With the UK’s canals attracting record numbers of visitors and more people using towpaths than ever before, a policy document entitled Towpaths for Everyone has been published by the Canal & River Trust (CRT) setting out how these vital, historic and typically narrow routes can be sustainably used, managed, and made more accessible for the benefit of all.
Towpaths for Everyone
Alongside the canals’ core use for boating and angling, Towpaths for Everyone outlines the key role that the 2,000-miles of towpaths play in public life, including as part of a nationwide active travel network. The policy sets out how CRT and its partners and towpath visitors can all play their part in ensuring towpaths remain the nation’s greatest linear green spaces, providing vital access to nature through towns and cities and links to the countryside.
To help ensure people share the often limited towpath space and that they remain safe and welcoming places for all, Towpaths for Everyone has a code of conduct for visitors. This includes cyclists and runners respecting the slowest moving people on the towpath as well as those accessing the water space, such as boaters and anglers.
Increasingly popular spaces
Heather Clarke, CRT director, commented, “Whilst our historic canals are still navigated by boats much as they were at the height of the Industrial Revolution, today’s canals and their towpaths have also been repurposed for modern society. They are increasingly popular spaces for walking, running, cycling, and angling as well as serving boaters and those accessing other on-water activities such as canoeing and paddleboarding.
“With towpaths more popular than at any time in history, we face challenges in balancing the needs of all the people who use them, whilst protecting their special waterway character, heritage and environment. As our ageing network faces increased pressures from government funding cuts and climate change-driven damage, it is more important than ever to secure investment from third parties to keep these much-loved spaces open and accessible.”
Download the policy document in pdf format: Towpaths for Everyone
