Memorandum submitted by the Inland Waterways
Association (CCB 02)
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.
IWA has over 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.
THE DRAFT
CLIMATE CHANGE
BILL
1. IWA warmly welcomes this Bill which,
the Association believes, is an important start in the battle
to tackle climate change. While IWA is not a scientific organisation
it is clear to the Association that Britain's waterways are seeing
the affects of climate change. One reason for the decline of freight
traffic on our waterways post World War II was the hard winters
that froze the canals making transit impossible for weeks on end.
Similarly, the Thames, an important and critical artery in our
nations transport system, regularly froze in Victorian times—something
that rarely now happens due to the canalisation of the river and
our warmer winters.
2. As an Association, however, IWA struggles
to understand the thinking that drives EFRA Ministers and the
Department. The Secretary of State David Miliband has made it
clear his own department and all government departments have to
do more in their own buildings and areas to tackle climate change.
3. David Miliband has stated that DEFRA
also must develop more policies itself to tackle climate change
and yet, in his own department, he has failed to implement policies
that would make a significant impact now, let alone in 2020, when
the Bill calls for a 26-32% reduction in greenhouse gases.
4. This is evidenced by the closure of the
Freight Department of British Waterways, which the Committee heard
evidence about in a recent Inquiry. It seems to IWA that there
is little point in the grandiose scheme if you have not tackled
small but significant areas that are in your remit and do not
require legislation. An immediate action would be to reinstate
the funding required for the Freight Division of British Waterways
to re-open.
5. In its recent Inquiry into British Waterways
the Committee heard evidence that waterborne freight is six times
more environmentally friendly than road borne freight and yet
all the recent actions of DEFRA have led to more lorry movements
rather than more waterborne movements.
6. IWA would recommend that the Secretary
of State could add that waterborne freight should be included
as a requirement in all planning applications requiring significant
quantities of materials to be transported to sites where there
is a suitable canal or river. Similarly, materials needing to
be removed could also be removed by water. A contribution to the
extra dredging and other costs incurred by British Waterways could
be via a Section 106 requirement.
7. Anything that makes UK holidays more
attractive to UK residents helps to reduce carbon emissions from
air travel. Government support for waterways, therefore, helps
to tackle climate change.
8. Towing paths can offer safe and flat
paths for walking or cycling. Such facilities can reduce carbon
emissions from car travel.
9. Adaptation to climate change must counter
the threat of incursions from the sea into inland waterways such
as the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads . There should be a strict presumption
against development on the flood plain regardless of the benefits
for the social and economic well-being of the area except for
building related to navigation and water-based recreation.
10. In conclusion IWA believes it is for
DEFRA to show its commitment to new ways of working before it
can responsibly ask others to change their actions.
Inland Waterways Association
April 2007
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