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Bucks/Herts Community Waterways Protest .

On Saturday 3rd March on the canal at Marsworth near Startops End Reservoir local people gathered to protest against the crippling funding cuts to the inland waterways.

There were 28 boats festooned with Save Our Waterways banners including historic working and wooden boats from both the Round Knife Towing Co, and Bates Boatyard. The boats formed a symbolic blockade of the canal from around 1pm and at 2pm around 100 protestors who gathered to hear South West Herts MP David Gauke and representatives of various waterways and wildlife groups speak about how the cuts would affect the local area and what they are trying to do to get the government to fund the waterways properly. Buckingham MP John Bercow was also due to attend but due to family circumstances could not be present. He did however send of a message of support in which he stated.

“Inland waterways are a vital part of our industrial and rural heritage, provide space for recreation and tourism as well as important habitats for plants and wildlife. British Waterways’ work in contributing to these successes is fundamental.

"People derive enormous pleasure from our canals and rivers. What is more, the waterways are crucial both to the quality of our environment and to the livelihoods of a great many people who work on them.

"It is utterly unsatisfactory that DEFRA should propose to slash the waterways budget and to plan further cuts over the next five years. This is the result of the department’s own overspending and mismanagement. It is now the responsibility of ministers to sort out the problems of their own creation and not to make the waterways the scapegoat for their own mistakes.”

There is good cross party support in Parliament from over 300 MP’s for the Save Our Waterways campaign.

In the evening protesters were entertained by live music performed by The Partisans and Kane at the Anglers Retreat.

Representatives of Aylesbury Canal Society, the Wendover Arm Trust, Chiltern IWA, the Chiltern Society River and Wetlands Group all assisted in collecting signatures for the petition to Parliament during the day. Everyone from dog walkers, cyclists, anglers and families out for a stroll signed the petition. Children also took part in an WOW (Wild Over Water) I-Spy Canal trail and took home canal related colouring sheets and books.

In all over the weekend nearly 900 signatures were collected and top marks must go to John Brice and his team of Chiltern IWA volunteers for their work camped out in the Startops Reservoir car park on a very horrid. wet, cold and windy Sunday to add more signatures to the petition. If the weather had been better the petition total would have been in excess of 1500.

Phoenix Morris attended on the Sunday but due to the appalling weather conditions could only dance in the marquee at the Anglers Retreat.

Boats finally dispersed on Monday morning and all agreed it event had been a great success in raising awareness of how the cuts to British Waterways and the Environment Agency are going to affect the local area. The campaign continues throughout the spring.

Simon Weightman & Debbi Figueiredo