Canal and River Trust
| trades as Glandŵr Cymru (Waterside Wales) in Wales | |
 |
|
| Motto | Living waterways transform places and enrich lives. |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | British Waterways |
| Formation | 2 July 2012 |
| Merger of | The Waterways Trust |
| Type | Non-governmental organisation |
| Registration no. | 1146792 |
| Legal status | Charitable trust |
| Purpose | Responsible for 2,000 miles of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs, along with museums, archives and the country's third largest collection of protected historic buildings. |
| Headquarters | Milton Keynes |
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Region served
|
England and Wales |
|
Membership
|
Friends of the Canal & River Trust scheme |
|
Official languages
|
English and Welsh |
|
Chief Executive
|
Richard Parry |
|
Chairman
|
Allan Leighton |
| HRH The Prince of Wales | |
|
Main organ
|
Board of Trustees |
|
Staff
|
1,500 |
|
Volunteers
|
2,000 |
| Website | www |
The Canal & River Trust (acronym CRT or C&RT) is a charitable trust set up to manage the navigable waterways of England and Wales. Transfer of 'ownership' from British Waterways (the previous government-owned operator), took place on 2 July 2012. Those navigable inland waterways [which are] currently managed by the Environment Agency were scheduled for transfer to the trust in 2015 but this has been postponed indefinitely.
The Canal & River Trust was born of the managerial and financial short-comings of its predecessor, British Waterways (BW) in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008.
British Waterways as a statutory corporation was regulated latterly by the 1995 British Waterways Act and [largely] financed by government (via DEFRA) but deemed to be run inefficiently and wastefully. It came under increasing scrutiny of a concerned government and, when its budget deficit hit £30m in 2009 British Waterways was tasked with producing a workable solution. BW began to look at devolving to a charitable trust, a concept which gained momentum when the 2010 [Spring] Budget, announced its intention to demote British Waterways to a mutual organisation. In August 2009, BW was listed on a leaked list of quangos to be abolished. BW's future demotion was sealed in October 2010.
The BW board decided that a volunteering element would be desirable, an operating environment seen to be fit for purpose necessary and a secure income stream essential. These elements were most likely to be enabled by re-invention of BW as a charitable trust. "Secure income" might be assured through grants, public donations and subvention from government, the waterways could be underwritten by a substantial property endowment as BW managed a portfolio in excess of £500M , while volunteers and donors might be attracted towards a charity (see charitable trusts in English law) more readily than to a quango.
In October 2011, BW announced a name and logo for a charitable trust which would inherit its English and Welsh operations: – the Canal & River Trust for England and Glandŵr Cymru (Waterside Wales) for Wales. CRT received charitable status in April and received parliamentary approval in June. The change, originally set for 1 April 2012, was later delayed. In July 2012 all BW assets, liabilities and responsibilities in England and Wales were transferred to the Canal & River Trust: launched officially on 12 July 2012. Later that year, the Canal & River Trust merged with the England and Wales operations of The Waterways Trust, a charity previously affiliated to British Waterways, to avoid confusion and as both charities have similar aims.
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