The charity making life better by water
Making life better by water
Chief exec's ambitions for 2026, a lookback at 2025 and more in latest edition.
In a Boaters’ Update exclusive, I met up with Campbell to ask how his first couple of months have been, what his ambitions are for the next 12 months and why he sees boaters as central to the network:
As mentioned in the video, please do send in any questions for Campbell to me at [email protected].
Here we are, just seven days before Christmas and with less than two weeks until the advent of a new year. Here’s our 2025 month-by-month lookback – you might spot that extreme weather, of multiple varieties, was a recurring theme. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a kinder 2026.
As seems increasingly common, the first edition of the year started with a report on disruptive festive weather. Geographically speaking, there was damage in just about every part of the network. However, the biggest disruption to our waterways was caused in the north and east – most notably with a major embankment slip, after becoming waterlogged, on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
Despite the sometimes-atrocious weather we still managed to make headway with our winter stoppage programme, as I reported on during a visit on a cold and grey day at Hatton:
Can you visualise 82,000 tonnes of silt? I can’t! It’s the amount we dredged in our more than £6million annual dredging programme. It’s the equivalent of 536 Boeing 747s or, to look at it another way, over 144 million pints of silt which, if placed side by side, would stretch from Hatton Locks to Honolulu!
A report on the rapidly progressing winter stoppage programme revealed that the weight of the 133 lock gates we were replacing amounted to 330 tonnes, every kilogram of which has been hand crafted in one of our workshops to precise, and unique, measurements for each individual lock.
As the winter stoppage programme came to an end, we reported that managing waterside flora is a year-round balancing act. Our approach is to prevent vegetation growth from impeding navigation or the use of towpaths. At the same time, we want to maintain the ecological, landscape and heritage benefits that trees, flowers and historic hedges bring to the waterways. Each year we invest around £7million managing the vegetation along the canal network. In terms of expenditure, it’s second only to our major engineering programme.
We also reported from Tardebigge on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. For safety reasons we had to close the lock to investigate a bulging wall. Principal engineer, Gary Ramsell, explains:
As you’ll know, we’re hyper vigilant for any instances of pollution. That said, it was with some surprise, and a gulp, when we took the phone call and learned that over 4,000 litres of contaminant, including highly toxic sodium cyanide and zinc cyanide, had leaked into the Walsall Canal from a neighbouring business back in August 2024. It took a multiagency emergency response to ensure it was contained and that the community were kept safe. Then, eight months later, this month's dredging of the contaminated silt got underway.
Further north, a leak in the bed of the Macclesfield Canal meant we were left with no choice but to close the navigation and towpath. As often happens, there followed a period of negotiating access through private land, building access tracks, and developing a repair solution – all before major work could start.
Early signs of what was to come were already showing after experiencing the driest three-month period in over 90 years. Despite our best efforts to reduce water loss and manage the system carefully, water levels in our feeder reservoirs were continuing to fall as a result of normal lock usage. We were doing everything operationally possible to conserve what water we had. This included minimising flows where appropriate, coordinating lock operations to reduce wastage and exploring operational restrictions to stretch remaining resources.
After 225 years as the principal feed of water to the Mon & Brec Canal, legislation changes meant that strict limitations are now placed on the water that can be drawn from the nearby River Usk. This made the unthinkable prospect that the canal could run dry when river levels fall a real possibility. Users and supporters of the picturesque waterway had other ideas though. A petition was launched that forced the Senedd to debate the topic. Good news came later in the year…
Right now, you may be hearing the familiar festive chant of ‘Let it snow…’ but back in June calls of ‘Let it rain…’ were growing louder. Our water expert, group hydrology manager, Dr Adam Comerford, gave this update:
With extreme weather starting to affect the coming summer’s cruising, we were also dealing with the impact of extreme winter weather, as the reinstatement of the failed embankment on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal using around 700 two-tonne Rockbags (flexible mesh bags filled with angular rocks, which interlock and create a strong retaining structure) began. This was after construction of a 1km access track that required agreement from several third-party landowners.
The waterways have such a storied history that some may have been surprised when another fascinating nugget was uncovered as we carried out repairs to a bridge over the Dudley No 2 Canal. It turns out that the same company that built the 129-year-old Wrights Bridge, Dormon Long & Co, also built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Like me, I’m sure you hold all waterway infrastructure close to your heart but maybe, just maybe, the bridge down under slightly pips it in the glamour stakes. What do you think?
As the peak boating period arrived, we were happy to announce that, after a major £350k project, we’d reopened the Macclesfield Canal. Around 150 tonnes of puddling clay was used to repair the canal bed. The damaged wall of the culvert, which channels a stream under the canal, was also repaired, and metal trench sheeting was installed along a 12m section of the canal wall to strengthen it. Around 40m of new fencing and hedging was also put in along the towpath.
