Memorandum submitted by the Inland Waterways
Association (BW 27)
BACKGROUND ON
IWA
The Inland Waterways Association is a registered
charity formed in 1946 by individuals who wished to turn our inland
waterways from the abandoned ditches many had become into the
widely used and much loved amenity that they are today. The Association,
through its national membership and local waterway societies,
campaigns to convince government, local authorities and the public
of the need for canals and river navigations, and through its
Waterway Recovery Group has helped restore hundreds of miles of
waterways for use by boaters, walkers and anglers.
IWA has been active and often the driving force
in waterway restoration the length and breadth of the country.
We have nearly 18,000 individual members, and
289 affiliated non-profit-making waterway organisations. More
than 25,000 volunteer hours are annually donated through our Waterway
Recovery Group.
Contact: Neil Edwards, Chief Executive, The
Inland Waterways Association
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The sudden cuts to grant-in-aid for British
Waterways in 2006 threaten to undermine investment in recent years.
The seriousness of the crisis into which BW has been thrown should
not be underestimated.
2. BW requires security of funding to enable
best use of its resources.
3. Postponement of maintenance work creates
additional expense later; simple repair jobs turn into major reconstruction.
4. Owing to inadequate funding, BW has been
unable to comply with its statutory requirements to maintain the
waterways to certain standards for many years. Government should
not regard itself as "above the law".
5. Waterway restoration, led by the voluntary
sector for the past 40 years, has provided urban and rural regeneration
on a massive scale. This works needs to be encouraged and nurtured.
6. Waterways classified as "remainder"
under the 1968 Transport Act should be upgraded to avoid annomolies
of management.
7. The historic landscape of the inland
waterways is under threat from developers and commercial pressures
on BW.
8. Freight carriage on the waterways is
under-utilised and under-appreciated, but has great potential
to address government's carbon-reduction agenda.
9. A single major navigation authority could
reduce management costs and government bureaucracy.
FUNDING
10. The first line of BW's Annual Report
2005 states that by 2012 "we will have created an expanded,
vibrant and largely self sufficient network used by twice as many
people as in 2002".
11. If the cuts to BW's grant-in-aid continue,
year on year, IWA contends that this aspiration will not be realised.
Rather the system will go into decline, the investment of recent
years will fail to reach its full potential and the work of countless
volunteers and supporters will be frustrated. These adverse impacts
will be felt across government departments, causing far bigger
losses in other areas than the minimal amounts intended to be
saved by Defra.
12. The scale of the cuts means that BW
will have to make year on year cuts in areas "soft"
for cutting, such as maintenance and waterway restoration projects.
13. BW's chief executive warned at its Annual
Meeting in October that the waterways could not be "expanded"
as BW will not have the finace to support many of the more than
100 restoration schemes currently under discussion.
14. The cuts also mean that the benefits
of inland waterways will reduce, as many boaters will have been
forced off the water since BW has stated that licence fees are
to rise substantially. Maintenance will reduce, thus users from
all walks of life will be discouraged from using the waterways.
Historical evidence shows that lack of use leads to anti social
behaviour and general decline.
15. BW's chief executive Robin Evans also
said at its Annual Meeting "In December 2005 our grant
from DEFRA was £62.6 million, we would have expected that
grant to remain at that level or increase in line with inflation.
The reality is that we have had a 12% cut this year and are under
threat for it to rise to 15%. Most of this was imposed well into
the financial year when a very large part of our budget was committed."
He concluded that something like 20% of available spend would
have to be cut. Anticipating 07/08 he believed the grant would
be £55.4 million.
16. The actual figure was remarkably close
to his prediction at £55.5 million and was published by DEFRA
in the late afternoon of the last working day before Christmas.
17. Throughout the autumn the Waterways
Minister Barry Gardiner stated that the cuts were a one-off (see
Radio Five Live interview with Jane Garvey 12 October 2006), that
the 180 job cuts announced days after the Annual Meeting were
part of BWs normal re-structuring and that no decision had been
made regarding the 2007-08 grant. Even so, the figure of 180 BW
jobs lost takes no account of the many more jobs lost by private
maintenance contractors, etc.
