The Restoration Delivery Plan is intended to set out how the Trust will work with restoration promoters and other partners to deliver the restoration of waterways across England and Wales. As a critical friend to CRT, IWA has engaged constructively with the Trust’s senior management to ensure that restoration receives the support and strategic priority it deserves. 

Through detailed engagement with the Plan, IWA has helped move the document towards a more positive, practical and delivery-focused one that better reflects the ambitions expected of a major national charity. The discussions have also led to improvements in CRT’s internal restoration processes and a better mutual understanding of how restoration activity should be managed across the Trust’s network.  This, however, needs to be matched by restoration groups becoming increasingly professional when undertaking construction work, both onsite and with design and Health & Safety paperwork. 

IWA believes this revised approach should act as a catalyst for raising standards across the restoration movement. Through its technical expertise its recently formed Restoration Delivery Group, new Restoration Panel and Waterway Recovery Group, IWA is well placed to provide the guidance and practical assistance that restoration organisations need to deliver successful projects. 

Waterway restoration is one of IWA’s strategic priorities for 2026, and the Association will continue working with CRT, restoration promoters and other parties to help build a stronger, more professional and more successful restoration sector. 

George Rogers, Chair of IWA’s Restoration Delivery Group, said: 

“The publication of the revised Restoration Delivery Plan is a significant step in the right direction. IWA has worked constructively with Canal & River Trust to strengthen both the Plan itself and the processes that support it, and we are pleased that this engagement has resulted in meaningful improvements. 

“We will continue to engage positively with the Trust and the wider restoration community to support the successful delivery of these shared objectives.”

The post IWA secures improvements to Canal & River Trust’s Restoration Delivery Plan appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The post Fenny Stratford Canal Festival 2026 appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The consultation, entitled A379 Bridge Road, Exeter: Bridge Replacement Scheme, runs from 15th June – 27th July 2026. Despite Devon County Council proposing five options for the new bridges at stakeholders’ meetings in October 2025, the consultation presents only one for the public to comment on, which proposes replacing the bridges at a similarly restrictive height as the current bridges.

The Exeter Ship Canal provides a five-mile navigable route between Exeter Canal Basin, in the heart of the city, and the English Channel (via Turf Lock and the Exe Estuary). The two, adjacent bridges carry the A379, a busy dual carriageway, across the canal at its mid-point. Currently, they have exceptionally low air drafts (the clearance between water level and underside of a bridge) which present a barrier to boaters, paddleboarders, cyclists and pedestrians.

IWA representative Ray Alexander said: “Devon County Council appears to be back-tracking on its own Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the Scheme, which has previously been approved by the Department for Transport. For example, the SOBC identified the potential for cyclists and pedestrians to pass underneath the new bridges if they were built higher, but this significant safety benefit would be lost if they now press ahead without doing so.”

IWA and FESCHH point to numerous opportunities and benefits that raising the height of the bridges could bring to the area’s community, economy and environment. These include:

• Increasing active travel opportunities and safety.
• Enabling sustainable freight use of the canal.
• Increasing business and employment opportunities.
• Reducing pollution and improving the environment.

Ray Alexander added: “At a time when towns and cities throughout the country are introducing congestion management measures and seeking low-carbon transport alternatives, it would be short-sighted to rebuild the A379 bridges at a height that discourages future, environmentally friendly freight opportunities on the canal.”

Ellen Stuart of FESCHH points to the opportunities for boosting business and employment. She said: “Increased use of the Exeter Ship Canal would encourage more visitors to the canal basin, riverside quay and city, boosting existing businesses and creating the potential for new ones.”

Both IWA and FESCHH believe that the consultation is unrepresentative. They say that while the Scheme is entitled a Bridge Replacement Scheme, the consultation contains little information about the five bridge replacement options. Instead, it discounts all options except the one replacing the bridges with an unchanged maximum height and focuses on walking, cycling and public transport measures along the A379 dual carriageway.

Ray Alexander said: “Our engagement with key interested parties and elected representatives has revealed substantial support for the option of raising the height of the canal bridges, including from the Exeter Harbour Board and Exeter MP Steve Race. It is our view that a consultation cannot be considered representative if it effectively dismisses an option that has demonstrated significant public support without presenting the full case both for and against it.”

Ellen Stuart concluded: “The Scheme proposes spending up to £50 million of public money (85% from the Department for Transport) on replacing the canal bridges and associated works. If this investment is to serve Exeter and Devon for the next 60+ years, it should future-proof Exeter Ship Canal for leisure, freight and passenger use, rather than merely reproducing the existing constraints. We should be building for the future, not the past.”

Full Response to Devon County Council Can be found here.

The post Council’s lack of vision for Exeter’s new A379 canal bridges appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The post Annual General Meeting 2026 (AGM) appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The post Autumn Waterways Conference 2026 appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

IWA’s Waterway Risk Index, launched in November 2025, initially recorded 15 indefinite stoppages across the network. This new assessment identifies 21 indefinite stoppages, defined as a closure that has been in place for more than 30 days without a published reopening date, excluding planned maintenance works. 

