Highlighting the benefits Waterways for Today

Alison Smedley provides details of two more of the 12 benefits highlighted in the Inland Waterways Association’s new report

This is the second in the series of articles that will each spotlight two of the 12 benefits covered in IWA’s Waterways for Today report, launched at the AGM in September 2022.

The report has now been widely distributed among politicians at all levels to demonstrate the importance of the UK’s inland waterways. It provides evidence to demonstrate why waterways should be receiving full support and funding om Government, and is already being used in earnest as a campaigning tool in lobbying MPs and Government about future funding for the Canal & River Trust.

Having looked at two of the most topical issues facing the country in the last issue of Waterways (economic benefits and environmental issues), this time we delve down into two of the reasons why waterways are good for local communities and the lives of individual people.

Benefit 7: Connecting communities

From the ‘local communities’ section of the report, this benefit looks at how waterways can provide connections between di erent communities.

Due to their industrial past, hundreds of towns and cities are connected to the waterways network. Their towpaths provide active travel corridors that connect communities and provide ee, inclusive and level routes for walking, jogging, cycling and more. Cycle routes, long-distance paths and the national footpath network o en link to waterway towpaths, allowing improved connections at a local level.

These routes provide tra c- ee paths for people living in rural areas to access bigger se lements, and passage out to the countryside om inner ci and urban areas. The regeneration of a waterway can also spur local communities to take ownership of it, and work together to maintain and enhance ‘their’ communi asset.

Within cities, waterways are blue-green routes that should be considered part of sustainable transport networks contributing towards zero carbon, economic recovery and changing behaviour pa erns.

Facts & stats

Among the interesting facts included in the report are the following:

■ Of the 76 places o cially designated as cities in England, Scotland and Wales, 41 are on a navigable waterway.

■ According to Sustrans, canalside paths in Birmingham saw a 128% increase in use by cyclists between 2012 and 2016, following improvements to the ci ’s towpaths.

■ A scheme funded by Sco ish Government and Sustrans saw £429,000 spent upgrading the towpath of the Monkland Canal, a derelict and partially filled-in waterway no longer connected to Scotland’s Lowland Canals but well used by the local communi for walking and cycling.

Waterways for Today overview of the 12 benefits

In the next issue we will look in more depth at two more of the benefits outlined in the report, but here, below, is an overview of all 12 benefits.

The full report, available to download om IWA’s website, can be used as a tool for your local campaigns, with materials downloadable om the website including PDFs relating to each of the 12 benefits.

Economic

1. Contribute to economic recovery

2. Encourage increased spend in local communities

3. Facilitate savings to the NHS and social care budgets

Natural & Built Environment

4. Enhance and improve the natural environment

5. Protect heritage for future generations

6. Improve sustainabili and help to combat climate change

Local Communities

7. Connect communities

8. Provide opportunities for education and young people

9. Create jobs, training and apprenticeships

Improving People's Lives

10. Encourage improved physical health

11. Improve mental health and wellbeing

12. Create be er places to live

Case Study: Bee Highway, Ashton Canal

A ‘bee highway’, connecting communities and wildlife, has been created along the Ashton Canal in Manchester. It follows a communal vegetable plot at Lock 4, which was set up by IWA’s Manchester Branch and Incredible Edible, a network of groups around the country that encourage communities to come together by growing food and supporting local food businesses.

A raised bed beside the lock was planted with a variety of edibles and herbs, including strawberries, beetroot, chives, onions, parsley and peas. The timber for the bed came from old lock gates which, along with the gravel and top soil, was donated by the Canal & River Trust. Volunteers have also sown wild flower seeds as the first part of the bee highway along the route of the canal.

IWA Manchester Branch supplied all the plants, created signage out of recycled timber and its volunteers gave out spare baby pea plants to passers-by, complete with instructions on their care.

Since then, further edible gardens have been created at other locations along the Ashton flight. People who use the waterway for walking, cycling, boating and relaxation are encouraged to pause a while to tend the garden and pick vegetables and herbs in return, enjoying the improved biodiversity of this very urban environment in the process.

