The All Party Parliamentary Group for Waterways (APPG) Inquiry into the Progress of the Canal and River Trust has just published its report, following its meeting in July. Although NABO was not invited to give verbal evidence, the written evidence provided by us features extensively in this encouraging report.

Of particular interest the APPG suggest that the Partnerships should be self-funding by the end of 2014 and contribute positively to CRT funding thereafter. This has not been mentioned in any of the recent CRT PR announcements nor indeed at the recent National Users Forum (see NUF report below) held only this week. It is clear that the Partnerships are still a long way from being self-funding yet alone net contributors yet they would still appear to be a key focus of CRT's attention. This has been of deep concern to NABO, many of whose members still don’t understand what the role of the Partnerships is.

A second conclusion, again reflecting NABO’s view, is that there should be a national strategy/policy on moorings, and we are pleased (see NUF report below) that this is beginning to move forward.

Links to an online version of the report and the summary can be found below:

https://www.waterways.org.uk/pdf/appg_waterways_inquiry_into_crt

https://www.waterways.org.uk/pdf/summary_of_appg_waterways_inquiry_into_crt

Mike Rodd