18. The fact that the government clearly
plans major reductions in its funding of British Waterways year-on-year
has massive implications for it. Even modest budget reduction
mean that maintenance engineering has to be delayed; thus minor
repairs jobs turn into major rebuilds—because the "stitch
was not in time". Thus the multiplier effect of cuts impacts
right across BW in all areas, as even more money has to be spent
on what would have been minor maintenance jobs had they been done
in time. What may seem a few million pounds today quickly multiplies
up to many tens of millions in the near future. It is easy to
see how the effects will be devastating. It happened before in
the 1970s. People close to the waterways understand this and remember
what happened before, which is why the campaign among waterway
users is so passionate—people understand and remember how
quickly the waterways can decline.
19. IWA contends that all along ministers
knew that this was not a one-off but a planned reduction in spend,
to enable money to be redirected to other areas such as Climate
Change as well as fill financial holes created by problems such
as the Rural Payments Agency.
20. IWA believes the effects of these
cuts cannot be over-estimated and that ministers have failed to
understand the impact of their decisions.
MAINTENANCE
21. The scale of maintenance for BW is almost
impossible to imagine. It is responsible for more than 2,000 miles
of navigable waterways, 2,739 listed buildings (only the National
Trust and Church of England have more), 42 scheduled monuments
and towing paths and outdoor structures throughout the country.
Last year BW spent £1.3 million on litter collection alone.
22. Most of the network dates back over
200 years, can be complicated, and requires regular maintenance
and supervision. Even experienced boaters welcome assistance on
many lock flights and through structures such as tunnels, let
alone the increasing numbers visiting on hire fleet boats. Delays
and closures to parts of the system are regular and these problems
will increase if maintenance is neglected.
23. All users will be discouraged from visiting
waterways if they are neglected and litter strewn. The less they
are used the greater will be the problems associated with anti
social behaviour. This will impact on other areas of government
policy as fewer visits will mean less people are cycling, walking
or taking part in physical activities on or around the water.
Lower maintenance standards also mean the waterways will become
less accessible to all sectors of society, especially those with
less than full mobility.
24. In its Annual Report 2005-06 BW states
that it had £119 million of outstanding statutory maintenance
arrears—ie the cost of restoring the absolute minimum standards
that Parliament has decided that BW must maintain. BW had hoped
to eliminate these arrears by 2012 helping it to achieve its overall
vision.
25. Last year, even before this round of
cuts, the government cut its grant to BW by £2.5 million.
The amount BW spent on reducing maintenance arrears dropped from
£27.2 to £25.6 million—a cut of £2.4 million—a
remarkably similar figure to the cut in funds from the government.
26. Apart from the 180 job losses in year
BW has also "merged" two regions—Central Shires
and West Midlands—both in the heart of canal country. This
will lead to a further distancing from the waterways of BW managers,
as they are physically both fewer and further away from the canals
and users they previously have worked with.
27. IWA contends that reductions in maintenance
will reduce boating and other activity, adversely impact across
many government policies and reduce the benefits currently enjoyed
by the wider community.
DREDGING
28. One area of the network little understood
is that of dredging. Both rivers and canals can silt up quickly
and thus quickly become unnavigable. The system needs regular
dredging in order to keep it open for traffic. Many canals, often
those constructed originally on a shoestring, are even at the
best of times difficult for deep draughted vessels to navigate.
The Caldon Canal and Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal
are good examples. Lack of dredging causes greater erosion and
increases other maintenance costs.
29. Dredging is expensive, particularly
as landfill taxes rise, but lack of dredging will quickly result
in some canals becoming impassable, and cause increased long-term
costs.
RESTORATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
30. More than 200 miles of navigable canals
have been re-opened in recent years—an achievement brought
about by money from central and local government, by European
funding, Lottery, fundraising and sheer hard voluntary effort.
31. Among the crowning achievements, where
dead waterways have been brought back to vibrant life, are the
Kennet and Avon, the Huddersfield Narrow and the Rochdale canals.
