more active role in caring for their local canal and hopefully this event will give them a taste of the great sense of achievement at improving their local environment as well as the opportunity to meet new people and hopefully have some fun”.

Chris Clough, Volunteer Centre Support Officer, said; “This is a great way to get involved and ‘make a difference’ in Coventry. We are hoping that this event will lead to more regular events, especially in the run-up to the Olympics coming to Coventry next year. We’re hoping that volunteers can play a big part in making the towpaths more accessible for cyclists and walkers”.

The canal clean-up will be taking place between 10am and 3pm on Saturday 29th October at the Canal Basin, Coventry and Swan Lane. Anyone wishing to take part in the clean-up can do so by contacting The Volunteer Centre Coventry who are located at 26 City Arcade, Coventry, CV1 3HW (opposite Argos) on 024 7622 0381 or volunteering@vacoventry.org.uk or register online at www.do-it.org.uk.

via Newsroom – British Waterways.

Two upcoming volunteering days are asking people in Ealing, London, and Coventry, West Midlands, to help clean up their local canal.

Make a Difference Day on the Coventry Canal and the British Waterways volunteer work party on the Hanwell Lock Flight, Grand Union Canal are both aimed at improving the local canal . . . → Read More: Volunteers wanted in Ealing and Coventry]]> 19th Oct 2011

Two upcoming volunteering days are asking people in Ealing, London, and Coventry, West Midlands, to help clean up their local canal.

Make a Difference Day on the Coventry Canal and the British Waterways volunteer work party on the Hanwell Lock Flight, Grand Union Canal are both aimed at improving the local canal environment through tasks such as litter picking, painting fences and clearing vegetation.

Hanwell Lock Flight

The event at the historic Hanwell Lock Flight is being held on Sunday 23 October and volunteers can attend from 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-4pm, or both.

Florence Salberter, heritage advisor at British Waterways, said: “The Hanwell Flight is one of the highlights of London’s waterways and the local community has been keen to help restore it to its former glory. We hope that the original funding and enthusiasm from the local community will lead to further funding to work with volunteers on a series of improvements to the area. This would allow us to maintain the heritage structures and create a haven for all sorts of wildlife that everyone in the community would be able to enjoy.”

Volunteers should meet for the day by lock 95, just after The Fox pub, at the end of Green Lane, Ealing (W7 2PJ).

Coventry Canal

Make a Difference Day on the Coventry Canal is being organised by Voluntary Action Coventry and British Waterways. It will see volunteer work parties at Coventry Canal Basin, as well as by the canal at Swan Lane, on 29 October from 10am-3pm.

Stuart Collins, volunteer leader for British Waterways, said; “We’re keen for local communities to play a more active role in caring for their local canal and hopefully this event will give them a taste of the great sense of achievement at improving their local environment as well as the opportunity to meet new people and have some fun.”

Anyone wishing to take part should contact The Volunteer Centre Coventry on 024 7622 0381 or volunteering@vacoventry.org.uk.

via Volunteers wanted in Ealing and Coventry | News | Waterscape.

The new waterways charity that will become the guardian of the canals and rivers in England and Wales from April next year is recruiting people to chair the Waterways Partnerships that will help shape the future of the waterways in each of the partnership areas.

The role of each Partnership is to . . . → Read More: Chair people sought for Waterways Partnerships]]> 20 September 2011

The new waterways charity that will become the guardian of the canals and rivers in England and Wales from April next year is recruiting people to chair the Waterways Partnerships that will help shape the future of the waterways in each of the partnership areas.

The role of each Partnership is to give local people a greater say and role in how their canals and rivers are run, working with local managers to develop strategies and plans and to build local involvement and participation in the waterways. Each of the eleven administrative areas of the waterways network will have a Chair and Partnership Board recruited and up and running by April 2012.

There will be two further Partnerships for the waterways museums and All-Wales issues. Chairs are being recruited before Christmas for Manchester & Pennine, North Wales & Borders, South Wales & Severn, Kennet & Avon and the All Wales Partnerships.

The Kennet and Avon Partnership is included in this first round to confirm the position of the Trial Partnership and bring this appointment into the recruitment process agreed by the Transition Appointments Committee.

This round will also include a review of the Trial Partnerships in the West Midlands and North West with a view to releasing them from their “Trial” status, and arrangements will be made to set up the Museums Partnership as the successor to The Waterways Trust Museums Management Board.

