Canal & River Trust

Canal & River Trust
trades as Glandŵr Cymru (Waterside Wales) in Wales
Predecessor British Waterways
Formation 2 July 2012 (2012-07-02)
Merger of The Waterways Trust
Type Non-governmental organisation
Registration no. 1146792
Legal status Charitable trust
Purpose Responsible for 2,000 miles of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs, along with museums, archives and the country's third largest collection of protected historic buildings.
Headquarters Milton Keynes
Region served
England and Wales
Membership
Friends of the Canal & River Trust scheme[1]
Official languages
English and Welsh
Chief Executive
 Richard Parry
Chairman
 Allan Leighton
HRH The Prince of Wales
Main organ
 Board of Trustees
Staff
1,500[2]
Volunteers
2,000
Website www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

Canal & River Trust was launched on 12 July 2012, taking over the guardianship of British Waterways (the previous government-owned operator) canals, rivers reservoirs and docks in England and Wales.

These waterways are accessible upon payment of a licence fee, ranging from a few pounds to over £1200, for use by boats, canoeists, paddleboarders and other craft. Walkers and cyclists can use the extensive network of 'Public Rights of Way' that run alongside the canals and rivers without payment of a fee, which were previously permissive towpaths.

History

The concept of a National Waterways Conservancy[3] was first championed and articulated in the 1960s by Robert Aickman the co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association, as a way to secure the future of Britain’s threatened inland waterways network.

The idea was revived by the management of British Waterways in 2008 in response to increasing cuts in grant-in-aid funding, a drop in commercial income after the global financial crisis and growing calls by waterway users for a greater say in the running of the waterways.

On 18 May 2009, launching ‘Twenty Twenty – a vision for the future of our canals and rivers’ on the Terrace of the House of Commons, British Waterways proposed a radical overhaul of waterway management and a transfer from public corporation to not-for-profit organisation. The event was supported by speakers from each of the three main parties, Charlotte Atkins MP, Peter Ainsworth MP and Lembit Opik MP. British Waterways Chairman, Tony Hales stated: “The private sector built the canals, the public sector rescued them and I believe the third sector can be their future.”

The six-month consultation that followed was met with strong objections from waterways users and other stakeholders. Despite this in November 2009, British Waterways published another paper ‘Setting a New Course: Britain’s Inland Waterways in the Third Sector’ [4]. This promoted the original suggestion by British Waterways, that they should become a private company (Company Number: 07807276 [5]) inheriting all of the property and other waterway assets held in public ownership by British Waterways.

In 24 March 2010, the Labour Government announced its decision to mutualise[6] British Waterways, a commitment which was repeated in the Labour Party’s 2010 Manifesto (“To give more people a stake in a highly valued national asset, British Waterways will be turned into a mutually owned co-operative”).[7]

Following the 2010 general election, the incoming Coalition Government reaffirmed its support for status change on the waterways, as an example of the Conservative Party’s commitment to Big Society. Waterways Minister Richard Benyon MP stated on 21 June 2010 the Government’s “intention to move British Waterways to the civil society, subject to the outcome of the spending review.”[8]

Between March and June 2011, Defra ran a public consultation ‘A New Era for the Waterways’[9] on the overall structure of the proposed new body, the potential inclusion of the river navigations under the management of another public body, the Environment Agency, and the abolition of the Inland Waterways Advisory Council.[10]

In October 2011, British Waterways announced a name and logo for a charitable trust which would inherit its English and Welsh operations: the Canal & River Trust for England and Glandŵr Cymru (Waterside Wales) for Wales.[11] The Trust received charitable status in April[12] and received parliamentary approval in June.[13]

In July 2012, all British Waterways’ assets, liabilities and responsibilities in England and Wales were transferred to the Canal & River Trust: launched officially on 12 July 2012. At the same time the Canal & River Trust merged with the England and Wales operations of The Waterways Trust, a charity previously affiliated to British Waterways, to avoid confusion and as both charities have similar aims.[14]

BWML, a private company limited by guarantee, is wholly owned[15] by the Canal & River Trust and manages some twenty marinas dotted all over the region. It involves retail sales, moorings and services and also acts as a shop front in the issue of e.g. short-term licences.

In Scotland, British Waterways continues to operate as a stand-alone public corporation under the trading name Scottish Canals.[16][17]

Structure

The trust is headed by a board of 10 appointed and unelected trustees with a chairman, which is supposed to ensure that the charity meets its objectives and sets strategy for the trust. The trust has a 35-member council which referees the business of the trust and whose construction is supposed to ensure that all waterways users, in all areas, have a representative voice. Many waterways users and stakeholders feel that the member council is little more than a token gesture to give the impression of accountability. Finally, an unelected management board of seven directors are collectively concerned with the ordinary running of the trust. (See Charitable Trusts in English Law).