Macclesfield Canal repair aerial view
In what would go on to become a year in which generational records were broken, this month the drought really started to bite. For June and July, the Met Office painted a picture of a dry, sunny and parched land:
As you’d expect, the combination of those three factors - warmer temperatures, more sunshine and an incredibly dry year - meant that our hand was forced in some locations and temporary restrictions were brought in. That didn’t stop some online myths generating a bit of hype until they were debunked by Dr Adam Comerford:
As the heat of the summer (very) slowly dissipated, we started seeing a few patches of rain, sometimes heavy but far too brief, roll across the network. As we announced our 2025/26 winter stoppage programme – spanning 45 canals and rivers, including 137 separate projects at more than 100 locks, 14 bridges, two tunnels and a host of embankments, sluices, culverts and canal walls – we wanted to do all we could to assist those looking to return to a home mooring or winter mooring, so we launched a scheme to facilitate.
One such stoppage that wouldn't be hindering navigation was the now-completed work at Lock 11W on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal:
After months of well-below average rainfall and super-sunny days, autumn announced its arrival with a bang in the form of Storm Amy. As our teams responded to reports of fallen trees and damage to infrastructure, fighting to restore navigation as quickly as possible, our Boater Report reflected on our commitment to boaters. This included the Better Boating Plan, introduced this year to target some of the long-standing issues highlighted by boaters. Progress against the targets can be found here: Keeping our canals open for boating | Better boating plan
It would be a very long edition to list every individual tree that was felled and, as the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words:
Tree fallen onto boat Paddington Arm Storm Amy (1)
And while we weren’t pleased about the arrival of Storm Amy, just under a week later it was a different story as Campbell Robb joined as chief executive, saying: “It’s an honour to join such an important and passionate charity, and I’m genuinely excited about the journey ahead.
“To be a steward of our wonderful canals and play a part in shaping and ensuring their future is a challenge, a privilege and a collective endeavour, and I look forward to getting out on the cut and meeting many of you over the coming weeks and months.”
It was with a lot of gratitude that, last month, we announced that six of our winter stoppage programme lock gate replacement projects are possible thanks to funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. This fantastic support is enabling 20 lock gates, which have reached the end of their 25-year lives, to be removed and replaced with new ones.
Another month, another storm. Claudia barrelled across the country bringing amber weather warnings and, for some, more than a month’s worth of rain.
Underlining the extremes of weather brought by climate change, the same day as the storm hit, the Environment Agency warned that without adequate rain this winter there will be worse levels of drought next year. Of course, while persistent and above average rainfall is much-needed, the impact of such a volume falling in a short space of time can be, and was in many places, damaging for the network.
Lock 5 Bank Dole Cut, Storm Claudia
With a third of the month to go, including the Big Day, there’s already been cause for celebration. It’s been announced that a five-year agreement with the Welsh Government means that the Mon & Brec’s short term water supply future is safe and gives us the opportunity to develop a longer-term plan.
In more good news, the report of the independent Commission set up to review the legal framework around boat licensing was welcomed by our Board, which thanked the Commissioners and endorses the report’s analysis.
Campbell Robb, our chief executive, said, “This is an important and timely report. The Trust will take the opportunity it presents to think hard about what more we can do for those who live, work or simply enjoy time on the canals. We recognise the need to work closely with boaters across the canal network to bring about improvements in relationships and to make the system work fairly and effectively.” Campbell also talks about this in his video above.
As you’ll know, our major winter repair and restoration programme is underway. This means there will be more closures than usual as we replace lock gates, mend sluices and complete a whole range of jobs to prepare the network for next year’s cruising. You can find out where we’ve started work here.
Of course, as we enter the more volatile months of winter there’s a higher chance of extreme weather which may also impact navigation.
When this does happen, or we have to unexpectedly repair something, we get notices up on to our website as soon as we can – it’s always best to have a scan while you’re planning your cruise and also just before you set off. You can find out how to get stoppage notification alerts on your smartphone in this article.
Below, you’ll find a list of navigations that have ongoing restrictions, that aren’t part of our winter stoppage programme, that may affect you if you’re planning to get out on the water this weekend:
If you have any questions about a specific closure, or spot an error in our system, please get in touch.
Boaters cruising the Grand Union Leicester Line from 26 October to 28 March are being reminded of the following opening times for Watford and Foxton Lock flights:
Foxton Lock flight is closed on Christmas day and Boxing Day, and Watford Lock flight is closed on Christmas Day. Boating information for the Leicester Line can be found here.
Merry Christmas, Damian
Last Edited: 18 December 2025
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