Scottish Canals is the Scottish Government body responsible for managing the country's inland waterways. Formerly a division of

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotla ...

, it became a stand-alone

executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. They form a tightly meshed network of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies (" quangoes"); tribunals; and nationalised indust ...

on 2 July 2012. Legally, the corporation is still referred to as the British Waterways Board, but in all other aspects it uses the brand Scottish Canals. Based in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

, Scottish Canals cares for of waterway network in total, including 17 reservoirs and the navigation rights to four lochs, including

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...

. The body is responsible for five canals. * Caledonian – * Crinan – * Forth and Clyde – * Monkland (no longer operational, although two watered sections remain) – * Union Canal –

History

was founded in 1962 under the Transport Act, taking over statutory responsibility for operating and maintaining waterways across Great Britain. In 2010 the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

determined that responsibility for inland waterways in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

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

should pass to a new charitable trust, the

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

. However, the Scottish Government decided that canals in Scotland would remain publicly owned and British Waterways would continue to operate in Scotland as a statutory corporation trading as Scottish Canals.

References

External links

* 2012 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Glasgow British companies established in 2012 Government agencies established in 2012 Executive non-departmental public bodies of the Scottish Government {{water-transport-stub