Written by Andy Screen (1999) and revised by David Jarvis – March 2013

One of the most important aspects of any waterway restoration project, if not the most, is the ability of the organisation promoting the restoration to raise funds for the job. From the outset, money is needed to produce literature, finance small-scale work parties tidying up the towpath, re-pointing brickwork, painting bridges and the like. At the other end of the scale, usually many years down the line, when you have the public, the local authority and everyone else on your side, there is the simple matter of digging out maybe fifty miles or more of infilled waterway, rebuilding a few dozen locks and maybe crossing a couple of motorways!

The principal aim of this document is to highlight the major sources of finance that are available with guidance where possible on the best ways to maximise your chance of getting hold of it. It should be made clear from the outset that the providers of the really big money (say £100,000 plus) are generally public sector, and the grant making bodies of this kind change quite frequently, and their ‘rules’ even more so. The information in this .pdf will consequently over time become outdated – indeed there have been significant changes since the first edition of this chapter was published in 1999, and there will be more changes between the time of writing this 3rd edition (March 2013) and publication – and it is important that potential applicants keep abreast of such changes.