Countless communities have been transformed by the re-opening
of canals or canal stretches. One example being the Anderton Boat
Lift, known as the "Cathedral of the Canals"—now
a major tourist site to see boats lifted 50" between the
river Weaver and Trent and Mersey Canal.
32. A recent success is the Liverpool Link.
In 2005, BW secured all the funding and permissions needed for
construction work on the Liverpool Link to start. The £17
million financial jigsaw comprises a £7.5 million award from
the Merseyside Objective One programme, along with funding from
North West Development Agency (£7.5 million), English Partnerships
(£1.7 million) and BW (£210,000). Work on the new waterway
started in late 2006 and is due for completion at the end of this
year, the city's 800th anniversary, and in readiness for the Capital
of Culture celebrations in 2008.
33. BW expects the Liverpool Canal Link
to entice more than 4,500 boat visits to Liverpool's waterfront
each year, adding colour and vibrancy to the currently underused
waterways around Liverpool 's southern docklands. Boats will be
able to navigate through the current canal terminus at Stanley
Dock and into the heart of the city's new focal point at Pier
Head. The Link and boats are likely to attract 200,000 extra visitors
each year, spending an additional £1.9 million, generating
nearly 200 jobs for Merseyside.
34. It is a good example of BW's involvement
in partnership working with regional agencies and the regeneration
sector.
35. The above restorations all required
significant investment, in terms of both expertise and financial
support, from BW. Additionally BW has had to accept responsibility
for the maintenance of wateways once they are re-opened. But it
is unlikely that BW would be able to undertake new responsibilities
in a climate of cost-cutting.
36. IWA is greatly concerned that was has
been described as The Second Canal Age will come to an end as
a result of these cuts.
37. Just one example of the many future
schemes that may be threatened is the Montgomery Canal, which
runs for 35 miles from Frankton Junction near Ellesmere in Shropshire,
to Newtown. It was abandoned after a breach in 1936. Restoration
has been painstakingly patched together over more than thirty
years, and has received considerable support and assistance from
local authorities, IWA and volunteers from Shropshire Union Canal
Society and IWA's Waterway Recovery Group who have restored many
structures, including the locks at Frankton, Aston, Carreghofa,
Burgeddin, Brynderwen and Newhouse.
38. The canal is now open to navigation
on an isolated 11-mile section from Berriew, through Welshpool,
to Ardleen and for six miles from Maesbury to the junction with
the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction. This is currently being
extended with £1.1 million funding from a Heritage Lottery
Fund Grant, European and BW funds and grants from of Shropshire
Union Canal Society and IWA. Restoration is promoted by a partnership
led by BW, and including the local authorities, heritage and wildlife
groups, Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, IWA and Shropshire
Union Canal Society.
39. BW is usually a key player in waterway
restorations, even where they are not owned by BW, because of
its expertise and resources. In the current climate that role
is likely to be lost, and much investment from the voluntary sector
would be lost.
40. Robin Evans, again at the recent AGM,
explained that BW's tightening financial situation made it more
risk averse and this would affect its readiness to take on new
projects and actively participate in restoration schemes where
it is not already committed.
41. By not expanding the network BW would
reduce the future financial opportunities it can itself reap.
42. IWA is greatly alarmed that future
restoration schemes not already committed could be shelved for
the foreseeable future.
REMAINDER WATERWAYS
43. The 1968 Transport Act labelled some
of the lesser used waterways of the time as remainder. This includes,
for example, much of the now very well used Kennet & Avon
Canal. Such labelling is obsolete and acts as a barrier to funding.
There are approximately 180 miles of navigable remainder waterways
that should be reclassifed to "cruiseway" status straight
away. It would cost government nothing, and there is no reason
that it could not be done immediately. Whilst this will not in
itself produce extra funding, it would remove the excuse for local
authorities, regeneration bodies and the private sector to treat
these as second-class waterways.
STEWARDSHIP OF
THE NETWORK
44. In recent years BW has developed a number
of strategies to increase income including encouraging business
to develop new marinas, property developments such as Paddington
Basin and a more property development orientation rather than
a focus on stewardship of the existing network. This pressure
can only increase in the current financial circumstances.
