Navigator-in-chief: Robin Evans, chief executive, British Waterways

Shafik Meghji, Regeneration & Renewal, 15 August 2008

It is a beautiful summer morning and a couple are languidly strolling hand-in-hand along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal towards London's Little Venice. A cyclist veers precariously close to the edge of the bank as he peers at a map. Four moored canal boats - one freshly-painted olive green, the others decorated with pot plants - bob gently in the water, overlooked by a scattering of bars and restaurants.

This serene location is the London home of British Waterways, which this year celebrates its 60th year in public ownership. Last month, the body that manages Britain's rivers and canals, announced that more boats - 31,000 in total - used the waterways last year than at the height of the industrial revolution. In 2007, 11 million people used the waterways and surrounding land for a range of activities, including angling, cycling, walking, drinking at nearby pubs or simply feeding the ducks. These statistics provide ammunition for those who say that the nationalisation has been a success. However, it doesn't come cheap.

"The really good reason for nationalisation is that we're so adaptable," says the agency's chief executive, Robin Evans. "The canals were built to transport goods for the industrial revolution. Here we are 200 years later and they're primarily a leisure resource. If they didn't have a public use, they wouldn't still be in public ownership. The not-so-good reason is that we cost the Government £60 million a year: we couldn't continue without government support."

There's a popular story that circulates in British Waterways that, in 1948, when the transport arteries of the industrial revolution were nationalised, a government official in the newly-formed British Transport Commission remarked with surprise: "Oh, do we get the canals too?"

Funding cuts in recent years suggest that this nonchalant attitude persists. "I think the public values the waterways," says Evans, "but I don't think they're appreciated by enough people in authority for the beneficial effect they can have on regeneration, economic growth, tourism and local communities. We are involved in something like £20 billion-worth of regeneration.

"But there is so much more we could do: there are canals that could be reopened and revitalised to get more people on to them, and we could work better with local authorities to improve access to them. A hire boat holiday is probably one of the greenest holidays you could have now. Our problem is that we don't have enough money to maintain the waterways in the condition we would like."

Evans estimates that, although it would cost around £125 million a year to maintain the waterways properly, British Waterways can only afford to spend £105-110 million. Consequently, the agency has had to limit what it does. In February, for example, it was forced to pull out of a major canal restoration project in the Cotswolds. As a result, it has been working hard to quantify the value it adds to local and national economies, so it can make a strong case for more support. "We know we're underfunding the waterways," Evans says. "This doesn't create immediate problems. There's nothing broken or collapsing, but it inevitably means in the medium- to long-term, we're going to hit problems."

Evans says the Government is "fully aware" of British Waterways' predicament, but accepts that times are also tight for the rest of the public sector. "Although the temptation is to bang the drum and say government should pay us more, in reality, it ain't going to happen," he says. "We will have to see if we can run the waterways more cheaply. We've already saved £10 million a year over the last five years, but we need to do more."

One issue under consideration is what form British Waterways should take in the future. While Evans dismisses suggestions of privatisation - "absolutely not" - becoming, for example, a charitable trust or a community interest company are possibilities. "There are new forms of enterprises we could become, which would keep us in the public sector, but allow us more freedom to generate more money and attract more investment," he says.

In the meantime, Evans is looking to build on the waterways' greatest strength: their adaptability. While waterborne freight has tailed off over the past 60 years, property development has stepped in to fill the gap. British Waterways is involved in a number of regeneration ventures. Although the credit crunch is biting hard, Evans has faith in the diversity of the agency's property portfolio. "Certainly, the property side has slowed down, but we're fortunate to have a range of different resources. All our eggs aren't in one basket," he says. "When the green shoots of revival come, they'll come in the prime locations, and the prime locations are waterside."

Evans predicts an extremely bright future. "I wouldn't like to guess what my successor in 60 years' time will be saying about how the waterways have adapted," he says. "But they will have adapted, there's no question about that. Whatever the needs of society, the waterways will play a part in satisfying them."

CV HIGHLIGHTS
1975: Graduates with a BSc in estate management at Reading University.
1975: Appointed land agent with the Ministry of Defence.
1977: Becomes National Trust land agent.
1986: Appointed chief executive of heritage body the Landmark Trust.
1994: Becomes director at Historic Royal Palaces, which is responsible
for Hampton Court and Kensington palaces.
1999: Joins British Waterways as commercial director.
2003: Promoted to chief executive.