The Charity Commission has confirmed the registration of the Canal & River Trust under registration number 1146792. The news means that the Trust, which already has a Board of Trustees, a governing Council and, in HRH The Prince of Wales, a Royal Patron, is now legally permitted to raise charitable income to support its objectives.

The Articles of Association, approved by all members of the Canal & River Trust by Special Resolution on 27th March 2012, together with CRT's Charity Registration Application can be found on CRT's fledgling website.

David Fletcher, NABO chair, remarked, "The timing is still in Parliament's hands, but it appears that the Canal & River Trust continues to progress to plan. The National Association of Boat Owners will carefully monitor the new body to ensure that boaters' concerns for the future of the waterways are addressed."

The Canal & River Trust’s Deputy Chair, Lynne Berry, commented: “This is such exciting news and another important milestone towards the launch of the Canal & River Trust this summer. The new Trust is now a fully-fledged charitable body, ready and able to take on the care of the canals and rivers of England and Wales, and ready to start fundraising.”

The Canal & River Trust is due to take over the care of 2,000 miles of waterways, historic buildings, museums and archives from British Waterway and The Waterways Trust in England and Wales. The move, which is subject to Parliamentary approval, will be the single largest transfer of a public body into the charitable sector, and is underpinned by a guaranteed 15-year funding contract with Government.

Lynne added: “The creation of the Canal & River Trust is one of the most exciting projects in the charitable sector at the moment and will hold in trust for the nation one of our most extraordinary national treasures. Charitable registration means that we are now almost ready to start raising income from charitable sources, to add to the waterways’ solid foundation of Government and self-earned income.

“There has been a tremendous amount of work to get us to this point and the Trustees would like to thank the Charity Commission for their assistance in our application, and our legal team for their hard work behind the scenes. The Canal & River Trust is all about securing the future of the waterways, and today’s announcement brings us one step closer to realising this dream.”