Excerpt from the Newsletter of the
DERBY & SANDIACRE CANAL SOCIETY

Save Our Waterways Campaign.

If you are a boater or a lover of the waterways, please can I draw your attention to a very serious issue that has been raised during the last week.

A civil servant from the Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has bungled £1.5 thousand million of 'green' payments to farmers. DEFRA has been fined by the EU for this blunder and has to try and claw some of the money back. One method is to seriously reduce the payment of annual grants to the Environment Agency and British Waterways. This action will effectively cut investment and maintenance of the rivers and canals, cause job losses and could impose as much as a 30% increase in licence fees.

Supported by the Inland Waterways Association, a non-aligned group has been formed called 'Save Our Waterways' (S.O.W.). They have started a nationwide campaign of protest in the name of letter writing, petitions, a Parliamentary boat protest and a blockade of canals and rivers.

I have briefly discussed the matter with our President Bob Laxton MP, who has already raised the matter with David Milliband and the Commons all party Parliamentary Waterways Group of which he is chairman. Bob supports the protest actions proposed by S.O.W. Perhaps there are events where you are that you would like to support.

For more details and up to date news, please go to http://saveourwaterways.org.uk

Best wishes,
Judy Flack, Chairman.

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