Waterways

We’re set to deliver a wide-ranging programme of major maintenance and preservation works over the coming winter months to help keep our historic canal network navigable. Works will span 45 canals and rivers and include 137 separate projects at more than 100 locks, 14 bridges, two tunnels and a host of embankments, sluices, culverts and…

We’re starting an eight-week programme of dredging at Gloucester’s historic docks, which will improve conditions for navigation and benefit boaters, local businesses and tourism. Protecting the docks We’re set to remove silt that has entered the docks from the River Severn this summer as water was pumped from the river to ensure the daily water…

We’re opening the doors of some of our Yorkshire & North East premises to the public throughout September, as part of this month’s heritage open days. People can enjoy free behind-the-scenes tours of our lock gate workshop at Stanley Ferry, near Wakefield, on 13 September, and see what happens in the control room at Tees…

We’re installing a series of floating ecosystems on the Nottingham & Beeston Canal as part of a drive to attract more wildlife into the city centre. Volunteers with a planted reedbed We’re installing the ecosystems to soften the edges of the canal walls and attract more birds, bugs and watery wildlife. Giving the canal a…

Around 500 budding young anglers will take to the towpath on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September as the we host the National Celebration of Young People & Fishing, on the Shropshire Union Canal. The event is part of our Let’s Fish! programme, which introduces thousands of people each year to the joys of fishing,…

Kevin Desmond Launched five years ago, the mission to electrify all motorised boats in Venice’s canals and lagoon continues to progress, both through Government incentives and during the Salone Nautico, an international meeting point for the builders of electric boats and electric motors. That things are getting serious was evidenced by a round table discussion,…

Since Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat in 1898 at the Electrical Exhibition in Madison Square Garden, there has been a passion for scale model motorboating. From the 1980s with the arrival of the nickel-cadium battery, electric model boat began to make a comeback. At PolyBoatGlobal we also consider that scaled_down model electric boats are…

We’re taking the opportunity to carry out vital repair works at Foxton Locks, improving the way the famous flight of locks works and protecting it for future generations. With the locks temporarily closed to boats due to the drought, we’re taking the opportunity to bring forward some planned repair works and, in doing so, minimise…

With water resources for the canal network dwindling as a result of this year’s continued low rainfall, and with little significant rain forecast in the short term, we are providing an update for boaters. Canals that have been impacted Water levels in some reservoirs are dropping towards minimum levels, with particular pressure on reservoirs feeding…

We have received a grant from Historic England to repair and restore the Grade II Listed pumphouse at our National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port. A traditional restoration The £252,282 funding will enable us to renovate and conserve the pumphouse and access bridge so they can be reopened to the public and enjoyed for many…