Council

The Canal & River Trust has a governing council of 35 members. Members of the first council included a mix of nominated and elected individuals. Council advises on shaping policy, raising and debating issues, providing guidance, perspective and a sounding board for the trustees.[12]

Partnerships

For each of the trust’s waterway areas there is a regional partnership drawn from local communities. In addition an all-Wales partnership will consider issues relating to Welsh waterways and a separate partnership exists for the trust's museums and attractions.[13]

Trustees

The trustees are legally responsible for ensuring that the trust meets its charitable objectives. Trustees are the unpaid board directors of the trust, they take collective decisions on policy and overarching strategy and provide oversight of the executive directors.[15] Trustees are responsible for determining policy and strategy.

Management

Executive directors manage the everyday operation of the trust and develop policy and strategy for approval by the trustees.[18]

Committees

The trust is supported through a number of advisory committees covering a range of different areas from freight and navigation to volunteering and heritage. These groups will provide advice direct to the management of the trust.[19]

The trust's head office is in Milton Keynes. It also operates eleven local offices that deal with the general maintenance of the waterways in their area.[20] These offices are based on the Waterways Partnership regions which are:

Finance

The Trust receives a fixed grant from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs over the next 15 years.[21] Its major other sources of income are from utilities (including fibreoptics and water sales) and property rentals from a £500m property endowment granted by Government. It also receives an income from issuing licences for boats using and mooring on the waterways, this is one of the largest income streams that Canal and River Trust Limited has, after the government grant [22] and has been given a funding pledge by the People's Postcode Lottery over £1m.

Supporters and corporate partners

The Prince of Wales is the patron of the Canal & River Trust and Brian Blessed supports the trust's volunteer appeal.[23]

In June 2012 the trust announced three major corporate partners to support the Canal & River Trust:

  • Google partnered with the Canal & River Trust to include the UK’s towpaths on Google Maps. This includes highlighting access points, bridges, locks and tunnels. Once the project is complete, members of the public will have the ability to plan journeys that include canal and river towpaths as well as roads.[24]
  • The People's Postcode Lottery pledged to support the Canal & River Trust with £1m of funding. The charity lottery promised to support the restoration and conservation work of the Canal & River Trust over the next decade through the Postcode Green Trust.[25]
  • The Co-operative Bank and the Canal & River Trust work together to provide financial products that allow people to support the work of the Trust.[26]

Waterways operated

The Canal & River Trust is the owner or navigation authority for over 2,000 miles of waterways.[27] These are:

Museums

The C&RT operates several museums and visitor attractions that relate to canals and waterways.

Controversies

In December 2016 Private Eye reported that the CRT had seized a historic retired lightship which had been moored for 10 years at the docks near the maritime museum in Liverpool, following a dispute over unpaid berthing fees. The ship, named Planet, had served as the country's last manned lightship until 1989, when it went to a museum and later to Liverpool's docks, where it was restored and used as a cafe and volunteer-operated maritime radio museum. The ship's owner reportedly owed overdue berthing fees, which were subsequently paid but not before the CRT had towed and impounded the boat in Sharpness, Gloucestershire, thereby incurring further hefty fees.[28] The Merseyside Civic Society launched a petition to bring the vessel back to Liverpool but the CRT later sold it for £12,500, less than its estimated scrap valuation of £70,000. The CRT faces possible legal action over the seizure and sale of the ship.[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Become a friend of the Canal & River Trust | Canal charity | Donate". Canalrivertrust.org.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  2. ↑ https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us
  3. ↑ "Robert Aickman". www.waterways.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Waterways, British (November 2009). "Setting a new course" (PDF). British waterways.
  5. ↑ https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07807276
  6. ↑ Reforming Arm’s Length Bodies. HM Treasury. 2010. p. 10.
  7. ↑ "Labour manifesto 2010" (PDF). BBC News. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "British Waterways - Hansard Online". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Defra (2011). "A New Era for the waterways" (PDF). Government. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "IWAC Reports". www.waterways.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "New name for Britain's new waterways charity | Canal & River Trust". canalrivertrust.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  12. 1 2 "The Council". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Waterways Partnerships". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  14. ↑ ??
  15. 1 2 "Trustees". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  16. ↑ "Additional Functions". Developing Scottish Water. The Scottish Government. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  17. ↑ "Our Structure and Governance". Scottish Canals.
  18. ↑ "Directors". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  19. ↑ "National Advisory Groups". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  20. ↑ "Contacting your local office". Canal & River Trust. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  21. ↑ "Over £1 billion investment secures future of new waterways charity « Defra News". Defra.gov.uk. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  22. ↑ "Licensing". Canalrivertrust.org.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  23. ↑ "Waterways World". Waterways World. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  24. ↑ "Canal & River Trust News | Major corporations pledge support to the Canal & River Trust". Canalrivertrust.org.uk. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  25. ↑ "Canal & River Trust gets first corporate partners on board". Thirdsector.co.uk. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  26. ↑ "Major players come on board ahead of Canal & River Trust launch - Towpath Talk Newspaper Magazine". Towpathtalk.co.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  27. ↑ "Canals and Rivers". Canal and River Trust. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  28. ↑ "What Planet are they on?". Private Eye. London: Pressdram Ltd. 9 December 2016.
  29. ↑ "Planet dearth". Private Eye. London: Pressdram Ltd. 16 June 2017.
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