Independent Commission’s review of the framework for boat licensing

The report from the independent Commission set up to review the legal framework around boat licensing and whether it is appropriate for the canal network’s future has now been published.

It was subsequently welcomed by the Canal & River Trust’s Board, which thanks the Commissioners and endorses the report’s analysis and main conclusions.

The Commission was chaired by Andrew Cowan, a former senior partner at law firm Devonshires. Over ten months it undertook an extensive review, engaging with several thousand individuals and organisations via a public online survey, and then meeting with and receiving further submissions from many representative groups.

In the immediate term current licensing arrangements will remain in place, however the Report has concluded that boat licensing needs reform to reflect the current and future use of the waterways and notes the considerable work ahead for the Trust to consider the recommendations in detail.

Commission report - the future of licensing

Read the full report here

You can also view the Commission online:

Moving forward with Commission recommendations

The Trust has thoroughly reviewed each of the 36 recommendations to identify immediate actions, long-term projects, and areas needing further consultation. The recommendations cover our licensing system, our management of the waterways, and our relationship with boaters.  

The Trust's priority is getting this right for the boating community, and we’re developing a new way of working with boaters, including designing the next stage of consultation together. We’re taking the time to build informed, well-thought-out, lasting solutions that work on the water, rather than rushing into implementation. We’ve been doing a great deal of preparatory work, and we hope that you’ll begin to see improvements in the coming months.

Boating Commission recommendations

The Trust has grouped the 36 recommendations from the Boating Commission into four themes:

Clarity:

Movement requirements
Legislation consolidation
Transparent information and impact analysis

Effectiveness:

Licence refusal powers
Dealing with abandoned/sunken boats
Timely, targeted, proportionate enforcement

Fairness:

Licence fee discount review
Equitable waterspace sharing - demand management
Legal safeguards on Trust enforcement powers

Relationships:

Communications
Stakeholder engagement
Better support for liveaboards in need
Review of enforcement approach and process

What’s happening now? 

Some of the recommendations don’t need consultation. You told us that we needed to change the way we communicate, so an independent agency has carried out a review of our extensive boater communications, including our licensing and enforcement templates, stoppage notices, website content, Boaters’ Update, and social media channels. We’ve taken this guidance on board and are now beginning the practical work of making our communications clearer, friendlier and more informative.

We’ve provided more funding support for the Waterways Chaplaincy, and we continue to work with national charities and organisations who provide extra support to boaters. Many of these charities are not aware of, or may not be set up to support, liveaboard boaters, so we aim to work with them so they can offer appropriate help and advice.

The recommendations highlighted issues with the data we hold on boat sightings. We’re carrying out an annual audit of our boat sighting data to make sure it is accurate and robust,. We expect to publish the results of the first audit next spring, after the national boat count in March has been completed and reviewed.

The recommendations encompass a huge amount of work. Alice Hamilton, formerly a liveaboard boater and now a leisure cruiser, recently joined us as programme manager to pull all these strands into a coherent programme, to begin implementing changes, and crucially, to bring the principles of community co-design into the next phase of consultation. This means that boaters will help us design the upcoming consultation, deciding what needs to be covered and what questions we need to ask. 

Recommendations requiring consultation

Between July and November, we’re taking the proposals that require further consultation to the boating community. Working alongside national boating organisations, boater representatives, and a diverse 40-person volunteer citizens’ boater panel, we will:

Review our initial proposals and project timelines
Ensure ideas are fair, practical, and grounded in everyday boating life
Shape the key questions and data needed for wider consultation

In December, we will run the 14-week consultation which we’ve designed together. We won’t know exactly which of the recommendations are going to be in the consultation, or what other actions we might take, until we’ve had these discussions.

The same boaters who helped design the consultation will then review its outcomes. Once agreed, we’d expect to put these into practice in the second half of 2027. After that, we’ll consider the recommendations that require legislative change - if, after taking on board all your feedback and insight, we decide to move ahead with them. 

