British Waterways looking to its future.

Barges on the Birmingham Canal by slack12 on flickr (click picture for original)

This blog post from Stephen Bubb, the CEO of ACEVO caught my eye:

I have had discussions with British Waterways about their interest in becoming a third sector organisation a currently a Government agency.  As you can imagine people who work on our ancient and historic canals and waterways have a passionate interest and concern. They have been trying to build up a volunteer army in support but have found that difficult. They also find the constraints and inflexibility’s of the public sector an inhibiting factor when they want to build up and expand their community engagement.

Why the interest from Birmingham Conservation Trust?”

Did you know that British Waterways are the third largest holders of Listed Buildings and structures in the country. Are we making as much use of our proud canal history as we should. Do we see them as playing a stronger part in community life in our urban areas.  As Tony Hale, their Chair says:

” The private sector built our canals, the public sector rescued them and I believe the third sector can be their future. “

They call the new strategy 20:20. There’s more detail here and this video sets out to explain:

Should be interesting . How many other government agencies are considering the same path?