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British Waterways

AINA Representative: Mr Jeff Whyatt – Snr. Waterway Manager

510 – 524 Elder House
Elder Gate
Central Milton Keynes
MK9 1BW

Telephone: 01908 302500

Website: www.britishwaterways.co.uk

Constitutional status

British Waterways is a public corporation accountable to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in England and Wales, and the Scottish Executive in Scotland.

From June 2012, British Waterways in England & Wales will become the Canal & River Trust, having full charitable status. British Waterways Scotland will separate at this time and continue to operate under the direct control of the Scottish government.

Description of navigation

British Waterways’ navigations are situated in both urban and rural locations. They include narrow and broad canals, rivers, lakes, lochs and reservoirs..

A brief history of the navigation

British Waterways (BW) took over the management and running of about 2,000 miles of canal and river navigations in 1963. Five years later, after a lengthy review, the Transport Act 1968, classified waterways into three groups, which are still used today. Commercial Waterways are principally for the carriage of freight; Cruising Waterways are to be available for cruising, fishing and other recreational purposes; and Remainder Waterways are to be maintained as economically as possible but with due consideration for health and safety. Improvements can be made to the last group provided the cost is not covered directly by BW but can be found from other interested parties, such as local authorities, local trusts and private business or individuals.

In the late 1970’s the towpaths were opened to the public; prior to that access had been by permit only. There is no public right of way along towpaths except for some statutory designated footpaths but since that time BW has encouraged a greater use of the extensive network of towpaths for walking, fishing, cycling in some areas, and for educational purposes for parties of school children.

BW comes under the control of the Department of the Environment and is financed in part by Grant-in-Aid from the Government. Users now contribute substantially to BW through licences, mooring fees etc. and BW’s other business activities also contribute to its funding.

From 2012/13 Financial year the Canal & River Trust will operate within a contractual framework with Government (Defra). This contract has been agreed for 15 years, taking the Trust forward to 2027 with much greater financial stability than ever before.

The Government have agreed to a review in 2021/22 ‘to examine the ongoing public benefit case for government funding beyond 2026/27’.

Current situation and use

In the period from 1998 to 2004, BW has concentrated on the elimination of the backlog of safety-related maintenance and bringing back, into everyday use, abandoned waterways. The backlog of safety-related maintenance will be eliminated by 2004, and the period saw over 200 miles of navigable waterways added back to the network.

There are growing numbers of customers in hire boats, private boats and using the water and towpaths for angling, walking, cycling and for family recreation. In addition to the work to maintain the waterway structures, the quality of facilities and access to the waterways have also been significantly improved.

Plans for the future

The future for the current British Waterways in England & Wales lies with the launch of the new charity in June 2012.

The certainty of funding from Government upto 2027, the ownership of it’s £1/2 billion property portfolio transferring to the Trust alongside the ability to independently fundraise for it’s charitable objectives and aims position the future much brighter than at anytime in the waterways history.

The logos of the Trust are shown below with the strapline that will be increasingly prominent along the waterways from 2012.

How we consult with our users

British Waterways consults on a wide range of subjects, via its website and through correspondence. It has established a British Waterways Advisory Forum which is made up of representatives from national waterway and business federations.

It holds regular user group meetings based regionally and has local and national meetings such as Corridor Issues Meeting and Boating Issues Meetings.

Within the governance structure of the Trust it is proposed that there will be several expert Advisory groups to work alongside the Executive to shape policy and act as a sounding board for specific issues. Examples currently being constructed are – Navigation , Environment , Heritage, Volunteering and Freight.

How we are structured

BW in England & Wales has 11 waterway units, each one headed up by a locally based Waterway Manager. In the case of British Waterways Scotland a Director heads the unit.

It has central departments (based at Watford HQ) including customer services, legal, marketing & communications etc.. This HQ will be relocating to Milton Keynes later in 2012, at which time the South East regional office will join in a new office location at Elder gate.

It currently has 7 executive directors (including Scotland), a chief executive and chairman. The final tier of the British Waterways organization is the Board, comprising the chairman, vice chairman and non executive directors who are appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (in the case of two Board members) by Scottish Ministers.

The Canal & River Trust has (at March 2012) now finalised the composition of it’s Trustee structure, the full complement for June 2012 launch will be 10 trustees.

A governing Council is being finalised of some 33 members, the first meeting of which will be 28th March 2012.

Navigation statistics

Narrow canals
Ashby, Ashton , Birmingham Canals. Caldon, Chesterfield, Coventry, Dudley Canals, Grand Union (North of Long Buckby), Macclesfield, Oxford, Peak Forest, Shropshire Union (Part) + Llangollen Branch, Staffs & Worcs, Stour Bridge, Stratford on Avon, Trent & Mersey (Part), Worcester and Birmingham.

Broad canals
Aire & Calder Navigation, Calder & Hebble Navigation, Erewash, Fossdyke Navigation, Gloucester & Sharpness, Grand Union Canal South, Kennet & Avon, Lancaster, Leeds & Liverpool, Monmouthshire & Brecon, New Junction, Ripon, Shropshire Union (Part), Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation, New Junction, Tinsley, Trent & Mersey (Part).

Caledonian Canal, Crinan Canal, Forth & Clyde Canal

River navigations
Kennet, Avon, Lee, Ouse (Yorkshire), Severn, Ure, Soar, Stort, Trent, Weaver, Witham.

Tees Barrage, London Docklands.

Boating statistics

12 month period – Jan 2007/Dec 2007

Licences/Registrations

Short term licences are issued for craft visiting the waterways for less than 3 months. Statistics have not been collated for these licences for 2007.

Canoes are subject to a block agreement with the British Canoe Union and are not licensed individually. Therefore, the number of unpowered craft will greatly exceed the totals quoted.

Requirements for Boating

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