IWI is supporting a new campaign, Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW), recently launched by the Inland Waterways Association. FBW is a coalition of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways. The aim is to secure more permanent and stable funding for the country’s waterways, which are currently facing the challenges of keeping vulnerable infrastructure safe and operational, with severely limited resources. The coalition started campaigning in 2023 for national and local government to act now and protect the public benefit and natural capital of the waterways, both the national system managed by the Canal and River Trust and the many independently managed waterways.
The campaign was promoted on November 14 2023 by a flotilla of boats on the Thames tideway. The boats delivered a message to the Palace of Westminster that funding cuts for the country’s canals and rivers are unacceptable and damaging.
The boats, a mixture of leisure and commercial, drew parliamentarians’ attention to their presence and the banners they were displaying by sounding their horns outside the Palace of Westminster.
They were cheered on by a group of supporters on Westminster Bridge. The Westminster cruise built on the success of well supported campaign cruises earlier in the year in Birmingham and Gloucester. More events are being planned in the run up to the General Election in 2024.