Welcome from les etheridge, national chair

Protect Our Waterways

I hope that by the time you read this, the Government will have reached a sensible decision in terms of waterways funding that supports, and is consistent with, their own policies such as Levelling Up and the Environmental Improvement Plan. I don’t believe that this will be the case, but I’d be delighted to be proved wrong by reading, for example, of an appropriate longterm funding package for Canal & River Trust.

This lack of joined-up thinking is why we have launched the Protect Our Waterways campaign, which covers all canals and rivers. You can read more about it on page 24.

Our Waterways for Today report demonstrated, in great detail, the benefits and value of the waterways and was sent to all MPs with waterways in their constituency and those who were known to have an interest. It was also sent to Government departments and local politicians. Thank you to everyone who followed up with MPs etc. The responses we received included several Government departments plus one om Jeremy Hunt (before he was Chancellor of the Exchequer). The responses are all supportive, in complete contrast to the apparent lack of desire to fund this national asset. The amounts required really are small change for Government. I have been encouraged by a response om Keir Starmer’s o ce which wants to engage with IWA so perhaps this is a promising sign for the future.

The move to a new o ce in Chesham is nearing completion as I write. I must thank our hard-working sta and volunteers for dealing with the inevitable disruption at a time when they have been very busy.

Spring is when the waterways start to be more heavily used following the completion of the winter works programmes carried out by navigation authorities. Last year there were water shortages in many areas and the inevitable accompanying restrictions to navigation. Reservoirs have refilled surprisingly well over the winter so let’s hope 2023 is a be er year in this respect but blessed with good weather.

I started by talking about Protect Our Waterways and I’m going to finish on the subject. There are many di erent interests involved with waterways such as leisure, commercial, residential and transport. At times, these interests conflict and di erences arise. The common interest is well-maintained thriving waterways and whatever Government may think, that needs national and local government funding. Our waterways need all the di erent interests to come together to get this message across to politicians.

A er World War II, there were plans to fill in and close canals. The formation of IWA provided the opportuni for people to come together, and the vast support demonstrated to Government how many people cared! We need to do the same again so I appeal to everyone with an interest to support Protect Our Waterways so that we can prevent them om falling once more into a sad state of decay and dereliction.