Annual Boaters' Survey 2026 - Executive Summary

Background

Invitations to participate in the survey are randomly selected from the database of licensees. We kept the process consistent with previous years for comparability. Email and SMS options were used to push completion online.

There have been 2,042 responses to the survey. This is in line with the strongest sample achieved to date for the Annual Boaters’ Survey, and provides a robust evidence base for the conclusions. Surveys were conducted between November 2025 and March 2026.

Key headlines

Overall boater satisfaction has declined to 50% in 2026, from 55% in 2025. The primary driver is the significant increase in navigation closures linked to the summer 2025 drought, during which 20% of the network was closed at peak.

Despite this, satisfaction remains above the 2024 low point of 46%.

Navigation issues, particularly the impact of stoppages during 2025, are the key factors in declining experience – with stoppages impacting negatively on satisfaction for 58% of boaters (up from 15% in 2025 and above the 2024 peak of 39%).

70% of boaters were unable to navigate as expected in 2026, reflecting reflecting the scale of disruption. Boaters are split on the responsibility around this issue: 51% believe closures were outside the Trust’s control (due to low rainfall). 32% believe the Trust could have done more.

Despite the decline in satisfaction, attitudes towards the Trust have not changed from last year, with favourability and advocacy in line with 2025. The results show an improvement from 2024, but still negative perceptions predominate.

In conclusion, navigation related performance has decreased, but broader sentiment and several operational metrics show recovery since 2024 – but were more positive a decade ago. Communication continues to be a relative strength, but these results reinforce the priorities of the better boating plan: particularly a need to support navigation and enhance facilities.

Key findings

• Stoppages is the key difference: 58% stated that it negatively influenced satisfaction in relation to 15% in 2025.
• Waterway dredging remains the largest negative factor overall, though largely consistent with sentiment in 2025.
• There has been positive progress on vegetation management, with negative sentiment continuing to decline significantly for the second consecutive year.
• Boat license costs has seen a slight improvement, with 50% negative towards this factor compared with 52% in 2025.
• ‘Upkeep of the waterways’ has seen a modest improvement with 42% satisfied (vs 39% in 2025).
• ‘Communication & engagement’ remains the strongest area of the Better Boating Plan. 58 % (+6%) of boaters believe the Trust has improved in keeping them informed about important issues.
• However, several navigation -related KPIs declined: Keeping waterways navigable, Keeping locks operational: 43% (46% in 2025). In 2026, we introduced some new measures: Essential facilities operational and waste & recycling services, which are the weakest perceived areas overall.

Overall satisfaction has fallen -5% in 2026, following the positive gain made in 2025. While the decline is significant, it remains ahead of the low point in 2024 which was the lowest satisfaction score in a decade.

Attitudes towards the Trust are broadly in line with last year:

• Favourability remains +4% ahead of 2024, but it is still lower than in 2023.
• There has been no significant change in advocacy levels, despite the fall in satisfaction. In 2026, 44% (vs 43% in 2025) speaking critically of the Trust.
• There is limited movement on overall trust; 40% compared to 38% in 2025 do not trust us to manage the network, while those that have some trust remains the same as 2025 at 45%.