British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

wholly owned by the

government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. On 2 July 2012, all of British Waterways' assets and responsibilities in England and Wales were transferred to the newly founded charity the Canal & River Trust. In Scotland, British Waterways continues to operate as a standalone public corporation under the trading name Scottish Canals. The British Waterways Board was initially established as a result of the Transport Act 1962 and took control of the inland waterways assets of the British Transport Commission in 1963. By the final years of its existence, British Waterways was sponsored by the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...

(DEFRA) in England and Wales, and by the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

in Scotland. British Waterways managed and maintained of

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s and docks within the United Kingdom including the buildings, structures and landscapes alongside these waterways. Half of the United Kingdom population lives within five miles of a canal or river once managed by British Waterways. In addition to the watercourses, British Waterways also cared for and owned 2,555 listed structuresBritish Waterways Heritage
including seventy

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

s. A further 800 areas have special designation and a further hundred are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Through its charitable arm The Waterways Trust, British Waterways maintained a museum of its history at the National Waterways Museum's three sites at

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Docks, Stoke Bruerne and

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

. Since the transfer of the assets and responsibilities of British Waterways to the Canal & River Trust, The Waterways Trust in England and Wales has merged with the Canal & River Trust. It continues, however, as an independent charity in Scotland.

History

British Waterways sign Birmingham - 2004

Formation

During the early 20th century, the canal network was in decline because of increasing competition from the railways and road transport. Until the 1950s, freight and other cargo was still carried on the canals, by then owned by the railway companies. When the railways were

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

in 1948, the canals they owned were also incorporated into the new British Transport Commission. The Commission focused on encouraging commercial traffic to the waterways, but with the construction of motorways in the 1950s, and legislation such as the

Clean Air Act 1956 The Clean Air Act 1956 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 52) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted principally in response to London's Great Smog of London, Great Smog of 1952. It was sponsored by the Ministry of Housi ...

affecting the coal carriers using the waterways, that policy could not be sustained. The last regular coal long-distance narrow-boat-carrying contract, from Atherstone to the Kearley and Tonge jam factory at Southall near London, ended in October 1970, although lime juice continued to be carried by narrow boat from

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

to Boxmoor until 1981, and aggregate from Thurmaston to Syston from 1976 until 1988. Under the Transport Act 1962, the British Transport Commission was split into several new organisations, including the

British Railways Board The British Railways Board (BRB) was a State ownership, nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that operated from 1963 to 2001. Until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to d ...

and the London Transport Board, with the inland waterways of Britain becoming part of the new British Waterways Board (BWB). In the same year, a remarkably harsh winter saw many boats frozen into their moorings, unable to move for weeks at a time. That was one of the reasons given for the decision by the BWB to formally cease most of its commercial narrow boat traffic on the canals. By that time, the canal network had shrunk to just , half the size it was at its peak in the early 19th century. However, the basic network was still intact, with many of the closures affecting duplicate routes or branches.

Transport Act 1968

The Transport Act 1968 classified the nationalised waterways into three distinct categories as specified by BWB: * Commercial – Waterways that could still support commercial traffic; these were mainly located in the North East of England * Cruising – Waterways that had a potential for leisure use, such as cruising, fishing and recreational use * Remainder – Waterways for which no potential commercial or leisure use could be seen. British Waterways Board was required under the Act to keep commercial and cruising waterways fit for their respective traffic and use. However, these obligations were subject to the caveat of being by the most economical means and BWB had no requirement to maintain remainder waterways or keep them in a navigable condition. As a result, many remainder waterways could face abandonment or transference to the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

who would contribute to the waterway's upkeep as part of the act. Additionally, many of these remainder waterways were crossed by new roads and motorways without provision for boat navigation.

Late 20th century

As the century progressed, leisure boating on the canals began to expand, with numbers reaching 20,000 by the early 1980s. Additionally, the work of voluntary restoration groups succeeded in restoring some waterways to their former condition. However, despite this steady progress throughout the 1970s and 1980s, organisations such as

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

criticised the newly named British Waterways for failing to provide "adequate training or access to professional advice or British Waterways officerson the conservation of historic structures". However, by the late 1990s the canal network and British Waterways were flourishing; revenues generated for canal maintenance reached £100 million for the first time in 1998, large grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund allowed the canal network to expand again by restoring former canals and additional funding was announced for British Waterways in 1999 by the then

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

John Prescott. By the early 2000s, boating numbers had overtaken the previous industrial revolution high and the canal network was officially classed as 'safe' following the completion of all outstanding safety works.

Abolition

By 2009, British Waterways was looking for a means of gaining a larger and more secure supply of funding in order to plug a £30m shortfall in its budget, while utilising the potential for volunteers on the waterways, allowing the waterways community to play a greater role. Its plans involved moving to become a charitable trust, in charge of the current canal systems in addition to acquiring other waterways, such as those operated by the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

. In March 2010, the plans were given a boost when the government announced in the

Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

that it intended to turn BW into a mutual organisation, but no further details were released. BW welcomed the announcement, with the chairman Tony Hales stating that the plan would preserve the canals and their associated infrastructure, and "safeguard against a return to the decline and dereliction which they faced in the last century". It would also "unlock the enormous public support that there is for them." By September of the same year, the proposals seemed likely to be enacted; a leaked list of quangos that were due to be abolished was acquired by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, including British Waterways, with the note: "Abolish as a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

and mutualise". The following month saw an official announcement from British Waterways confirming the leaked list, and that a new charity would be established to tend the of canals and rivers in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

cared for by British Waterways. The new name, the Canal & River Trust, and logo were revealed in October 2011, and the trust was granted charitable status on 5 April 2012. On 2 July 2012 all of British Waterways' responsibilities for waterways in England and Wales were transferred to the Canal & River Trust. The

, however, decided that the waterways in Scotland would not be part of the new charity, and that British Waterways Scotland would remain a state-owned entity, operating as Scottish Canals.

