NIGELCROWE Managingand developingEurope'sinlandwaterways InmanyEuropeancountriesthereis concernto preservethe heritageof the waterwayssystem andthis is receivingcentralsupportthrougha numberof schemes. Recent research shows that Europe's inland water- early example of European collaboration on inland ways are valued as part of a common heritage even by people who never visit them. There are 40,000 km of waterways in the European Union, attracting 2,000 million visitors a year. UK visitors alone spend £1,340 million each year and in the UK as many as 54,000 jobs rely on inland waterway functions and activities. Europe-wide that equates to about 500,000 jobs. Voies Navigables d'Europe (VNE) is a consortium of inland waterway management organisations across the European Union. Members include Belgium, Ireland, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK VNE is concerned with the management and development of canals and river navigations for recreation, tourism and heritage. Europe's canals and river navigations were mainly designed and constructed for the transport of heavy goods. Some still operate as commercial waterways, many now have a new role in leisure and tourism and others are either undergoing or awaiting restoration. VNE aims to conserve and where possible regenerate and enhance this diverse heritage and in so doing create economic growth and jobs. It aims to influence European Union funding in favour of waterways, promote direct investment, maximise opportunities for training and employment and develop trans-national infrastructure projects dealing with the cultural heritage of the waterways and with tourism. Most of Europe's waterways are historic engineering constructions; some of them are Roman in origin and many date from the 17th to early 20th centuries, with an explosion of canal building (the canal mania) taking place in the UK in the late 18th century industrial revolution period. Despite cumulative changes, these historic waterways retain significant survivals of man-made landscapes, ecology, archaeology and built heritage. The built heritage alone ranges from large multipurpose port complexes, tunnels, aqueducts, reservoirs and lock flights to humble stables, cottages, maintenance huts and mileposts. In the UK there are almost 3,000 listed buildings and scheduled monuments and hundreds of miles of conservation areas on the British Waterways network (75% of the total of UK waterways). In France the 17th century Canal du Midi which is administered by Voies Navigables de France, has been designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site. There are significant numbers of historic buildings and engineering structures on the waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands and Sweden's Gota Canal employed Thomas Telford as consultant engineer: an CONTEXT 67 : SEPTEMBER 2000 waterways. Many ofVNE's assets represent working heritage which still earns its keep supplying and retaining water, easing the passage of boats and other traffic and housing the waterway workforce. Despite periodic repair and alterations this heritage continues to perform its historic function. But matching historic functions with modern requirements calls for sensitive management and VNE is concerned to conserve the historic built environment without stifling much needed commercial development and regeneration. Engaging with this kind of sustainability is not an easy task. It also demands public resources and large sums of money. Obstacles to VNE conservation and regeneration projects include a lack of visitor facilities, missing links (for example, where part of a canal line has been built on, or only ever existed as a tramway) congestion, conflicts of use and different VAT regimes in different states. Despite these obstacles, VNE is doing much good work especially through the transnational seminars and projects with which its members are involved. In October 1998 VNE ran a seminar on 'Conservation methods and artisan skills on historic inland waterways' at Warwick in England. This seminar was funded by the European Union's Raphael programme and its aims were to share experience and knowledge of conservation methods and skills and to develop actions that could be taken forward by VNE and others. The seminar led to production of a promotional document, Our Common Waterway Heritage and an action plan which acknowledges that a conservation 'skills gap' exists and recommends ways to overcome the problem. Particular recommendations are; to promote specialist heritage management training, to develop a common European format for recording historic buildings and to establish in-house centres of excellence. In the UK, British Waterways has taken a positive lead in implementing these recommendations by opening its own Heritage Skills Centre at Hatton, near Warwick. Here practical management and grass roots conservation courses are run and there are exciting plans for further VNE collaboration and skills exchange in this area. Two other trans-national VNE projects are Hydra, a joint Belgium, France, UK project to conserve and restore historic boat lifts and the Terra funded Canaux Historiques: Voies d'eau Vivantes project. Hydra is again supported by the European Union's Raphael programme and has attracted a grant of 250,000 euros. This will assist conservation and restoration of the great lifts at La Louviere on the CaIVNE members at the EU funded Raphael seminar, Conservation Methods and Artisan Skills on Historic Inland Waterways, learn about traditional mortars at the British Waterways Heritage Skills Centre at Hatton near Warwick. Photograph by Malcolm Luty. Nigel Crowe is with British Waterways. 29
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