Britain’s waterways are about to experience a revolution in the way they are governed and managed. The imminent move from Public Corporation to Charity will require a transformational change in all aspects of British Waterways’ (BW) organisational culture, mission and vision, finances, management and public engagement if it is to stand a chance of success.
Not since the direct action movement of the 1960s that brought the waterways back into use have our canals and navigations faced such a challenging time. Fiscal tightening combined with increasing maintenance costs create a substantial financial challenge for the New Waterways Charity (NWC). The move to charitable status, and the explicit remit to realise public benefit that this entails, will require cultural, strategic and operational changes throughout BW / NWC. The combination of realising public benefit and balancing the books will necessitate a redesign of how NWC engages with all of its stakeholders, locally, regionally and nationally.
The transformation of BW into the new charity represents not only a challenge however. It is also a once in a generation opportunity to re-vision and remake Britain’s waterways as a thriving public asset that is simultaneously financially self sustaining and realising substantial and increasing levels of public benefit.
We believe that the New Waterways Charity has the opportunity not only to survive but to create a third golden age for the waterways. By supporting the delivery of sustainable, social enterprise led, regeneration it can ensure that our unique industrial heritage continues to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to canal-side communities – and leisure and habitat benefits for everyone.
Defra now has the opportunity to create NWC as an exemplary public institution acting boldly to achieve its vision and benefiting all in the process.
However the current proposals do not place NWC on a sustainable financial footing, even in the long term, nor do they seek to realise a sufficiently broad set of public benefits in the spirit of charitable endeavour.
We believe that is imperative in undertaking a flagship transfer such as this that the change that is delivered serves the maximum number of people and is in the widest possible public interest.
We believe the proposals outlined in our response could stimulate relatively simple but profound changes to the proposed NWC that would radically transform our waterways from a gently decaying liability to a thriving asset realising substantial new income, delivering substantial new public benefit and contributing to the sustainable development of local communities.
You can read our Full Response here.
You can read the Executive Summary here.
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