We agree with your editorial (22 August) – our canals and rivers are an integral part of Britain’s landscape and way of life. More than 8.5 million people (nearly 15% of the population) live on or within 1km of a waterway, and half of us live within 5km – disproportionately more in urban areas and areas of deprivation and diversity. Add the 10 million people who use the waterways for business, leisure, wellness or commuting, and the thousands who live on canals, and it is clear that open, accessible and well-maintained waterways are vital for us all, and for Britain’s economy, ecology and wellbeing.
Boat-based tourism and leisure activities contribute £2.5bn to the economy each year. Thousands of tonnes of freight are moved on our canals and rivers, reducing carbon emissions and removing hundreds of vehicles from the roads. Waterways are blue-green corridors that reconnect disparate habitats, and provide biodiversity net gain and improvements for wildlife.
Recognising the value of these benefits, as well as the urgent need to future-proof the network against extreme weather, more than 70 organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of canals and rivers are campaigning as Fund Britain’s Waterways for the government to protect the public benefit and natural capital of all our waterways.
Les Etheridge
Inland Waterways Association
• Your editorial rightly calls Britain’s canals a national success story and asks for continued national funding. But surely the rich environment that canals run through forms part of our common wealth and should be funded accordingly? Beautiful views and wildlife help to sustain the value of properties nearby. The restoration of our local Stroudwater canal, which is being reconnected to Gloucester at the moment, is part of an arc of development opportunity, as well as a great source of local wellbeing.
The plight of inland waterways is yet another reason for levying a charge on residential properties in areas that benefit from environmental restoration. The proceeds should go to councils to help fund local infrastructure, as part of a general reform of property taxation.
Nicholas Falk
Stroud, Gloucestershire
• The other evening, we watched from the front of our narrowboat as a heron fished in the Oxford canal, catching small silver tiddlers for its supper. What a delight our unique canal network gives to those of us who live or holiday on them, and the many more who walk the towpaths, fish in them, canoe and paddleboard on them, and observe the moorhens, ducks, swans and kingfishers who live there too.
Our canals are a national treasure for people and wildlife, and it is heartbreaking that the government wants to let them become derelict because of a lack of resources, which they surely will do if the funding is cut as proposed. We are losing the NHS, local bus services, decent social care, children’s services and public amenities. Must we let our wonderful canal network go too?
Marilyn Biles
Narrowboat Moose, Warwick
• With the climate crisis causing floods and wildfires, and at the same time water shortages in some areas, we fail to recognise the crucial role that canals and rivers play in moving water around the country. They will be vital over the coming years.
Mike Annan
Bristol
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