45. Many of the planning gains obtained
by BW have been to the benefit of boaters and other users, but
increasingly, particularly in inner cities, canals are lined by
rows of new designer flats built on former wharves, and at the
expense of the historic waterway landscape being lost. Such new
developments are often aimed at young single people or as retirement
homes rather than as mixed communities. In some parts, like north
London, all original wharves have gone and access to the water
is increasingly difficult. In other instances new developments
have been built alongside boatyards and marinas with pressure
from the new owners for boating activity to be curtailed.
46. The network is historic and reflects
the different private companies who originally constructed it.
Recently BW has formed a new partnership with Newcastle Pub Enterprises
to build or run 100 pubs along the network. If not sympathetically
handled, the canals could find uniform pubs unsuited to the local
environment.
47. It is simply unacceptable, and ultimately
self defeating, for the waterays to be allowed to be stripped
of their historic character and purpose for short-term commercial
gain.
48. IWA is concerned that unreasonable
financial pressures are forcing BW into inappropriate dealings
to over-commercialise the waterway network and asset-strip at
the expense of environmental and historic considerations and without
due regard for public benefit and amenity.
FREIGHT
49. One of the tragedies of the decline
of Britain's waterways in the 20th century was the end of mass
freight movement on the waterways. During the first Canal Age
the ability to move goods by water revolutionised industry, which
previously had relied on packhorses.
50. The government, particularly the former
Office of Deputy Prime Minister, has been keen to develop increased
movement of freight by water in recent years. Some developers
are now using the canals to move aggregates and building materials
by canal. There seems to be a general goodwill for the waterways
to be used to bring materials to the Olympics site and a new multi-million
pound recycling scheme has started on the Regent's Canal.
51. IWA welcomes this development and believes
it should be encouraged through Green Taxes. Non time-critical
materials, such as paper, materials for recycling, coal, etc,
could be moved by water, thus reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse
gases—and removing many lorry movements from the roads.
Financial incentives to industry to move to water would also increase
BW's income.
52. Government should reaffirm its commitment
to the more environmentally-aware method of freight movement,
and turn words into actions by investment and incentives to get
appropriate traffics on to the water.
A NETWORK FOR
THE FUTURE
53. IWA believes that the current waterways
network is fragmented and needs to be brought together. Currently
there are more than 20 navigation authorities in the country,
all of whom have different rules and licences.
54. A trip from Guildford to Cambridge would
require a licence from the National Trust through the Wey Navigation,
an Environment Agency licence along the Thames, a BW license from
Brentford to Northampton, a completely different Environment Agency
license from Northampton to Peterborough, different arrangements
through the Middle Level Navigations to the Denver Sluice (a tidal
lock currently suffering from severe silting) and then back to
the Environment Agency's Anglian regime for travel to Ely, and
then separate arrangements for the river Cam, from the Cam Conservators,
into Cambridge.
55. Each navigation authority has different
rules and regulations.
56. A single licence along the system
would save all parties money and reduce bureaucracy; the duplication
and cost to both navigation authorities and boat owners alike
is immense, unnecessary and needs addressing.
57. In recent years the inland waterways
have brought outstanding benefits to the nation, addressing agendas
in all parts of government and providing one of best rates of
return on investment seen anywhere in public spending. British
Waterways is widely seen as virtually the only success story within
DEFRA. Restoration schemes have rightly earned the waterway sector
recognition as leaders in both urban and rural regeneration—and
all at remarkably small cost, and always on time and on budget.
Quite simply, an unrivalled success story—and yet, seemingly,
government would throw all this away for some tiny savings.
58. If the proposed cuts in funding are
allowed to happen, the net effect to government policies ranging
from health and sport through to environmental protection will
suffer. BW will lose its ability to expand and assist itself in
becoming more self sufficient. It will be unable to meet its aspirations
for 2012.
59. The old saying "for a happorth
of tar the boat was lost" was never more apposite.
The Inland Waterways Association
January 2007
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