Representation

Committee members attend several national and local meetings to make sure that heritage and historic issues are identified and discussed.

PWG – Parliamentary Waterways Group - This is an official All-Party Group of the House of Commons. It is made up of Peers and MPs of all parties and Associate Members from organisations and individuals with a variety of interests in the waterways.  The PWG focuses on issues of strategic importance to the waterways.

BWAF – British Waterways Advisory Forum - BWAF brings together a wide range of interest groups with BW executives for twice-yearly meetings in May and November.  Its remit is to debate and advise BW on strategic issues. 

BWAF Heritage Group - This BWAF sub-group meets four or five times a year to discuss heritage issues.  BW’s Head of Heritage gives a regular report and other BW managers attend when necessary.  The Group tries to advise BW about matters in which members have particular expertise.  As yet, not all heritage information comes to the Group – this is particularly the case with heritage property information.

WUSIG – Waterways User and Special Interest Group - WUSIG is the national user group and it meets twice a year.  It is a discussion forum attended by representatives from around 30 groups, the waterways press and BW senior managers.

NINF – National Inland Navigation Forum - This is a semi-formal meeting of representatives of boating organisations across the national network (not just BW waterways).  It is a useful forum to share concerns and strategies outside of BW meetings.

Local User Groups - BW’s Waterways Managers usually call twice-yearly meetings in their areas and invite local groups/businesses with an interest in any aspect of canals.  HNBC Area Reps attend these meetings and report back to the Committee.