Canal & River Trust is the charity that cares for 2,000 miles of waterways across England and Wales. The Canal & River Trust 2025/6 Annual Report has published and is available to read. The Report highlights a year in which extreme weather tested the resilience of the nation’s canal network while underlining the increasingly important role waterways play in supporting nature, communities and the management of water in a changing climate. The year 2025/26 was dominated by a summer of drought. Despite the UK’s warmest and sunniest year on record and the driest spring since 1974, the Trust was able to keep over 80% of the network fully open and operational. Colleagues and volunteers worked tirelessly to manage water supplies, keep boats afloat, and protect wildlife.
While prolonged dry conditions affected summer water supplies, the devastating breach on the Llangollen Canal at Whitchurch in December demonstrated the scale of challenges that an ageing canal infrastructure can bring. Working quickly in difficult conditions, teams were able to rescue stranded boats, secure the water supply around the breach site and start the rebuild which is now well underway.
The drought conditions experienced during 2025 have continued beyond the reporting period. Another drought in 2026 has meant the nation has now experienced its third major drought in five years, with waterways across England and Wales once again coming under significant pressure. Increasingly regular drought incidents reinforce the importance of canals not only as cherished heritage assets but as key infrastructure that, with investment, will help to improve the nation’s water resilience.
Despite the challenges caused by extreme weather, the Canal & River Trust 2025/6 Annual Report highlights a year of investment and progress across the network. The Trust completed more than £55 million of major infrastructure projects, spent around £29 million upgrading reservoirs, removed over 75,000 tonnes of material through dredging, and completed 137 large-scale winter maintenance projects.
The charity also continued its work to improve the experience of boaters, increasing investment in dredging, vegetation management, lock repairs and customer service facilities. It also published, and is acting upon, the report and recommendations of an independent Commission which examined how waterways are used by boaters today. Despite the operational challenges, the nation’s waterways remained hugely popular. The Trust estimates that 881 million visits were made to its waterways during the year.
Alongside this vital work, fundraising and public support continued to grow. Income from donations and legacies increased to a record £10.3 million, while the number of regular supporters rose to 38,355 and volunteers contributed a record 776,242 hours helping to care for the waterways.
During the year, the Trust also secured important additional public funding to support the long-term future of the canal network. The Welsh Government announced it would contribute to increased costs of water supply for the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal over the next five years, while Defra announced extra financial support of £6.5 million for projects to build long-term resilience across the network.
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