In our annual public meeting we’ve announced plans to improve boaters’ experience

We also announced our plans to improve navigation and the service for boaters.

The Annual Public Meeting

Hosted online by chair, David Orr CBE, and chief executive, Richard Parry, attendees heard about both our achievements over the past year and the challenges of caring for the nation’s 250-year-old canal network.

David Orr, our chair, said: “Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Public Meeting and sent in their questions about the work our charity does to keep canals alive. Raising adequate funds to keep our ageing canal network open and navigable is paramount. In addition to fostering a partnership with government, businesses and other institutions, our fundraising strategy will tap into the love and recognition that people have for the canals that are fundamental to the health of their community.

“Demonstrating the many benefits our canals and rivers bring to local communities is therefore vitally important, and we’re releasing our second Impact Report in the coming weeks.”

Plans to improve boater satisfaction

Our head of boating and customer services Matthew Symonds spoke about plans to improve boater satisfaction with actions developed through a series of workshops with the boater representatives on our Council and in its navigation advisory group.

Our commitment to boating was reinforced by plans to recruit a further volunteer trustee to sit on its Board who will bring extensive boating experience and insight. Together with a sub-Committee of the charity’s Board, they will measure the charity’s performance against specific key performance indicators that reflect the feedback of the boater workshops. These will be published in early 2025.

The priority will be to improve navigation and target issues that predominantly affect boaters. These include: a ‘paddle pledge’ with a target to fix newly reported broken paddles as soon as possible and no longer than four weeks, and clear all outstanding issues by 2026; more greasing and clearing vegetation from locks and moving bridges, with more work scheduled earlier in the year; increased grass cutting over the next three years and ensuring grass is cut at locks and mooring sites; quicker response to broken boater facilities and a review of busiest refuse sites to improve provision and reduce issues; and better recycling provision, with segregated collections introduced in 2025.

Engaging with boaters

We will engage with boaters with more face-to-face forums for boaters and will publish a 12-month calendar of the meeting dates. It will also explore ways to make it easier to access up-to-date navigational information and to report issues via a requested Boater App.

Richard Parry, our chief executive, said: “Keeping our canals open for boating is paramount: without navigation the canals as we know them today would not exist, and neither would the tremendous benefits that navigable canals bring to communities both on and off the water.

“However, many boaters have told us that they’re not satisfied with the service they receive and want to see our efforts focused on the things that matter most to them. We need to change this and make sure that we demonstrate to boaters that their needs are at the heart of what we do. This means regular and improved engagement with boaters, and actions that prioritise navigation and reinforce our commitment to the boating community: looking at how we can address some of the problems that boaters tell us about.

“We’ll be publishing a new set of performance indicators around navigation, and we hope boaters will be able to see how we’re making progress on the things that matter to them, and in caring for the network.”

The Trust has published the Better Boating Plan: Our plan for better boating | Canal & River Trust