This page gives an overview of the complex structure of environmental and cultural conservation in the United Kingdom.
British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland and Wales.
The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The canals permitted the creation of wealth, by industry, that led to the British Empire in the Victorian Era. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network, which expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than via a land based route.
The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain. Its general duty under the Transport Act 1947 was to provide an efficient, adequate, economical and properly integrated system of public inland transport and port facilities within Great Britain for passengers and goods, excluding transport by air.
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role of recreational boating. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in the United Kingdom is again increasing in use, with abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and the construction of some new routes. Canals in England and Wales are maintained by navigation authorities. The biggest navigation authorities are the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, but other canals are managed by companies, local authorities or charitable trusts.
The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1946 to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations.
The Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA) was established in 1973 to promote the study of industrial archaeology and to encourage improved standards of recording, research, conservation and publication. It aims to support individuals and groups involved in those objectives and to represent the interests of industrial archaeology at a national level. It is a non-profit making registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, its registered office is care of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
The National Waterways Museum (NWM) is in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, at the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal where it meets the Manchester Ship Canal. The museum's collections and archives focus on the Britain's navigable inland waterways, including its rivers and canals, and include canal boats, traditional clothing, painted canal decorative ware and tools. It is one of several museums and attractions operated by the Canal & River Trust, the successor to The Waterways Trust.
British Canoeing, formerly known as the British Canoe Union (BCU) is a national governing body for canoeing in the United Kingdom, established in 1936 as the British Canoe Union. In 2000 it federalised to become the umbrella organisation for the home nation associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2015 it took on the name British Canoeing and amalgamated the former BCU, Canoe England and GB Canoeing.
Seagull Trust Cruises is a waterway society and Scottish charity.
The Lancaster Canal Trust is a waterway society and a registered charity on the Lancaster Canal in Lancashire and Cumbria, England.
The Peter Le Marchant Trust is a waterway society, a charitable trust and a registered charity number 273207, based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, UK.
Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust is an organisation formed in 1995 to promote a new waterway park, the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Park.
The Cotswold Canals Trust is a British registered charity that aims to protect and restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. Formed in 1972, the organisation has a goal to restore navigability on the two waterways between Saul Junction to the River Thames. Since then, it has overseen restoration of the waterways, with many bridges, locks, and cuttings being rebuilt and reinstated.
The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as Glandŵr Cymru in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the Trust took over the responsibilities of the state-owned British Waterways.
Scottish Canals is the public corporation of the Scottish Government responsible for managing the country's inland waterways. Formerly a division of British Waterways, it became a stand-alone public body of the Scottish Government on 2 July 2012. Legally, the corporation is still referred to as the British Waterways Board, but in all other aspects it uses the brand Scottish Canals and intends to steadily roll out this brand over the network.
The Scottish Waterways Trust was an independent registered charity, established as part of The Waterways Trust in 2000. In 2012 The Waterways Trust merged its operations in England and Wales with the Canal & River Trust, and the organisation in Scotland became an independent charity.
Gloucester Waterways Museum is housed in a Victorian warehouse at Gloucester Docks in the city of Gloucester, England. It is located along the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and River Severn.
