Britain’s unique and well-loved network of canals and navigable rivers is
deteriorating because of inadequate funding. At a time of unprecedented
challenges caused by the climate emergency and high inflation, government
is failing to respond. Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW), a coalition of
organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters
of inland waterways, is campaigning for national and local government to
act now and protect the public benefit and natural capital of our
waterways.
Management of Britain’s 5,000 miles of navigable inland waterways is
fragmented. The Canal & River Trust (CRT) has the greatest responsibility
covering 2,000 miles. It is already in a difficult financial situation
with a fixed government grant of £52.6m per year until 2027. Defra was
expected to confirm funding for 2028 onwards in July 2022 but has not yet
made an announcement. Other waterways face similar problems: the
Environment Agency is operating with £22m per year, one third of its
identified requirement, and Scottish Canals has over £70m of maintenance
work outstanding.
The consequences of failing to maintain waterway infrastructure were
clearly shown by the evacuation of 1,500 local residents in case the dam
at Toddbrook Reservoir collapsed in 2019. This event has shown the need
for increased spend on CRT reservoirs of up to £25m per year, but it is as
if the lessons have not yet been learnt.
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the value of Britain’s inland waterways
as people sought blue and green spaces to help recover. This was
acknowledged in Defra’s own Environmental Improvement Plan, providing
levelling up, economic, environmental, health and wellbeing benefits for
us all.
The combined annual economic and social value of CRT waterways alone has
been quantified as £6.1bn, including cost savings of £1.1bn for the NHS
from active use of the waterways and towpaths. Despite this greater
understanding of their value, and the deteriorating state of the
infrastructure today, the Government appears intent on significantly
reducing its funding for the waterways, says Les Etheridge, Chair of the
FBW steering group and National Chair of the Inland Waterways Association.
He said: “Government needs to recognise that saying they value the inland
waterways is not enough to prevent their decline. Whilst we in FBW
understand the financial pressures that everyone faces, the financial cuts
are too deep, and adequate public funding needs to be allocated to
maintain these national assets. FBW will be taking action starting with a
campaign cruise in Birmingham over the weekend of 12-13 August 2023.”
For more information about the campaign, or to join the group,
please visit the Fund Britain’s Waterways website.
