THE canals and waterways of Britain are not usually associated with entrepreneurship. But appearances can be deceptive.

Quite apart from pubs and cafés, marinas and other obvious commercial activity, there are almost invisible revenue streams that are quietly enriching the coffers of British Waterways.

The water that supports a wealth of wildlife and enlivens the scenery is itself a merchantable asset: a commodity traded by water companies that pay to use the canals as pipelines to transport the precious liquid around the country.

And alongside the water is another silent earner in the shape of an extensive network of fibre-optic cables — a vital part of the information superhighway, cleverly disguised as rustic towpaths that conjure up romantic images of Britain’s industrial past.

British Waterways, for many years mired in a seemingly endless programme of repairs to its crumbling canal system, is at last emerging into a new dawn — a world where commercial success is seen as crucial in the battle to conserve the nation’s heritage.

The idea of turning heritage into a going concern — as opposed to being a drain on the taxpayer — is a thread that has run through the career of Robin Evans, who took over last year as chief executive of British Waterways.

A canal cutting its way through the countryside may not seem to have much in common with Hampton Court but to Evans they represent a single entity. Each is part of the historic fabric of this country and when it comes to managing this fabric, Evans, 49, has strong views about how it should be done.

Evans says: “I worked for eight years at the National Trust as a land agent in the Thames and Chiltern region and that was managing big country estates and big houses such as Cliveden, and it was there that I began to develop what I suppose has been a continuing theme in my career, which is trying to make historic buildings and structures economically viable.

“I absolutely believe that the only way you can ensure that anything survives into the future is to make sure it has a viable economic use.

“It is not just a question of finding the money to ensure that they are properly maintained.

“If you make them exciting and enjoyable, then more people will visit and then you can ensure that the income derived from your visitors will enable you to carry out the necessary maintenance and repairs.”

After training as a chartered surveyor and agricultural surveyor and working at the National Trust, Evans moved on to the Landmark Trust where, as chief executive, he spent eight years renovating listed properties and turning them into rentable holiday accommodation.

He then acquired the exalted title of Palaces Director at Historic Royal Palaces, which runs Hampton Court, the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Banqueting House and Kew Palace.

Now he has turned his talents to canals and waterways — and is the first to admit that he has no special affinity with either, other than as important parts of the nation’s heritage.

“If you ask people what they consider to be our great national assets, they will say things like the Crown Jewels, the palaces, the Lake District, the coastline, and so on; well, our vision is that the waterways will come to be equally treasured as a national asset, both valued and valuable.”

British Waterways is certainly heading in the right direction. Income from commercial activity increased 20 per cent last year to just short of £82 million.

In July BW signed a contract to transport 450,000 tonnes of sand and gravel over a seven-year period, thus removing about 45,000 lorry movements from busy roads to the West of London. This was music to the ears of the thousands of canal enthusiasts who had laboured for decades to try to reverse the sad decline in the canal network.

Carrying freight was, of course, what the canals were originally built to do. After losing out to roads and railways and falling into near dereliction, the canals appeared to be doomed, but the tide began to turn in the Sixties and Seventies, since when BW and its predecessors have fought a constant battle against an enormous backlog of statutory repairs.

“We estimate that the safety backlog should be cleared by March of next year and then we’ll really be able to press on,” Evans says.

For BW, “pressing on” is likely to mean an increasing involvement in commercial and residential property development. Part of the corporation’s commercial strategy is to form partnerships (two such partnerships are responsible for the water sales/transport and the cable businesses) and property development is the next big thing — especially as waterside developments are so popular.

Particular areas to watch are to the east of London and up the Lea Valley, part of the huge area that was recently earmarked by the Government for housing.

“I believe that BW will play a major role in the redevelopment of areas like this,” Evans says, clearly relishing the prospect of all that money rolling in. “Our heads are commercial but our hearts are in the public domain — and our profit is not distributed anywhere, it all goes back into the waterways.”

Out on the water

British Waterways cares for more than 2,000 miles of canals and rivers — about two thirds of all the UK's inland waterways. The portfolio includes 3,000 listed structures, 130 scheduled ancient monuments, 1,520 locks, 3,270 bridges, 60 tunnels, 450 aqueducts, 1,036 lock cottages and dwellings, 89 reservoirs, 1,000 wildlife conservation sites, 100 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and 600 miles of hedgerow