About Us

British Waterways is the public corporation that cares for the 2,200-mile network of canals and rivers in England, Scotland and Wales. Our role is to ensure that the waterways can be used for all to enjoy, now and for many years to come.

Our purpose is to protect the historic waterways in our care, to secure and earn the necessary funding, to grow the numbers who value and invest in them and to optimise the public benefit they can deliver.

The work we carry out is extraordinarily varied. Above all else we must maintain our inland waterways so they are safe and accessible for the 11 million people who visit them every year as well as for the 32,000 boats based on them. We must also ensure that we secure enough income to enable us to do this. We work with public sector bodies, private sector partners and the voluntary sector, and reinvest all the income we earn back into maintaining our canals and rivers. 

British Waterways was established by an Act of Parliament in 1962 to look after the majority of inland waterways in England, Scotland and Wales. As well as being governed by the normal accounting, employment, environmental, planning and safety legislation that affects any modern organisation and we are specifically governed by many of the original Canal Enabling Acts as well as a number of modern Acts of Parliament. 

British Waterways is a public corporation and receives an annual grant. Our sponsoring government departments are:

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs in England and Wales

Scottish Government Transport Directorate in Scotland.

We also liaise closely with:

The  Department for Economic Development and Transport in Wales

Inland Waterways Advisory Council (IWAC) provides general strategic policy advice about the waterways to us and to government.

The Association of Inland Navigation Authorities is a good starting point for information about other navigation authorities, including those that manage the River Thames and the Broads.