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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of granting rights of access to rivers to (a) kayakers and (b) swimmers.

Inland waterways such as canals and rivers are categorised as regulated (mostly canals and some larger rivers, owned by a navigation authority) and unregulated (mostly smaller rivers and no canals, owned/managed by riparian landowners along their length).

If the waterway is owned or managed by a navigation authority, access can be obtained through the navigation authority’s licensing regime. If the waterway is unregulated then access should be negotiated with the relevant landowners through local voluntary access agreements, to ensure the interests of all parties concerned are considered. Legislating on this issue is not (currently) Government policy.

To formally designate a site as a bathing water, an application must be submitted to Defra. Defra welcomes applications for both coastal and inland waters such as lakes and rivers. Local authorities, groups and individuals can apply for sites to be designated. Defra encourages this by writing to local authority Chief Executives, and stakeholders like Swimming Associations.