Chairs for Local Partnerships in the North East, Central Shires, East Midlands, South East and London will be recruited in a second round starting in January.

The Transition Appointments Committee is recruiting the Chairs on behalf of the New Waterways Charity.

The Committee comprises Roger Clarke and Dinah Nichols, who are members of the Defra Advisory Panel on First Appointments and Transition, and two transition trustees, Lynne Berry and Tom Franklin. They will be working with Roger Hanbury, Chief Executive of The Waterways Trust, and local waterway managers to recruit Chairs for the Local Partnerships.

Roger Hanbury comments: “The Waterways Partnerships are integral to the stewardship and development of the waterways within each Partnership area. They shape the strategies and plans for each waterway, guide decisions about spending, and help develop external funding and volunteering. They will champion the interests of the waterways at a political level, with business, and with the community and develop action plans for local engagement and participation.”

A written record of all meetings will be publically available on the web. All positions on the Partnerships will be un-remunerated, but agreed expenses will be reimbursed.

British Waterways (BW) has agreed a new partnership with the Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust to pilot a project which will help improve areas on the West Midlands canal network.

The partnership will see offenders sentenced to Community Payback working on a range of tasks to improve canals in Birmingham, Walsall, . . . → Read More: Offenders give back on West Midlands canals]]> 14th Jul 2011

British Waterways (BW) has agreed a new partnership with the Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust to pilot a project which will help improve areas on the West Midlands canal network.

The partnership will see offenders sentenced to Community Payback working on a range of tasks to improve canals in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Stafford. The partnership will organise a programme of over 4,000 offender days over the course of the 12 month agreement. The project has already got going, with offenders working two days a week on a range of canal maintenance tasks including painting locks, cutting back vegetation and removing litter.

Previous work between BW and probation trusts has been carried out on an ad-hoc basis and the aim of this partnership is to provide a more coordinated approach to help make a greater difference across a wider geographical area. If successful it is a model that could be replicated in other areas of the UK’s canal network.

Offenders are sentenced to Community Payback to ensure they give something back to the local community. The scheme will help to re-introduce offenders to the community and give them meaningful worthwhile tasks and opportunities to help them improve local areas.

Canal projects achieve higher attendance

Simon Turner from British Waterways said; “We’ve been working with probation trusts for a while now and we’ve seen some significant successes but we now feel it’s the right time to take a slightly different, more wide-ranging, approach. This agreement will enable us to work together more closely and in a more organised manner and give us the opportunity to make a much greater difference to the local canal network. The feedback we have from working with probation trusts is generally very positive and the attendance rate for canal projects tends to be higher than for other tasks so we’re hoping that local communities will soon notice a real difference.”

Mary Coxall of Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation, said; “Community Payback is a tough punishment, but it also helps to rehabilitate offenders. This excellent partnership with British Waterways means SWM Probation can order offenders to do hard physical work out on the canal network, where they can see how their efforts make a difference to local people who use the waterways.”

via Offenders give back on West Midlands canals | News | Waterscape.

As most waterways supporters know, . . . → Read More: The Big Society cruises up canals]]> In an article “The Big Society Cruises up Yorkshire’s Canals’, Len Tingle, Political Editor in Yorkshire suggests that it might come as a surprise to some that one of the first chunks of “big government” being taken over by the Big Society will be our 200 year old canal network.

As most waterways supporters know, the entire state owned and operated network is to be handed over to a charity that is being specially set up to run what has now become a vast part of our leisure and tourism industry.

The new waterways charity (NWC) - loosely modelled on the National Trust  – is expected to take control next spring amidst concerns from influential voices in Yorkshire and other parts of the 2,000 mile inland waterway network. The concern is that the government will cast off the canals without enough cash to ensure they keep afloat.

That is denied by Richard Benyon , the junior environment minister, who has piloted the changes through the consultation period which ended in at the end of June.

Bequeathed millions

“Firstly we are gifting to the new charity £400m worth of property,”  Benyon told Tingle when he interviewed him for the Politics Show for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

“Its always been there subject to any government having a dawn raid to grab those assets and sell them for other purposes. Now they are going to the charity and no government in the future will be able to touch them.”

The charity will be able to gear up against that and increase their income from that property portfolio.”

“In fact, rental income from the huge amount of canalside property will be a major part of the future income of the new charity. More will come from existing licences and fees paid by canal users”, said Benyon.