Organisation

British Waterways operated from headquarters in

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, with additional administrative offices in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and thirteen regional waterway offices. At the strategic level, there were ten non-executive board members, who were led by the chairman (in the final phase of operations, Tony Hales), and appointed by the

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, also referred to as the environment secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for ...

and the

(eight by the former and two by the latter). In addition, there were nine executive directors led by Robin Evans, the Chief Executive. At a regional level, British Waterways was divided into thirteen regional waterways; each appointed a waterways manager. These regions were: *Scotland (Highlands) *Scotland (Lowlands) *North West Waterways *North East Waterways *Manchester and Pennine Waterways *North Wales and Borders Waterways *West Midlands Waterways *Central Shires Waterways *East Midlands Waterways *South Wales and Severn Waterways *South East Waterways *Kennet and Avon Waterways *London Waterways

Finance

British Waterways was funded through a mixture of commercial activities, government grants and grants and donations from charitable bodies. In 2010/11, BW raised over £103.6 million from their commercial activities, including waterways licensing, received £58.9 million from a government grant, issued via the

, and gained a further £14 million through third party contributions. However, operating revenue for the company was at a deficit of £3.7 million, a result of a large cut of 16 per cent in the government grant given to BW, and through the continuing programme of renovation and works costing £92.1 million. British Waterways owned a large canalside property portfolio which made a considerable contribution to the funding of the waterway network. This amounted to £130m in the five years prior to 2008. As of 2008, a

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

team was reviewing the management of this portfolio in terms of public sector savings and efficiencies. Another source of revenue contemplated by BW in October 2008 was the installation of 50

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s on waterside land, generating around 100 megawatts.

Waterscape

As part of British Waterways' commitment to promote the canals to users other than boaters, BW set up the Waterscape website in 2003 to be an official information and leisure resource for UK inland waterways. The website worked alongside the

and the

Broads Authority The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly used ...

and covered all canals, rivers and waterways in England, Scotland and Wales. The Waterscape website was taken down on 3 July 2012 and was replaced by the new website of the Canal & River Trust.

Waterways operated

The following waterways and dockland were under British Waterways' ownership and care: * Aire and Calder Navigation * River Aire * Ashby Canal * Ashton Canal * Birmingham Canal Navigations * Birmingham and Fazeley Canal * Bow Back Rivers * Bridgwater and Taunton Canal * Calder and Hebble Navigation * Caldon Canal * Caledonian Canal * Chesterfield Canal *

Coventry Canal The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England. It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the ...

* Crinan Canal * Cromford Canal * Droitwich Barge Canal and Droitwich Junction Canal *

Erewash Canal The Erewash Canal is a broad canal in Derbyshire, England. It runs just under and has 14 canal lock, locks. The first lock at Langley Mill, Langley Bridge is part of the Cromford Canal. Origins The canal obtained its act of Parliament, ...

* Forth and Clyde Canal * Foss Dyke * Gloucester and Sharpness Canal * Grand Union Canal * Grantham Canal * Hertford Union Canal * Huddersfield Broad Canal * Huddersfield Narrow Canal * Kennet and Avon Canal * Lancaster Canal * River Lee * Leeds and Liverpool Canal, including Liverpool Canal Link * Liverpool Docks (south of Pier Head only) * Limehouse Cut *

Llangollen Canal The Llangollen Canal () is a navigable canals of the United Kingdom, canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, S ...

* Macclesfield Canal * Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal * Millwall Dock * Monkland Canal (not navigable) * Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal * Montgomery Canal * New Junction Canal * Nottingham Canal * River Ouse * Peak Forest Canal * Pocklington Canal *

Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...

* Regent's Canal * Ribble Link * Ripon Canal * Rochdale Canal * St. Helens Canal (not navigable) * Selby Canal *

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

* Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation * Sheffield and Tinsley Canal * Shropshire Union Canal, including Middlewich Branch and Shrewsbury Canal * River Soar * Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal * Stainforth and Keadby Canal * River Stort * Stourbridge Canal * Stratford-upon-Avon Canal * Swansea Canal * Tame Valley Canal * Tees Navigation and Barrage *

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

(navigation authority of a section only; the navigation authority of the rest is Associated British Ports) * Trent and Mersey Canal * Union Canal * Ure Navigation * River Weaver * West India Docks * River Witham * Worcester and Birmingham Canal * Wyrley and Essington Canal

Other inland waterways in Britain

The

is the navigation authority for the non-tidal

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, rivers in the Fens and East Anglia and some other waterways. The Port of London Authority is that for the tidal section of the Thames. The

is the navigation authority for the Norfolk Broads. The Manchester Ship Canal,

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, Greater Manchester, Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was ...

, Basingstoke Canal, Neath and Tennant Canal,

Cam Cam or CAM may refer to: Science and technology * Cam (mechanism), a mechanical linkage which translates motion * Camshaft, a shaft with a cam * Camera or webcam, a device that records images or video In computing * Computer-aided manufacturin ...

and Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation were managed by other authorities.

References

External links

British Waterways website
– corporate information, document downloads (archive)
Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA)
{{Authority control Water transport in the United Kingdom Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Waterways organisations in the United Kingdom British Transport Commission 1962 establishments in the United Kingdom 2012 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Inland waterway authorities Defunct transport organisations based in the United Kingdom