This collaborative approach ensures our final action plan responds directly to the 2025 report while being genuinely shaped by the people who live and cruise on the waterways. 

We're also investing more in day-to-day spend to directly improve the boater experience. In 2025/26 over £2 million additional investment will be made to fix leaking lock gates, tackle overgrowing trees and encroaching weeds and start a phased increase in dredging. We're continuing the investment introduced last year to target broken paddles and fix boater facilities more quickly, bringing the total investment to over £10 million in two years to improve canals for boaters.

How the Trust is performing against the Better Boating Plan targets can be seen on the dashboards on the Trust’s website. Performance measures for the additional investment will be published in April 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are 'charitable objects?'
'Charitable objects' are the core goals and objectives that define a charity's reason for being and are the specific purposes for which a charity is established and operates. A full list of the Trust’s charitable objects is available on the Charity Commission's website.
What is a Commission?
A Commission is a group of people who have been formally chosen to discover information about a subject or examine the reasons why an issue exists.
Why have you looked into this now?
It has been 30 years since the British Waterways Act 1995 was passed and, in that time, there have been many changes to the canal network and how it is managed, the number of boats licensed on our waterways, and the way people are choosing to use their boats. We believe it to have been a sensible time to take a fresh look at how we licence boats on our waters and help us consider whether it would be sensible to consider possible changes that better reflect the use of the network, today and in the future.
What did the Commission cover?
The Commission wanted to understand what licensing issues exist or can be predicted, evaluate options for mitigating them, and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees of the Canal & River Trust. More details can be found in the Terms of Reference, which were ratified at the Commission’s first meeting in January 2025.
Has the Commission decided on future licence prices?
No, the Trust decides annual licence prices. We have already set out our plans for licence price changes up to 2028, and these won't change. All decisions on proposals for change coming out from the work of the Commission will remain with the Board of Trustees of the Canal & River Trust.
Who are the members of the Commission?
It was chaired by Andrew Cowan, a former senior partner at Devonshires law firm; Penelope Barber, one of the elected boating representatives on the Trust’s Council; and trustee Sir Chris Kelly, a former senior civil servant and former boat owner.
When did the Commission run?
The Commission started its review in January 2025 and finished in November 2025.
Who does the Commission report to?
The Commission’s report will be submitted to our Board of Trustees who will consider the recommendations and decide whether, and if so, on how to take them forward. During its operation, the Commission was overseen by the newly constituted Boating Sub-Committee of the Board, chaired by David Orr CBE, our chair.
When did Canal & River Trust receive the report?
The report was delivered to the Canal & River Trust’s Board of Trustees in November 2025 and was discussed at their meeting on 19 November 2025. David Orr, Chair of the Board, instructed its external publication the same day.
When will Canal & River Trust provide details of its approach to the recommendations in the report?
The Trustees and executive team have welcomed the recommendations and feedback received. We will now begin detailed work on proposals for pursuing the recommendations in the report. We will take this forward as quickly as possible, recognising that some proposals will require relevant impact assessment, further consultation and engagement with boaters and others may require new or amended legislation. A timetable for consultation and engagement will be published in late spring 2026.
What does this mean for my licence terms and conditions?
There are no immediate changes to licence terms and conditions, existing legislation, or the way we manage our waterways.
Can I speak to someone at the Trust about the report?
There will be opportunities for boaters and other stakeholders to engage with the Trust and participate in consultation on recommendations from the commission. A timetable for consultation and engagement will be published in late spring 2026.
How can I keep up to date with information from the Trust on its progress with the report?
We will publish any new information on this webpage. You can also sign up to the Boaters’ Update, where we will signpost any updates as they become available.

Meeting minutes

Boater consultation to launch in December 2026

As a result of the commission, we’re inviting boaters to help shape the future of boating on the waterways ahead of a major public consultation in December

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Last Edited: 14 September 2026