Funding fears

But waterway stakeholder user groups  point agree with Tingle’s point that this will still leave a substantial funding gap. Insiders say that the gap appeared in 2006 when DEFRA, at the time with David Miliband at the helm, dramatically and suddenly cut waterways budgets and since then British Waterways (BW) has been running with a £30 million annual maintenance deficit. This deficit exists with a current grant from government of around £50 million but the deal offered by government for the new charity is only an annual flat-rate subsidy of £39m for the first 15 years of the charity. Tingle suggests that after that the charity will probably be on its own.

The influential Huddersfield Canal Society (HCS)  says that is not good enough. It fears that routine maintenance and future development of the network will suffer.

Tingle reports that Alan Stopher from HCS met him at the entrance to the amazing Standedge tunnel which was built 200 years ago to take the Huddersfield narrow canal under the Pennines to Lancashire.

Governance of the New Charity

“That is the big issue for us,” Stopher said. “We are concerned about governance of the new body and whether it can take on board the work of enthusiasts in the same way as the National Trust. Volunteers are the key to the canals future financial success. They will be asked to help cut costs by “adopting” sections of canal and carrying out routine maintenance such as weeding banks and re-painting locks”.

The new charity will be created by mutualising  British Waterways (BW), the government organisation which has run the canals since the 1960s. Tingle reports that, BW’s director of enterprise in the North, Julia Sharman, is confident the new charity will be a success. She believes the financial settlement is adequate:

“We need to put the waterways on a secure financial footing and we need to be able to plan for the future. From day one of the new charity we will have a funding arrangement that will last for 15 years minimum. That in itself will give us a far better position”, she said.

Too important to ignore

But BW’s own reported figures backed by a report by consultants KPMG and most waterway stakeholders do not agree with Sharman’s optimistic opinion on the key funding issue.

Tingle’s report goes on to quote Nigel Stevens of  Shire Cruisers.

“The government is playing games, but nobody else is – I feel a better agreement will eventually be achieved because the canals are too important to ignore”.

Nigel, who runs the holiday barges company Shire Cruisers from a marina at Sowerby Bridge near Halifax, is one of the industry insiders that has a different view to Sharman. Tingle reports that he says successive governments have already squeezed its subsidy – down from £70m a few years ago to around £50m now.  He rejects suggestions that in times of economic hardship canals are unlikely to be given much priority for government funding. I feel a better agreement will eventually be achieved because the canals are too important to ignore,”  he told Tingle.

“Most canal users already pay fees and licences so the tax payer should chip in for those that receive a benefit from them being well maintained but are unable to contribute anything – tourists, walkers and cyclists use the towpaths and visit the marinas but there’s no way to charge them”, said Stephens.

Waterway Watch comments:

Stephens’ view reflects the opinion of most waterways stakeholder groups and insiders. It is estimated that BW spend over £15 million each year on peripheral maintenance issues like keeping towpaths clear for local users like walkers, cyclists and anglers; rubbish removal; repairing bridges damaged by local traffic;  clearing  up the results of anti-social behaviour, etc. – all issues that would normally be paid for by local authorities. The current £39 million on offer by government makes no contribution to such important, but clearly local, costs and this will only add to the £30 million maintenance deficit.

The new charity will take on all of the statutory responsibilities of British Waterways that are described in the Transport Act of 1968. This and related acts legally binds BW – and therefore its successor the new charity – to maintain the cruising and commercial waterways in a state suitable for navigation and so, as has been happening since the cuts of 2006, the funding shortfall has left BW with no option other than to ensure that the navigation is safe and spread the funding shortfall by cutting back on the maintenance of less critical issues like towpath maintenance, optimal dredging and general good practice like preventative maintenance of many of the thousands of 200 year old navigation structures like bridges, locks, embankments, culverts, aqueducts etc.  Waterway Watch and most if not all stakeholder groups believe this at best a Penny-wise, Pound foolish policy that will cost more in the long term and is probably also risky because it significantly increases the chances of something critical failing.  As a public body BW is to all intents and purposes an arm of government and so has little choice to get on with the budget it inherits from DEFRA but it is another matter if the new charity is expected to take on the same duties with even less funding if the £39 million currently on offer is not increased. This critical negotiation is initially in the hands of the Transitional Trustees but whatever is agreed must also gain the approval of the Charity Commission. We face interesting times ahead.

This article was adapted from the  BBC News – The Big Society cruises up Yorkshires canals.