The future for inland waterways: Opportunities within civil society
John Packman, AINA’s chair, welcomed delegates to the 2010 AINA conference in London and outlined how, against the backdrop of forthcoming major budget cuts to publicly-funded waterways, the conference would address the Government’s decision to transfer the waterways in England and Wales and cared for by British Waterways to a new charitable body – a move which represented the biggest change in the management of inland waterways since nationalisation in 1948 and the subsequent formation of British Waterways in the early 1960s.
Waterways Minister, Richard Benyon MP, gave the keynote address. He said the conference was an excellent opportunity to share the government’s vision for the future of the waterways and acknowledged the wide range of delegates that AINA had brought together giving him the opportunity to discuss the government’s proposals first hand with the people who were most involved.
The new waterway charity would be the most significant development and opportunity since nationalisation and would blaze a trail for delivery of the vision for the ‘big society’ giving waterway users and communities greater involvement and a sense of ownership of the waterways that they benefit from. Outlining the timescales involved in the transfer and his vision for what needs to be done, he acknowledged the important role that waterways had in terms of supporting biodiversity - reversing its decline across the country was one of the major objectives of the coalition government. He stressed the importance of the new waterway charity having clear purpose and a robust governance which would protect and enhance the waterway asset and associated public benefits both now and in the future. This would not be British Waterways in a new set of clothes, but heralding a new era in waterways, building on the good work that has been done over the years.
Addressing the important question of whether or not the Environment Agency’s navigations would be included as part of the new waterway charity he admitted that this decision had not yet been taken but everyone was working hard on this and a conclusion was anticipated in the early part of next year.
In conclusion, the Minister said that he hoped everyone agreed that this would be a new and exciting chapter for waterways. It reflected a confidence in society and built on the good work of British Waterways and countless other waterway enthusiasts. He urged everyone to engage as fully as possible in the new waterway charity to ensure that our waterways continued to be a great success well into the future.
Robin Evans, Chief Executive of British Waterways explained the timetable moving towards the new charity and the procedures and processes involved in achieving that goal. Roger Goulding, National Navigation Advisor for the Environment Agency and Diane Tilley, Director of Planning, Economy and Performance at Worcestershire County Council both talked about the opportunities for volunteering and engaging in partnerships, whilst acknowledging the major challenges faced with the spending review providing less funding.
Chris Walker, Director, at Ecorys Research & Consulting spoke about the research they had undertaking to quantify the extent and value of current volunteering activity on AINA members’ waterways.
The final presentation gave an insight into what partnerships could look like in the future following the establishment of the new charity. Mike Rodd, General Manager of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust; and Mark Stephens, Waterway Manager at British Waterways described a trial they have been undertaking into third sector working on the Kennet & Avon and the impact that it could have in the future.
The last element of the conference provided delegates with an opportunity to challenge a panel of experts, looking at what has been considered throughout the day in the wider context in terms of the third sector. Ben Kernighan, Deputy Chief Executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Stephen Cook, Editor of Third Sector Magazine gave brief presentations and were joined by Robin Evans for the question and answer session.
To view/download copies of the presentations, to read the full conference session report and to see transcripts from the question and answer sessions click on a link under 'Downloads' (see right side of this page).
Pictures by Bob Naylor, www.KAcanalTimes.co.uk