CMS: Communications management for sustainability

More than 2,000 miles of historic canals and rivers across England and Wales are being handed over to the Canal & River Trust today in a move to get communities more involved in their local waterways. The new charity, whose Patron is the Prince of Wales, will give the 10 million people who visit and love the waterways a greater role in making them cleaner and more beautiful than ever. To mark its launch, the Trust has unveiled its first appeal, 50 projects across the nation that will breathe new life into towpaths and riverbanks. By pledging money or time people can get involved in projects such as creating new habitat for rare water voles, planting linear orchards for people and wildlife, and restoring neglected towpaths. The Canal & River Trust takes over from British Waterways and The Waterways Trust in England and Wales and represents a completely new approach to caring for the country’s waterways. The move, part of the Public Bodies Reform programme, is the largest single transfer of a public body into the charitable sector. The Trust aims to build upon the public passion for the nation’s canals which rescued them from dereliction and decline in the last century, through increased fundraising, volunteering and community involvement. Defra is helping the new charity get off to a great start by committing to a landmark, 15-year grant funding agreement as the bedrock to help the Trust maintain its waterways. In addition, the Trust is funded through commercial income including money from its waterside property dowry, boat licences and moorings. Every penny donated by the public to the Trust will be spent directly on conserving, restoring, and enhancing the waterways. Too read more:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2012/07/12/canal-river-trust-launch/