Top News
Another consultation on boat licensing
The Canal & River Trust is promising a final public consultation on boat licensing, from December 2026 through to February 2027.
This follows a report published earlier this year from the independent commission, appointed in 2025, to recommend a wholesale revision on licensing.
The consultation will address boat safety, social support for boaters, navigation requirements, fair sharing of waterway space, licence fees, and how CRT's network can be managed in the future.
The trust says it wants to clarify and modernise the whole system, which dates back to the British…
31 July 2026
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New year target for Llangollen breach repair
The Llangollen Canal’s breached Whitchurch embankment appears to be on target for repair by the end of this year. As we went to press the…
14 August 2026
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Boat lift reopening promised in 2027
The Canal & River Trust says it is still aiming to reopen one caisson of the Anderton Boat Lift by May 2027, despite having to…
13 August 2026
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Campaign cruise ends early
The Inland Waterways Association’s summer Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign cruise came to an early end at the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum on 20th July, after…
13 August 2026
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Canals cool even more in heatwaves
A new study from the University of Manchester has confirmed a long-held suspicion, that city canals can cool their immediate surroundings significantly.
An earlier study…
13 August 2026
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Thames workboats go electric
The Environment Agency has taken delivery of its first new all-electric workboat for the Thames. Blackwater Joule is an RS Pulse 63 RIB to be…
12 August 2026
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Silver lining for Whitchurch Canal Festival
As the Canal & River Trust forges ahead with its repair of the Llangollen Canal breach, the Whitchurch Waterway Trust around the corner is about…
12 August 2026
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Audlem holds boat gathering despite drought
The small canalside village of Audlem was busy over the last weekend in July, with a historic boat parade in a Shropshire Union Canal counterpart…
12 August 2026
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Flash drought on the waterways
A new term entered the lexicon of UK boaters at the end of July: ‘flash drought’, the counterpart to flash flood. A concept imported from…
12 August 2026
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CRT creates Citizen's Boater Panel
Boaters are being invited to help shape the future of boating as part of a volunteer Citizens’ Boater Panel.
The panel will advise the Canal…
12 August 2026
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New owner for Oxford wharf
The long-fought-over Jericho Wharf, on the Oxford Canal, finally has a new owner.
Oxford University's Worcester College, whose land is adjacent to the old boatyard,…
05 August 2026
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