The campaign, fronted by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) and backed by the boating industry and many other groups, saw an organised cruise past the Houses of Parliament in January obtaining considerable media coverage.

One of the results of the campaign was an inquiry into BW by the Environment Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee, which heard extensive evidence from many and produced good recommendations which, to date, the government appears to have ignored; except perhaps for acknowledging that some duties of BW should be funded by other departments.

There were more public protest days and a further two adjournment debates in parliament, secured by MPs Charlotte Atkins and Michael Fabricant. As we go to press Fabricant has secured yet another debate on BW funding.

Perhaps 2007 will go down as a record year for parliamentary time spent on debating waterways?

A change of prime minister in June saw a reshuffle within DEFRA with the removal of the Barry Gardiner MP as waterways minister, to be replaced by Jonathan Shaw MP which, apart from an apparent friendlier approach to user groups, seems to have made no difference to the government funding situation whatsoever.

It’s now understood that ministers are to be presented with a package for another £130m of immediate cuts to the DEFRA budget, with radical options for another £140m of savings. This would again affect BW and EA and would be in addition to 5% year-on-year cuts. The IWA says BW is allegedly at the top of the list for further cuts to its funding.

Over 200 jobs have already gone in BW and cuts have been made to maintenance budgets. Staff morale – particularly at operational level on the waterway itself - is low. There also appears to be a streamlining of EA operations, particularly on the River Thames, to cut running costs. How long will it be before services boaters have come to expect – like fully manned locks – will be steadily eroded?

Adding to the woes of the navigation authorities were the summer floods, with damage caused mainly in Yorkshire and the Midlands – particularly the River Severn. Although other rivers, especially EA controlled navigations, were affected they suffered less damage.

Very hard work was put in by BW and EA staff in both flood control and dealing with emergencies as they arose, although there were minor criticisms by boaters in some areas.

To add to its financial worries the floods have left BW with a repair bill of around £8m. In addition to this, it has the problem of the recent major breach in the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, which could cost £1.5m just to repair the hole.

Spectacular and popular
Sixteen miles of one of the most spectacular and popular cruising waterways (especially with holiday hirers) remain closed and is likely to remain so through most of 2008, as the whole length requires remedial works. But local hire operators would prefer that it remains closed if the whole section is to be put back in good condition. Then again – where will BW get the money?

Despite some problems with the floods around the Midlands’ rivers and somewhat mixed weather, the holiday hire industry seems to have had a good year. To date the waterways are more popular than ever with holiday and private boaters and other users.

BW has spent a large portion of its publicity budget on a major agency promotion campaign to bring more people down to their local waterway; ironically mainly aimed at those (walkers, cyclists, etc) from whom it cannot directly extract any revenue.

Boatbuilding and sales have remained steady, particularly for steel and aluminium narrowboats in the 50ft to 70ft range. Steel boats built in Poland – although marketed by British companies – have made a steady inroad into the market over the year and we have also seen narrowboats brought in from as far as China. Some standards of construction have been looked at and the some installations of solid fuel stoves have found to be defective and caused problems.

Perhaps the outstanding expansion in 2007 – particularly on the canals - has been in the provision of many more off-line moorings. Over 2,000 new marina berths have been opened, or have had planning permission granted, or are under construction; most with the provision of the usual range boatyard services and some with surrounding developments such as pubs and restaurants.

Looking at recent proposals that are seeking permission it’s likely that this trend will continue, although perhaps not on this year’s scale.

The boat show season started with a disappointing presence and promotion of waterways at the Collins Stewart International London Boat Show; something that had been deteriorating since they were prominently featured following the move to ExCeL. Something which has now had repercussions in National Boat Shows (NBS).

Birmingham’s NEC Outdoor Leisure Show had more boats on display and a good inland waterways presence and will have even more in 2008, although the show period will be slightly shorter.

Crick remains the main show for the industry and – despite appalling weather – still drew good crowds, although since being put in the hands of an exhibition company, paradoxically some aspects were not as well organised.

The Braunston show was the place to see historic canal craft with a record number of ex-working narrowboats attending and – despite initial weather worries – the IWA National Festival & Boat Show at St Ives was a great event. After two years on EA’s rivers it returns to the narrow canals at Wolverhampton in 2008.

Bonus event
A bonus event was the return of a London based boat show to Earls Court, where waterways were promoted and given quite an extensive piece of floor space. It remains to be seen whether the show will attract more waterway exhibitors next year.

Many local events were affected by the weather and the floods, with the popular Saul Festival being the major cancellation. The IWA’s National Trailboat Festival – which is generally held on an isolated section of waterway – was on the Grantham Canal and in 2007 will go all the way down to Devon to the Grand Western Canal.

Britain also hosted the World Canals Conference, with this international event being organised by the IWA in Liverpool. A proposal for a Liverpool Boat Show was also mooted but no start date has been announced.

Liverpool also features on the restoration front, with extensive engineering works in progress across the famous Pier Head for the new Liverpool Link between the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and Albert Dock. Also in the north west, work has started on the reopening of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal and in the Midlands the restoration of the Droitwich Canals has started.

Some work has started on the reopening of the first section of the Cotswold Canals, but there’s a shortfall in funding that hopefully will be resolved.

Further short sections of the Montgomery Canal have been opened and this waterway will be the focus of a ‘Monty 08’ promotion, with major rallies at Welshpool and Maesbury later next year.

Unlike the financial situation in England and Wales, waterways north of the border have received more funding for improved facilities from the Scottish Executive and the Falkirk Wheel is attracting increasing visitor numbers.

In Northern Ireland funding has been found to restore the first section of the derelict Ulster Canal eastwards from the Lough Erne system and design work will take up much of 2008, whilst in the Republic the full reopening of the Royal Canal may be completed next year.

Apart from cuts in navigation authority budgets, the main current concern for the inland waterway boater is a considerable hike in costs.

The threatened end of the tax concession on Red Diesel by the European Commission will become a reality on November 1, 2008, although the IWA is campaigning for a 25% discount as this is the estimated amount used by narrowboats for heating and lighting purposes.

The experimental proposal to put vacant BW moorings out to a public tendering system has caused much controversy – especially among those boat owners who were on waiting lists for specific sites.

Of the first batch of 40 moorings released for auction, 26 brought more than the guide price, while eight received no bids and only five bidders got a bargain with a low bid.

Licence fees
The biggest cause of concern among boaters is however the proposed increases in BW licence fees of 9% per annum for the next three years. It’s still a matter of consultation and BW officers have been forced to hold a series of face-to-face meetings with users at key waterway locations, which are currently in progress as we go to press.

But it looks like BW is under pressure from its bosses at DEFRA to raise as much revenue as possible from some of the few waterway users they can squeeze – the boaters.

Down on the waterways there is real anger and talk of non-payment protests. Unfortunately there is also talk of not being able to afford to carry on boating and selling boats. That sounds an easy way for to BW to solve the problem of the lack of moorings!

It’s difficult to persuade the general public that owning a canal boat is not a rich man’s pastime. Perhaps in future they will be right?

We leave the last words in this 2007 roundup to BW CEO Robin Evans. We asked him what he might see happening in 2008 on and/or affecting BW waterways for 2008. He replied: ‘Continued financial, regulatory and maintenance pressures on BW, a valiant workforce delivering a commendable service without all the resource they need and deserve, but wonderful weather so we are all reminded how fortunate we are to have such a fantastic inland waterway network.

It sounds like more of the same. Let’s hope he’s right about the weather...