Published: 17 July 2026
The 2026 Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW) campaign cruise was planned to culminate in Liverpool Docks, with some boats continuing through the Liverpool Canal Link to the Ribble Link and onto the Lancaster Canal. North West England was chosen as the focus area to highlight the number and impact of waterway closures there, yet closures elsewhere across the country had combined to make planning difficult.
Eventually the flotilla successfully gathered at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port in early July, after participating in waterway events along their way to raise awareness of both the value of our inland waterways and the threat they face from inadequate funding. The intention was to cross the tidal Mersey to Liverpool, but at the last minute this became impossible owing to a fault with Brunswick Lock between the Mersey and the Docks. Even without this, the planned onward passage to the Ribble Link would have been impossible because of the ongoing closure of the Liverpool Canal Link for third-party work.
With Liverpool unreachable the plans were changed to a transit of the Manchester Ship Canal from Ellesmere Port to Salford Quays and through Pomona Lock to the Bridgewater Canal. Once again this proved impossible at the last minute, owing to low water levels in the Bridgewater Canal preventing passage through Pomona Lock. This in turn removed the last possibility for any of the boats to cross the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal as originally planned.
The third option, taking the Manchester Ship Canal to Marsh Lock and onto the River Weaver, proved the only viable one and brought the opportunity to add FBW’s voice to the campaign for the Anderton Boat Lift to be reopened.
Accordingly nine FBW boats locked out of the basins at Ellesmere Port onto the Manchester Ship Canal early on Friday 10th July, passing the huge Stanlow Oil Refinery before locking through Marsh Lock onto the River Weaver. On reaching the Anderton Boat Lift the flotilla was made very welcome by the team, who along with other staff and volunteers of the Canal & River Trust and the Manchester Ship Canal Company did so much to facilitate the cruise.
The boaters will be attending the Northwich River Festival on Saturday 18th July before returning along the Manchester Ship Canal to Ellesmere Port on Monday 20th July. Their homeward journeys will now be impacted by the closure of waterways because of low water levels amid the continuing hot dry weather as well as new infrastructure failures.
Hazel Owen, Chair of Fund Britain’s Waterways, said: “The Fund Britain’s Waterways Flotilla will not be beaten. The closure of Brunswick Lock meant we could not leave the River Mersey, and the lack of water at Pomona Lock meant we could not leave the Manchester Ship Canal. Determined to continue, we headed from Ellesmere Port to Marsh Lock on the River Weaver and the Anderton Boat Lift, which is currently closed for renovation work.
The Anderton Boat Lift is an iconic part of the canal network. We cannot afford to lose something so important. But it is of little use if boats cannot travel between the Trent & Mersey Canal and the River Weaver because of stoppages across adjoining waterways. This highlights the urgent need for adequate, long-term funding to maintain and protect Britain’s waterways for boaters, communities and future generations.
Without adequate funding, we risk creating a fragmented waterways system, with depleted cruising areas and broken cruising rings. That would not only limit where boaters can travel, but also have a serious impact on hire boat businesses whose customers depend on being able to enjoy connected, accessible routes.”
Jim Forkin, Chair of the Chester & Merseyside Branch of the Inland Waterways Association, said: “The long-term closure of the Anderton Boat Lift is having a negative impact on the River Weaver, both regarding boating and the many leisure and other facilities along its course. CRT has stated its intention that one of the two caissons will be back in use by May 2027, but despite many pleas from IWA further information to substantiate the intention has not been forthcoming.”
Jim Mole, Chair of the River Weaver Navigation Society, said: “The Anderton Boat Lift – the Cathedral of the Waterways – lies shut down because a lifting gate wire broke under routine test in January 2025. Rather than simply replacing the wire, CRT shut down the entire Lift and is reviewing options for changing all six lifting gates at a cost of about £2 million. We were advised that the money was allocated last year. However we are now informed that this is no longer so with no progress or plans to reopen the Lift. The continuing closure damages businesses up and down the Weaver and puts in jeopardy the continued use of the Navigation.”
