Campaigners and firms warn against canal budget cuts

The Canal and River Trust is appealing for volunteers to help with canals' maintenance

Campaigners and businesses have warned that neglecting canals could have "a dramatic effect" on traders and residents amid cuts to budgets.

Douglas Reeves, owner of Annie's Tea Rooms in Thrupp, near Kidlington in Oxfordshire, is among those to raise concerns about canals becoming "eyesores" if they are left to become dumping grounds.

The Canal and River Trust could see funding reduced by £300m from 2027 and is now appealing for volunteers to help with maintenance.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had offered support on how the trust could raise income from other sources.

Business owner Douglas Reeves said a neglected canal would be "an eyesore rather than an embellishment to the landscape"

Mr Reeves, who also runs a business on Oxford Canal hiring out canoes, told BBC Radio Oxford that neglecting its maintenance would have "a dramatic effect".

"The canoe business wouldn't be able to operate. The tearoom business would probably operate but differently," he said.

"And if you came to walk your dog... and it was a canal full of shopping trolleys, would you want to walk your dog here?

"There would be a muddy empty canal looking pretty poor and it would be an eyesore rather than an embellishment to the landscape."

Campaigns manager for the The Canal and River Trust Alex Patterson said the nation was living though "a second golden age of canals".

"In the last four years, there's been a 30% increase in people using canals - for leisure, for boating, angling, walking, cycling, running, paddle boating," he said.

"It really is a constant task to maintain that network and is absolutely critical that we do."

The charity said its volunteering appeal coincided with the aftermath of this month’s storms, which were among some of the "events taking their toll on ageing 250-year-old infrastructure."

A Defra spokesperson said “Since the Trust was created in 2012, we have been clear it would have to increasingly move towards alternative sources of funding.

“We have awarded the Trust a significant £550m in funding and are supporting them with a further £590m between now and 2037," they added.