Campaigns Update

Spotlight on…

waterways watch

Get involved in IWA’s latest initiative to tackle issues affecting boaters and towpath-users across the inland waterways

RUPERT SMEDLEY

Dredging on the Slough Arm.

Waterways Watch is a new initiative from IWA that aims to gather evidence about campaigning issues to assist the Association in lobbying navigation authorities and Government about problems or concerns experienced by everyone who uses our inland waterways.

The scheme follows on from the successful Gaptracker campaign that ran over the last two years, and gathered data from boaters about facilities that were missing or not fit for purpose. It found that the key area of concern was provision of the basic three facilities that all boaters need: water, rubbish disposal and portable toilet emptying. The findings were shared with navigation authorities, particularly Canal & River Trust which welcomed the report and incorporated it into its own research and plans for replacing and refurbishing boaters’ facilities. We are awaiting an update from them on how these plans are progressing.

GATHERING DATA

Waterways Watch is very much about supplementing IWA’s knowledge of the waterways and will cover all navigable waterways and navigation authorities in England, Scotland and Wales. The information that we gather will help us to raise important issues with individual navigation authorities and build up a better picture of what problems are happening locally or where something is part of a wider national issue. It will also assist us in bringing together evidence for lobbying Government for additional funding for the publicly owned waterways.

Waterways Watch is not intended to replace any reporting system for emergency repairs or maintenance issues, which should continue to be communicated direct to the relevant navigation authorities.

This new system aims to provide navigation authorities with reports on a wider range of specific issues over the coming months and years, such as dredging, winding holes, overhanging vegetation, issues experienced by towpath users and navigation issues identified by boaters. Waterways Watch will gather information on specific issues over a particular period of time. As one project gathers enough information for it to be taken up with relevant navigation authorities or other bodies, new issues will become available for reporting on. Waterway users will be able to suggest topics for new surveys.

IWA is well placed to campaign nationally about issues across all the inland waterways of the UK as we have established relationships with the various navigation authorities. Boaters, cyclists, walkers, anglers and anyone else who uses the waterways will be encouraged to take part. This call to all waterway users to get involved will enable certain issues to be prioritised and raised with the relevant navigation authority in a more encompassing and consistent way than previously.

Waterways Watch will be launched on the new IWA website with a reporting form as well as background information on the first topics where evidence is being sought. As the scheme progresses, the final reports of surveys will also be made available on the website.

TOP OF THE WATERWAYS WATCH LIST

The first three topics for Waterways Watch, which will be launched via IWA’s new website, will be: ■ Dredging: Boaters – let us know where the bottom is too near the top

Does your local towpath look like this?

■ Winding holes: Boaters – let us know which winding holes are overgrown, silted up or blocked ■ Towpaths: All waterway users – let us know the places where you find it difficult to access the towpath, or move along it, or where paths don’t exist

Information on all these topics is encouraged from across the wider waterways, not just those managed by the larger navigation authorities.

Dredging

In an ideal world, we would be consistently asking navigation authorities to dredge all their waterways to original profile, and this would have happened by now. While this has been IWA’s agreed policy for many years, we have to be realistic in acknowledging that funding such a scheme will always be a stumbling block, even taking into account the wider environmental benefits. We recognise that the financial fallout from the current Covid-19 pandemic will also have an impact on available funding.

What are the wider benefits to dredging than just avoiding the inconvenience or embarrassment of individual boaters who get stuck on the bottom somewhere? Greater depth of water below a boat’s hull and propeller allows for more efficient use of fuel and less resulting wash or turbulence (with associated environmental benefits in terms of fuel consumption and less damage to the bank). And in these times of unpredictable weather, better-dredged summit pounds, reservoirs and feeder channels would give resilience in maintaining navigation during periods of water shortage.

How can Waterways Watch help? Until we have convinced Government that investing in dredging to original profile will be a cost-saving and environment-benefiting scheme in the long term, we can at least ensure that the waterways remain as available as possible for the boats that use them. By highlighting problem areas at the earliest opportunity, we can help navigation authorities prioritise where they should be spending their dredging budgets.

As every owner of a deep-draughted (and maybe even the notso-deep-draughted) boat knows, there is nothing more frustrating (and sometimes embarrassing) than being stuck in the middle of the channel. So if you have gone aground on a gravel shoal on a river (the Nene is particularly renowned for this), got stuck on the bottom in the middle of a canal somewhere (the BCN perhaps?), or know that the depth of a waterway just won’t allow you to use it (e.g. seagoing boats which could previously transit the Forth & Clyde Canal) – please let us know. Until Waterways Watch is launched on the new website, you can send your dredging observations (based on boating over the last year or so) to Amy Tillson, IWA Campaigns Officer at amy.tillson@ waterways.org.uk.

Winding holes

Winding holes, wides, swinging areas or wide waters – whatever you call it, it’s the place where a boat longer than the width of a navigation can turn.

Following on from a joint project a few years ago with the Historic Narrow Boat Club, we are working in partnership with the organisation again following a request from Canal & River Trust to help identify a definitive list of where all of its winding holes are.

While CRT has specifically asked for help, by including this issue in our first Waterways Watch topics we are hoping to receive comments relating to other navigation authorities too, and about wider issues than just where winding holes are located.

As part of this project we will also be encouraging off-line marina operators to allow (or even encourage) the use of their entrances as winding holes – if a boat is able to turn sooner on its journey this will save fuel and potentially water supply if the next nearest winding hole is through any locks, as well as helping to reduce congestion in some places.

We want to hear from you about where the winding holes in your area are, where they are obstructed with overgrown vegetation, silted up or blocked, and also suggestions for potential new winding hole locations that would help alleviate water supply issues on lock flights or congestion near marinas.

Until Waterways Watch is launched on the new website, you can send your recollections of any winding hole issues that you’ve experienced in the last year to Amy Tillson, IWA Campaigns Officer at amy.tillson@waterways.org.uk.

Towpath and river path access

We are calling on all towpath users, and particularly those on bicycles or with pushchairs, wheelchairs or other mobility devices, to let us know the places that you find it difficult to access the towpath, or to move along it, due to barriers, steps or poor surfaces.

We would also like to get a clearer picture of where navigable waterways don’t have paths running alongside them, such as on some rivers and navigable drains. This will enable us to build up a clear picture of where we would like to campaign for new paths in the future.

We will be working with walking and cycling organisations to encourage them to get their members to report issues too, as soon as the canals and rivers are back open for normal activity once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

In the meantime, if you have any observations of access issues on the waterways local to you, or that you have noticed further afield over the last year or so, please send your comments to Alison Smedley, IWA Campaigns & Public Affairs Manager at alison. smedley@waterways.org.uk.

The Chelmer & Blackwater being dredged – where else needs attention?

During the current restrictions in place on our waterways to prevent the spread of Covid-19, we will be encouraging people to send in reports based on their observations over the last 12 months.