Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy of the condition of the canal towpath network and (b) potential merits of enabling higher levels of use of the canal towpath network for (i) walking and (ii) cycling.

Use of towpaths by walkers and cyclists is an operational matter for individual navigation authorities, and Government does not have a role in that. However, Defra provides an annual grant of £52.6 million to the Canal and River Trust, which is the largest navigation authority in England and Wales with 2,000 miles of waterways. The Trust reports that towpath user satisfaction in 2023/24 was 91%.