Inland Waterways Association

RIVERSIDE REGENERATION celebrated in new film

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Web Editor

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November 7, 2025

THE traditional market town of Langport, in Somerset, has been given a new lease of life thanks to its revitalized riverside. The £300,000 Langport River Project has transformed 7.6 miles of river into a visitor destination, attracting about 250,000 people a year, helping new cafés, shops and services thrive. Community Cocklemoor meadow and Huish Bridge…
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AWARDS for those working to keep waterways alive

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Web Editor

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November 6, 2025

The IWA’s 66th annual general meeting at the Jubilee Conference Centre, Nottingham, welcomed more than 100 attendees in person and online – and also celebrated waterways excellence through the presentation of awards. IWA’s Amy Tillson reports… NATIONAL chair Mike Wills opened the event, followed by campaigns and public affairs director Charlie Norman outlining campaigning priorities…
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LOCK CLOSURE forces more lorries onto Yorkshire’s roads

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Web Editor

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November 4, 2025

THE Inland Waterways Association (IWA) has said the Canal & River Trust’s plan to close Sykehouse Lock, on the New Junction Canal, near Thorne, South Yorkshire, from November 3 to December 19 for bottom and top gate repairs is excessive and disregards the impact on navigation and businesses. The six-week duration of the intended closure…
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WATERWAY RESTORATION conference a success

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Web Editor

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July 7, 2025

THE Annual Waterway Restoration Conference at the National Waterways Museum was jointly organised by IWA and Canal & River Trust. IWA’s Amy Tillson reports… A packed audience attended this event, held at the historic venue at Ellesmere Port on April 26. Special thanks go to the excellent speakers and compere who made the conference inspiring…
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IWA urges ‘joined-up’ thinking in water review

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Mark Lancaster

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June 11, 2025

THE IWA has submitted a response to the Call for Evidence issued by the Independent Water Commission. The commission was launched by the UK and Welsh Governments in October 2024 and is chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England. It is tasked with carrying out the largest review…
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HELP COMPILE a national picture of waterways heritage

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Web Editor

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April 21, 2025

IWA’s Amy Tillson reports… IWA’s Heritage Advisory Panel aims to safeguard and publicise the extraordinary national heritage asset that our waterways network represents. To aid public and governmental awareness of this, the group is compiling a ‘risk list’ of significant waterways heritage items that are endangered for whatever reason – for instance neglect, dereliction, insensitive…
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CRUISE IT or lose it?

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Web Editor

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December 17, 2024

BOATERS are being urged to get cruising to the farthest parts of the UK waterway network as part of a challenge to keep waterways open. The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) Silver Propeller Challenge aims to get cruisers out to some of the least-visited places on the canal and river network. The IWA believes by visiting…
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GREY HAIR: Too much on the canal?

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Web Editor

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December 14, 2024

Phil Pickin poses a question that many groups associated with the waterways grapple with… what to do to overcome an ageing membership. DURING the IWA’s recent AGM in Leicester, the issue of membership came up. This was not unexpected, and the subject wasn’t discussed simply out of a desire to increase the number of IWA…
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IWA: Acclaimed journalist as chairman

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Web Editor

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December 4, 2024

Amy Tillson reports… IWA is delighted to announce the appointment of Hugh Pearman as the new chairman of its Heritage Advisory Panel. As an experienced and celebrated journalist, editor and author, he brings a background gained in a distinguished career and a deep commitment to preserving the architectural and engineering heritage of Britain’s inland waterways.…
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CLOSER LINKS: IWA and LCA

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Web Editor

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September 23, 2024

Cicely Oliver reports… THE Lowland Canals Association (LCA) is exploring corporate Inland Waterways Association membership after a decision to form an alliance with the IWA. This will benefit the LCA by giving it access to the IWA’s experience, campaigning and commercial expertise. The LCA’s Neil Kitchener will be joining IWA’s lead in Scotland, Jonathan Mosse,…
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HULL, HELL & HALIFAX: Freight watch

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Web Editor

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September 16, 2024

Jonathan Mosse takes a look at freight development on the inland waterways… JOHN Taylor, also known – appropriately, it transpires – as the ‘water poet’, once wrote: ‘From Hull, Hell and Halifax may the Good Lord deliver us’. I am not qualified to speak of Halifax, nor yet of Hell, but I have sailed aboard…
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DANGEROUS TOWPATH: Canal festival cancelled

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Web Editor

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August 17, 2024

THE popular Boat Canal Festival, run by the Inland Waterways Association’s Lee & Stort Branch to coincide with the Ware Festival, was cancelled due to the last-minute closure of a dangerous towpath. Hertfordshire County Council issued a prohibition order for a large section of the towpath on the River Lee through Ware, including the site…
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Volunteers’ Week spotlight on Wilts & Berks Canal

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Scootering Web Editor

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June 10, 2024

A WILTSHIRE volunteer is supporting a national campaign that encourages people to get more involved in their communities. Howard Wilson, from Semington, is a member of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust which aims to restore the former waterway through the local countryside. He joined the Melksham, Chippenham & Calne branch of the charity seven years ago…
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Three-month recovery high and YouTube rescue videos

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Scootering Web Editor

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June 6, 2024

Unprecedented rainfall levels, water surges and numerous flood warnings resulted in River Canal Rescue (RCR) responding to more major incidents in the first three months of this year, than it did for the whole of 2023. Between January and March, its teams responded to 155 major incidents (emergency situations either involving submerged, partially sunken or…
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