The findings show emerging trends in long-term interruptions to navigation across Britain’s 5,000 miles of navigable canals and rivers and comes against a backdrop of mounting pressures on the inland waterways network, including ageing infrastructure, under-investment, flooding, drought, and the increasing impacts of climate change. 

Key findings 

• The number of indefinite stoppages has increased from 15 to 21 since November 2025, a rise of 40%. 

• The East of England and North West England appear to be among the regions most prone to network interruptions. 

• Some closures have remained unresolved for many years, with Welches Dam remaining closed to navigation since 2004. 

Britain’s waterways provide significant public benefits to millions of people, supporting recreation, tourism, nature recovery and local economies. The network also supports more than 300,000 jobs through associated marine, tourism and leisure activity. 

However, these benefits depend on waterways remaining open and connected. With additional data now gathered, IWA says early patterns are beginning to emerge, with the East of England and North West among the areas showing higher levels of disruption. 

IWA is calling for transparency around closures from navigation authorities who should publish clear reopening plans wherever possible and provide regular updates on progress towards restoring navigation. 

While many stoppages are due to unavoidable circumstances such as extreme weather events or infrastructure failures, prolonged closures can have significant consequences for navigation, tourism and local businesses. 

The latest findings build upon IWA’s wider research into risks facing Britain’s inland waterways. In November 2025, IWA published the first national assessment combining climate risk, including drought and flooding, as well as financial resilience across the network. It found that most waterways face increasing exposure to heavier winter rainfall and drought conditions, while many navigation authorities are operating under significant financial pressure. 

Taken together, campaigners argue that infrastructure challenges, climate impacts and under-investment increase the risk of further interruptions unless investment and maintenance are prioritised. 

Lord German, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Waterways, said: 

“Canals are green corridors for nature, reconnecting habitats and providing enormous benefits for our health and well-being, but closures threaten all of this. 

“My beloved local canal is the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canal, which is often affected by low water levels. These closures impact a wide range of local businesses, so this is timely work from IWA.” 

Charlie Norman, IWA’s Director of Campaigns and Public Affairs, said: 

“We have been monitoring all risks to the network since late last year and have identified an upward trend in indefinite stoppages. 

“We cannot allow a policy of failing to repair waterways infrastructure as it becomes inoperable. Often, stoppages are unavoidable and understandable, but we are doing this work to spot trends and pressure authorities to act swiftly. 

“Our waterways only work properly when they operate as a connected network. Nobody else is undertaking this type of national monitoring and the Risk Index gives us a baseline from which to measure future changes. 

“We want our waterways to thrive for us today as well as for future generations. Neglect and under-investment are avoidable, and our Risk Index helps us keep ahead of both.” 

The post Indefinite waterway closures rise by almost 40% – IWA reveals growing network disruption   appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The post Volunteer on the Northampton Arm appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

The post Volunteer on the Northampton Arm appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.

Do you know somewhere near you that could host the event? We will consider any suggestion virtually and then follow up with a location visit with a view to asking the landowner for permission to start considering any suitable sites we can identify.

There are several key main elements that are necessary to consider a site as a possible venue:

• Firstly, land size. We are looking for a site that is about equal to 3 full size football pitches. This is for the trade site, campsite and car park. Ideally the campsite will need to be adjacent, or very near the trade site, and the same for the car park. The land should be as flat as possible and be alongside a waterway. The trade site area must be together, and not in small pockets.
• The waterway alongside must be able to accommodate up to 100 visiting boats, preferably double moored. Ideally the towpath will be on the same side as the site.
• If there is a section of good flat bank that can accommodate floating traders, that would be an advantage. The waterways must be connected to the main network. We have had events on rivers as well as canals.
• Access onto the land must be good enough for caravans, trailers and suppliers’ vehicles. It should be noted that vehicles can be up to 7.5 tonnes for suppliers.
• There needs to be a water supply nearby. A fire hydrant is acceptable, as we obtain permissions to use this type of supply.
• The nearer to a town the event is, the larger the projected attendance. Past events for example have been close to St Neots High Street, Northampton city centre and Ilkeston town centre. All of these enjoyed large attendance.
• The Festival of Water also seeks to campaign on local issues; if, for example, the waterway is underused, has navigational problems or even a has a restoration nearby, we will use the event to draw attention to the waterway’s needs and challenges.

While there are a few boxes to check, we hope that by asking members we can identify new sites to hold this popular event and bring it back better than ever in 2027.

If you know of anywhere that might be able to hold an event for a Festival of Water or a campaign rally, please directly contact Maria Hearnden who will be delighted to hear from you: maria.hearnden@waterways.org.uk.

The post IWA seeks Festival of Water site appeared first on The Inland Waterways Association.