Annual Public Meeting 2025

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

Addressed during the meeting.

In 2024 we set out a phased plan up to 2028 for introducing licence surcharges to help boaters prepare for these increases. We haven’t yet set a plan beyond 2028, but we appreciate boaters would like certainty beyond this date so we will aim to develop and publish a further five-year forecast for any further above inflation increases.

Restoration of canals is what has kept alive and brought back to life the canal network we have today. And we’d love to see a growing and prospering canal system. Working with restoration groups to ensure that projects bought forward are safe and robust for the long term has to be a good thing. Our focus, understandably, must be first and foremost on the existing network and, as was discussed during the Meeting, there is an awful lot to do to just look after what we have. Restorations are often major civil engineering projects that come with the need to comply with many items of legislation. So the demand of the time from experts can be significant, and the cost of the expertise needs to be factored into the overall cost of the restoration.

Our customer service facilities policy, developed in consultation with boaters, includes the commitment to provide the essential facilities of water, refuse and Elsan no more than a day's cruising apart, and pump-out no more than two days’ cruising.

We’re working with our suppliers to ensure these essential facilities are prioritised for repair when things go wrong: we aim to attend essential services within 24 hours of notification, and to achieve a first-time fix in 80% of cases. This is not easy when the facilities vary so much and specific parts need to be ordered. So, we've announced an investment of £4.5 million over five years to upgrade and standardise water points, Elsan and pump-outs, increasing the speed and efficiency of future maintenance and repairs. On top of that, we spend around £2m a year to maintain boater facilities.

Following the consultation with boaters and the development of the facilities policy, from 3 November 2025 we will no longer be funding showers and toilets and will be focusing our investment on essential services. Where we are closing showers and toilets, we have carried out equalities and environmental impact assessments, and had further conversations with colleagues, volunteers, and commercial operators (such as cafes) with an interest in the facilities.

We appreciate that in some areas there are gaps in the provision of essential services, and we are actively looking to provide alternative facilities in these locations. We’ve been particularly challenged by the Government’s new Simpler Recycling legislation, which requires all waste to be segregated into four types. With over 260 locations to review we faced the challenges of access restrictions, heritage buildings, weight limits, and planning regulations. At some sites new compounds had to be planned and constructed, others required moving a short distance and a small number provided even more challenges. In all cases, where work was required, improvements were sought, such as adding locks or using CCTV to try and reduce fly tipping.

We’ve been asked what percentage of the licence fee goes towards essential services. The whole of the licence fee goes towards the huge cost of keeping the waterways open for navigation. In 2024/25 income from boat licences made up 14% of our total income.

Read more about our customer service facilities policy here.

Directors don’t receive bonuses; except for the chief investment officer whose bonus is directly linked to financial performance i.e. he will receive a bonus if the Trust has generated the commercial income that he’s tasked to deliver.

It’s a great suggestion and something we are very much looking to do where we can. There were examples this summer where we did that in lots of locations (and you will have seen some showcased in the Annual Meeting videos). There are times we aren’t able to take advantage of these opportunities (e.g. where we need to use boats to do the work or bring materials, or if we think there’s a chance we might reopen, and starting a big job would delay that) but we’ll keep trying to maximise such opportunities.

We have also been developing a five-year plan for stoppages, which will help us line up opportunities where we can do work outside winter with lots of notice, where there are alternative routes available or we need to get into rivers that have a high risk of flooding. This will enable us to get more work done and improve reliability for customers.

Campbell’s KPIs are essentially those of the Trust itself and, as such, are set out in our Annual Report.

With our canal and river network open 24/7 it is often very difficult to identify who has caused damage but, if we can, we do take action where we have evidence of people wilfully damaging Trust property. However, we do not have powers to issue fines.

In reality, being able to track down and prove who is responsible for deliberate damage often isn’t possible, but in some known problem areas we are using mobile CCTV to try and catch evidence of who has caused damage and misuse so that we can take action.

It’s great that people are interested in getting rubbish out of the canal, however we don’t allow magnet fishing as it can be extremely dangerous. Items dragged out by magnets could be sharp or heavy and cause you to be dragged into the water.

We’ve even had reports of people fishing out old war bombs and dumped weapons. Whilst many magnet fishers are considerate, when piles of metal are left on the towpath it can cause problems for other visitors, for example families with young children. Those keen on helping to clean up the canal will be very welcome at our regular volunteering groups.

Let’s Fish is an excellent programme that helps engage thousands of people in angling and our waterways each year. We’re keen to build on the success of Let’s Fish and are actively exploring new funding opportunities to continue and help grow the programme.