Links and photographs added
Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has been one of our most active and right-thinking parliamentarians. His wide range of concerns include the pollution of road air and waterways.
He launched Greenstreams with a group of local volunteers to clean up our streams canals & rivers started the Cobbett Environmental Charity which has provided funds for numerous local clean ups.
By chance the writer came across his parliamentary question asking what steps are being taken to increase the use of water freight.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): To ask Robert Courts the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the use of water freight.
To increase the use of freight on our waterways the Government provides revenue support through our Mode Shift Revenue Support and Waterborne Freight grants. We have committed £20 million per year to 2024/25 to support rail and water freight services on routes where they deliver environmental benefits over road haulage but are more expensive to operate.
The cross-modal and long-term Future of Freight plan, published on 15 June, sets out Government’s objectives for a freight and logistics sector that is efficient, reliable, resilient and sustainable.
The plan explicitly supports mode shift of freight from road to rail, inland waterways, coastal shipping and new innovative modes such as e-cargo bikes.
The plan also sets out how government will raise the status of freight within the planning system, will develop with industry a £7 million Freight Innovation Fund and will undertake work to develop a National Freight Network. This work will support, and provide opportunities to increase the use of, waterways for freight.
Upgrades of the waterways network in the UK are the responsibility of the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which is sponsored by Defra. The Department for Transport continues to work with Defra officials and the CRT to ensure that freight is considered in the operation, maintenance and enhancement of the UK’s waterways.
There are a wide range of navigation authorities that manage inland waterways. These are either independent self-financing bodies such as port authorities or are funded by other branches of government such as Defra.
Editor adds: Government would effectively ‘raise the status of (water) freight’, when awarding government contracts, by indicating its preference for sustainable delivery by rail and water where possible.
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Barry Sheerman will receive a copy of the Gosling Report, as a mark of appreciation
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Inland Waterway Freight 
Good evening,
Re Barry Sherman MP’s question iro increasing the use of water freight, I had a meeting with Baroness Vere today during which, in a lightbulb moment, it became clear to me why it’s so difficult to increase freight on the UK’s waterways. The problem that besets the sector is a lack of useable wharves and other infrastructure and the non-availability of certain infrastructure over a sufficient working window to make water freight viable. The organisations responsible for these failures are: –
Environment Agency, which has a default position of NO in relation to all water freight infrastructure
Many local planners who share EA’s default position of NO in respect of all water freight infrastructure
CRT, which does not enable water freight to make sufficient use of its facilities over a wide enough working week to make water freight viable
CRT, which does not prioritise the provision of infrastructure that enables water freight to optimise economies of scale
CRT, which does not give freight high enough priority in any of its investment considerations
The root cause of the lack of and inadequate provision of waterway freight infrastructure and, therefore, water freight volumes being extremely difficult to increase are that local government planners lack direction from Central Government on the issue and neither EA or CRT are answerable to the Dept for Transport, instead they fall under DEFRA. The problem, therefore, lies entirely in the lack of joined up government in the UK.
John Spencer
Director
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