Waterways Now

British Waterways employ some 80 people on the ground as lock-keepers, plant operators, lengthsmen, etc. to maintain the canal, with a further 18 organising the maintenance, promoting the canal and attending to the public's enquiries. Work goes on all year round. During the winter locks and bridges are repaired and sections of leaking canal drained for relining. In the summer, boats have to be controlled at locks to stop water being wasted, while the vegetation along the towpaths has regular attention. The canal is also a vital part of the country's land drainage system. Lock-keepers and lengthsmen have to be on call throughout the day to ensure that during stormy weather the vast quantities of rain water which drain into the canal flow away safely.

There have always been difficulties in organising maintenance and administration of such a long canal, and to overcome this it has recently been divided into two. The boundary is at the Yorkshire end of the summit level, each section having a manager in charge of promoting and maintaining the canal.

Many canalside warehouses, cottages, bridges and wharfs are listed buildings. Skilled stone masons are employed to maintain and rebuild these, though the large number of such structures owned by British Waterways makes their restoration a slow process.

Over the last few years British Waterways have been working hard to reduce their Government grant. One problem is the back-log of maintenance. During the sixties and seventies there was little interest in the canal and it's condition was allowed to deteriorate. Canalside industries were also declining, with many factories falling into disuse, and the canal came to be regarded as a rubbish filled back-water. Today the quality of the water has much improved - providing high standards of water quality and the canal has become a positive force for re-generation. A trend shown not just in leisure access / activities but through investment in attractive new or re-developed canalside houses, hotels and even high-tech industries.