Inland Waterways

(asked on 12th February 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the total length of unmanaged waterways that have an undisputed right of navigation in the UK.


Answered by
Thérèse Coffey Portrait
Thérèse Coffey
This question was answered on 19th February 2019

Access to waterways, including for recreational purposes, remains subject to licence by the relevant navigation authority or to agreement with the riparian landowner where there is no navigation authority in place.

The Government has not undertaken a specific assessment of what length of unmanaged waterways has a public right of navigation. Within the canal and major river navigation network in England and Wales (20,000 km), approximately 4,700 km have either public navigation rights or are available for licensed navigation as managed by a navigation authority.

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