Summer of disruption lends weight to FBW call for waterway funding review

This summer the inland waterway network has been disrupted by closures resulting from both infrastructure failure and low water levels. Plans have had to be changed and businesses have suffered. Years of underinvestment have left our canals and rivers increasingly vulnerable.

The main FBW campaign cruise was planned to go to Liverpool this year, but it couldn’t because at the last minute the lock into Liverpool Docks failed. Plan B was to go to Manchester but again that was thwarted, this time by low water levels in the Bridgewater Canal. Plan C, the only remaining option, succeeded and on 10 July the boats reached the Anderton Boat Lift – itself closed for an indeterminate period awaiting repair.

And that was after the Russell Newbery Register Rally at the end of June had to be cancelled because boats were unable to reach Stalybridge owing to a lock failure on the Macclesfield Canal.

Fortunately the ‘Navigating for Change’ campaign cruise on the River Great Ouse to the Bedford River Festival was able to go ahead as planned from 13-19 July. The cruise highlighted the issues facing both the Great Ouse and the waterways more widely to local MPs and councillors and at the Bedford River Festival.

Most waterway events have managed to go ahead and FBW has found them a very effective way of spreading the message, with help from members and supporters. At the Brownhills Canal Festival FBW had a very successful joint stall with Kev Maslin of Chasing the Boats Photography. FBW also had a stall on both days of the annual Whitchurch Canal Festival on the Llangollen Canal, where an FBW banner greeted visitors inspecting the repair work on the breach from December 2025 (as per the photo above: credit Ian Page).

The fragmentation of the waterway network over summer provided an excellent opportunity for FBW to write to the Prime Minister, drawing his attention to the benefits of the inland waterways and the threat to them from inadequate funding.

We followed this up with a submission to the Autumn Budget 2026, making the case that our canals and navigable rivers deserve urgent attention as nationally significant environmental, economic and community assets and repeating our call for an urgent review of government funding for all Britain’s inland waterways. More details here.

So the Fund Britain’s Waterways message has continued to spread, but we need to keep pushing to show government how much our waterways matter.

Could you please take a moment to help keep the momentum going?

Please do as many of these as you can

1. Please send the petition to as many people as possible (friends, family, neighbours, colleagues etc) – the link is https://chng.it/5bKTjLhvy2
2. Can you share the petition on social media? Even if you’ve already done it, please do it again. Often people need to see a message several times before they take action. The link is https://chng.it/5bKTjLhvy2 and please use the hashtag #FundBritainsWaterways
3. Can you write to your MP, Mayor or councillor? Tell them about the benefits of canals and rivers, the threats they face, and the increased funding that is needed – and above all, how important they are to you and how many people care about them. Guidance and template letters are available here 
4. Follow Fund Britain’s Waterways on social media: Facebook , X, Bluesky and LinkedIn 
5. Have a look at the Fund Britain’s Waterways website and share it with your friends 

Thank you for being part of Fund Britain’s Waterways.