The role of the Trust is vast. We are fighting an ongoing battle to maintain and protect this ageing infrastructure in the face of significant challenges like climate change, whilst also working to unlock the canals’ great potential for today’s society, ensuring they remain a thriving resource for future generations.

Take Port Loop in Birmingham for example, where a collection of innovative, new waterside housing, including impressive waterside apartments, are now on sale.

The Trust along with Birmingham City Council is landowner here, and in 2018 we announced that Urban Splash and Places for People would take on the ambitious redevelopment of the site, creating waterside homes and bringing the area – once filled with derelict industrial infrastructure – back to life as a vibrant waterside neighbourhood.

Now well underway, the regeneration of Port Loop has completely reimagined how people interact with the canal. What was once a forgotten corner is now a high-quality environment, with homes, shared green spaces, and walking and cycling routes that connect people to the water in their daily lives. At Port Loop, the canal isn’t just a backdrop, but a focal point for the community.

Its transformation reflects a broader trend we’ve seen over the past 25 years: people rediscovering the value and joy of life by the water. Initially, developers added Juliet balconies overlooking canals, but they didn’t necessarily help residents connect with the water. Today, at places like Port Loop we’re seeing something entirely different with public spaces and infrastructure, meaning that everyone in the wider community can connect with the canal every day, be that through a commute along a cycling path, a walk to work along the towpath, or even stand-up paddleboarding.

We’ve learned that spending time by water isn’t just enjoyable; it’s good for your health and wellbeing too. During lockdown (dare we remind you of it!), canals became lifelines for many in urban areas. At Port Loop, the addition of beautiful green spaces, populated with the Civic Square café and outdoor cinema, made the canal a hub of activity and (socially distanced) interaction, providing blue-green spaces that everyone can enjoy.

But maintaining the historic canal network for people to enjoy isn’t without its challenges. Climate change is one of the biggest battles facing the Trust, along with the country and the entire planet. For us, issues such as increased flooding and more extreme weather events place immense pressure on canals built long before modern engineering techniques. Maintaining these fragile structures requires continuous effort and resources, especially as damage to one section of canal can can adversely impact a much wider canal network. To help manage this, we rely not only on a variety of income sources but also on the incredible contributions of volunteers, whose efforts make a real and significant difference.

Funding, of course, is a big issue for the Trust as a charity. The Trust receives just under a quarter of its income from a government grant and otherwise generates income from some users of the canals and commercial sources, including investments, utilities and property developments like Port Loop, but costs are increasing sharply while the amount of money we receive from the government is going down. We need to grow our charitable fundraising to generate the money we need to care for our precious network and look after the special places that encourage people to use and enjoy the canals. Every waterside development we support improves access, raises awareness, and deepens people’s connections to our canals and rivers.

Looking ahead, our focus is on partnerships that replicate the success of Port Loop. By working with adjacent landowners and local authorities at an early stage of the development process, we can extend these principles to other areas, ensuring land and water are integrated and the added value of our canals can be fully realised. We aim to influence masterplans, ensuring canals are not overlooked but celebrated as central to urban regeneration. At the same time, we’re exploring innovative uses for our canals, such as battery storage and water transfer projects like the Grand Union Canal Transfer Project, in partnership with Severn Trent and Affinity Water,. This initiative will move water from the Midlands, where supply is relatively plentiful, to the water-scarce South East, creating new revenue streams that help fund our work, and supporting the government’s ambitions for national housing growth.

For all its challenges, the work we do at the Trust is profoundly rewarding. Our mission is about far more than preservation; it’s about reimagining how Britain’s canals can contribute to a better, healthier and more sustainable future for the country. And with partners like Urban Splash, local and national government, the people who use our canals and rivers , and our brilliant volunteers, we’re confident we can continue to make life by the water something truly extraordinary, and keep our unique canal network open and alive.

You can support the work of the Canal & River Trust via their website: canalrivertrust.org.uk.

Read the Trust’s new Impact Report 2023-24 at which includes Port Loop as an example of building sustainable waterside communities and showcases the breadth of our activities, partnerships and impact.

For further information about the newest homes available by the water at Port Loop in Birmingham, click here.