On Thursday the 27st of April, a meeting has taken place of the NIWE (Network Inland Waterways Europe). The meeting was hosted by Lagan Canal  Trust, one of the partners in the NIWE. On the Lagan Valley Island Centre in Lisburn city came 11 representatives from 8 different countries gathered for an interesting agenda.

The agenda was focused on the INTERREG proposals and a working session was held of INTERREG Europe proposal. To support the future of the secondary waterways in Europe the projects support interregional cooperation throughout Europe and helps NIWE in the achievement of the goals through financing. NIWE is discussing the future after Brexit, communication goals and the expanding knowledge center. All partner exchange information related to the waterways and management.

NIWE is currently involved in the North Sea region Interreg programme which will be evaluated in September. The projects of the North Sea Region Interreg programme in which the partners are involved in are in different stages of approval: Blue Hubs, End of Boat Use and Small Hydro-systems. There are still opportunities to involve new partners in these projects. The latest call for projects in the Atlantic Interreg programme has yielded positive conversations between Canal & River Trust, Waterways Ireland and Lagan Canal Trust. New projects are discussed which will all support the development of the total network of smaller waterways in Europe.

The NIWE welcomes a new Member: Guillaume Dury, who represents Voies Navigables de France (VNF) a very experienced INTERREG partner.
The membership is expanding and new partners are welcome.

Six NIWE partners have submitted in January 2017 the Interreg NSR project: BLUEHUB,  under the leadpartnership of the Province of Antwerp (BE).

The partnership will develop a successful and transverable model for “blue hubs”: multimodal switching points alongside inland waterways, connecting the traditional on land mobility networks with the (not yet developed) potential of inland waterways as transport veins between rural areas and urban centers for personal and small freight transport.

The partnership will develop this orgware through transnational cooperation on 3 key objectives:
1. Developing a transferable choice model (a blueprint) for an inland
waterway hub
2. Working out effective methods and measures to achieve a behavioural
change from single car use to multimodal transport modes
3. Creating business models and new services for public water transport
and regional freight companies

Partners:
BE        Province of Antwerp with subpartners: Scelta Mobility and NautiV
           University of Antwerp
           Antwerp Port Authority
NL       Waterways Netherlands
GB       Canal & River Trust
DE       Erlebnis Bremerhaven with subpartners: swb Bremerhaven
           GmbH and Magistrat Bremerhaven, Referat für Witschaft
NO      Telemark Canal Regional Park
SE       Municipality of Karlstad

If the project is agreed on, the partnership will start at the beginning of November 2017 on a three year journey to develop the following products for its stakeholders and target groups: an attractive sketch book for a blue hub choice model with the program of requirements and a signage toolkit; a recommendations & strategies report for modal shift, an attractive communication campaign to stimulate modal shift, a calculation model for water transport providers, an attractive platform for new services & an animated app for mobile life.

Pilots for blue hubs will be rolled out in the Province of Antwerp (Antwerp & Boom), the Netherlands and Bremerhaven.

Following the UK referendum and the public decision for the UK to leave the EU, the Canal & River Trust is still committed to NIWE and the development and delivery of transnational projects with the network and other like-minded organisations.

At the Conservative Party Conference on 3^rd October, Phillip Hammond (UK Govt Chancellor of the Exchequer) gave a very encouraging update on the future of EU Funding in the UK. It was announced that The Treasury will now honour all projects that have signed contracts in place until the day we officially leave the EU, even if the end date of the project surpasses this date.

The message from the Interreg Secretariats is that funding applications from the UK are still very much welcome post referendum. The Trust has had projects and Expressions of Interest approved since June 2016.