Benefit 11: Improved mental health and well-being

Another section of the report looks at how waterways improve the lives of individual people, and one of these is through improved mental health and well-being. As well as providing active forms of recreation, waterways also offer opportunities for shared social experiences and the chance to connect with nature.

Increased physical activity is known to improve mental health. As well as more strenuous forms of recreation such as cycling, running and paddle sports, our waterways can also be used for walking a dog, strolling with friends and family, relaxing, visiting canalside pubs and cafés, fishing, wildlife watching, going on a boat trip, photography and much more. Post-pandemic, shared social experiences like these have become more important than ever.

Volunteering can also improve mental health, through a renewed sense of purpose and the satisfaction of a job well done. As well as providing important social interactions and an opportunity to make new friends, volunteering can reduce stress and boost confidence too.

These opportunities are now recognised by health professionals, with social prescribing of waterway activities and volunteering now happening in several parts of the country.

Facts & stats

Among the interesting facts about wellbeing and mental health featured in the report are the following: n According to The Economic, Social & Well-being Value of Boating, a new report jointly commissioned by CRT and British Marine, frequent boaters enjoy a 15% decrease in anxiety and a 6% increase in life expectancy compared to non-boaters. n Studies by CRT indicate that waterways can improve the overall well-being of anyone who uses them, with waterway users boasting greater life satisfaction, happiness and feelings of worth than non-waterway users. n The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare found a number of unique characteristics of the waterside environment which, combined with the urban and postindustrial areas they pass through, can demonstrably deliver positive impacts on mental health. n Research carried out for Historic England found that volunteering on heritage projects contributed to participants’ well-being in six areas: purpose, being, capacity, sharing, selfnurture and self-actualisation. These findings are all underpinned by the heritage setting.

Case Study: Waterways and well-being

People in Nottingham can enjoy an afternoon of paddleboarding, a well-being walk or some canalside gardening on prescription as part of a social prescribing project in the city.

The Waterways and Well-being project uses Nottingham’s canal as a focal point to help tackle mental and physical health problems.

People living along the canal, which runs from Nottingham to Beeston, have been accessing a variety of activities. As well as those detailed above, there have been canoeing, running and cycling sessions along the waterway, volunteering opportunities, and the chance to join photography courses, arts activities, cookery classes and communal meals at venues along the canal.

In its first year the project was run by a partnership of local organisations including CRT, Nottingham Community & Voluntary Service, Notts County Foundation, Canalside Heritage Centre, Nottingham Photographers Hub and local foodbank Himmah. Funding was provided through the National Academy of Social Prescribing, Arts Council England, Natural England and Historic England.

Thanks to funding from the Greenspace socialprescribing programme, the project has been extended for a further year and expanded to include activities at Holme Pierrepoint National Water Sport Centre and the Mill Base Adventure Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

The programme is open to anyone living in the county who struggles with their mental well-being or social isolation.

Waterways for Today publicity

As well as sending the printed report out to politicians and organisations we want to influence, we have also been spreading the word locally and regionally, through newspaper and online articles, radio interviews and even a TV slot.

The report has featured in all the national waterways press publications and several waterway websites, including a series of four blogs on Canals Online. It has also featured in several local and regional newspapers, radio stations including BBC’s Radio Oxford, Suffolk, Merseyside, Nottingham and Leicester, while IWA West London Branch Chair, Roger Stocker, was interviewed on London Live TV.

The report is also now lodged in the House of Commons Library, having been included as background papers for the 22nd November, 2022 Parliamentary Debate.

Waterways for Today distribution

Over 1,600 copies of the report have now been distributed to politicians at various levels, as well as national bodies and waterway organisations. The distribution included tailored letters to 33 Ministers and Secretaries of State across eight Government departments, 435 MPs, 100 Peers, 74 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 43 Members of the Welsh Senedd, 275 local authorities, 22 elected and metropolitan mayors, and hundreds of waterway user groups, restoration societies and various national organisations.

Several high-profile politicians have written in response to the report, including the leader of the opposition, a Minister from the Department for Transport and several MPs including the MP for South West Surrey (just before he was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer).