Despite being designated as nationally and internationally important, the inland waterways collection receives no direct government funding. By contrast, the National Railway Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the National Coal Mining Museum all receive government subsidies worth between £8 and £19 per person and can offer free admission.

The campaign is backed by a number of well-known supporters of the waterways, including actors David Suchet and Timothy West, writer and historian Paul Atterbury, waterway pioneer and author Sonia Rolt, author and canal art expert Tony Lewery, and John Fletcher, chairman of the Inland Waterways Association.

They have written to the secretary of state, Tessa Jowell MP, asking her to take urgent action to put the inland waterways museums on a par with the other designated collections and to provide adequate funding for maintenance, the conservation backlog and free entry.