CAMPAIGNING WITH YOU Sustainable boating and the future of our waterways in a post-Covid-19 world are among some of the issues we’ve been campaigning on with your help. Here’s how we’ve been doing…
Building Back Better The vital importance of the waterways to the Government’s aspirations to Build Back Better in a post-Covid-19 world was highlighted by three navigation authorities during a video meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways on 8th December. Michael Fabricant MP, APPGW chair, opened the meeting and welcomed parliamentarians, officials from Defra, IWA representatives and members of many waterway organisations and navigation authorities. Leaders from Canal & River Trust, the Broads Authority and the Avon Navigation Trust all presented on the important contribution that the inland waterways can make to the country’s economic prosperity and the population’s physical and mental health. All three navigation authorities reported dramatic increases in visitors to their waterways during 2020, with the restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic bringing many people to their local canals and rivers for the first time. Visits to towpaths and riverside paths had increased, as had the number of people using canoes and stand-up paddleboards. All three also stressed the importance of future funding to ensure ongoing access by the whole population to safely managed waterways. Canal & River Trust Richard Parry, CEO of Canal & River Trust, spoke about the economic benefits of the waterways and their wider efforts to support health and well-being: • 16% of the English population live within 10 to 15 minutes’ walk of a CRT waterway. Mr Parry noted that CRT could contribute to the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ economic development agenda, helping to improve health and well-being in urban and deprived areas across the Midlands and the North.
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• CRT’s network represents a significant portion of our national infrastructure, particularly as a response to extreme weather events such as flooding. A programme of work estimated to cost £125m over the next five years is required to improve the resilience of the trust’s 68 reservoirs and hundreds of other high-risk structures. • The trust has identified several hundred kilometres of routes to add to the National Cycle Network as part of its promotion of active travel along its waterways. Mr Parry added that there was further scope for the canal network to make a positive contribution to decarbonisation, such as by increasing green freight transport via the canals. • CRT has been successful in its bid for the Government’s Kickstart Scheme, which provides funding for the creation of job placements for 16 to 24 year olds, and throughout the recent crisis has maintained its supporter and volunteer networks.
Further to this, Mr Main revealed ANT has a number of investment projects: • The Neptune Project – a repurposed barge to serve as a floating youth centre • The Avon Extension – a direct link between the Severn and the Grand Union Canal at a cost of £29.6m • Evesham Lock Youth & Volunteer Centre • The Wyre Whitewater Project. Broads Authority The final presenter was John Packman, chief executive of the Broads Authority, who outlined the following: • The authority is working with organisations such as the Environment Agency to develop the Broadland Futures Initiative, aimed at using the waterways to mitigate the impact of sea-level rises on the area. With climate change already impacting the Broads as a result of coastal erosion and rising sea levels, the Government’s Building Back Better approach needs to take a longterm view in making waterways and National Parks more resilient to future environmental pressures. • Tourism is a vital contributor to the East Anglia economy, with the Broads Below: Michael Fabricant MP (r), with Paul Rodgers, IWA National Chair, at a Parliamentary briefing pre-Covid-19. Mr Fabricant recently led virtual APPGW meetings on the future of our inland waterways and sustainable boating.
Avon Navigation Trust The second speaker was Adrian Main, deputy CEO of the Avon Navigation Trust. He began by introducing the scope of the 48-mile route between Tewkesbury and Alveston Weir upstream of Stratfordupon-Avon, as well as the volunteer-led focus of the navigation authority: • 75% of hours worked on this independent, self-funding navigation are carried out by volunteers. • During lockdown the river saw high levels of engagement from the public, with a further surge in visitors during the summer. • Around £1m a year is required by ANT to maintain the navigation and to reach a steady state condition of all the river’s assets. Spring 2021 22/01/2021 14:15
