In a previous blog I suggested that the name of the new organisation would reflect its cultural bias, its approach to community development. Here I highlight the importance of cultural perspective on the fulfilment of the localist agenda.
The inclusion of A Community Right to Manage within the governance documents of the new waterways charity would go some way to releasing the potential of the waterways for the provision of public benefit to communities.
But realising our vision for a dynamic and inclusive network that sits at the heart of local community activity and enterprise will require more than legislative change; it will require a fundamental shift in attitudes by all relevant stakeholders.
Our canals are of significant heritage value. They need to be preserved, maintained and protected. But finding the balance between maintenance and exclusionary conservation is often difficult. The risk is that our environmental infrastructure becomes akin to the Mona Lisa, hidden behind a red rope and a plastic box.
Conservation of our environmental infrastructure should be inclusive and participatory. Community groups should play a central role in encouraging sustainable development of environmental assets. Adopting such an approach will encourage British Waterways to see community groups and civil society in general as partners in the maintenance of the network.
If communities are allowed a stake in the their local assets, preservation becomes a financial and social imperative. A Community Right to Manage provides the basic framework in which this can happen. But without the subsequent shift in attitudes and culture we will be left stuck behind the red rope looking through the plastic box.
BW and other environmental infrastructure organisations must be willing to embrace the idea that the participation of local communities will give our environmental assets a newfound relevance as well as potential access to new and greater sources of funding.
This is not to downplay the current activities of all the organisations referenced above. Many commit significant resource to getting communities more involved with their local assets. But to really engage people in the maintenance of their environmental infrastructure, these organisations must foster a sense of shared ownership and a genuine sense of responsibility.
The Waterways Project hopes to achieve both structural and cultural change in the management of our environmental infrastructure. A Community Right to Manage without a subsequent change in attitudes will not result in a more sustainable and inclusive waterways network.
For this reason we see A Community Right to Manage as the first and most important step on a long journey.
