THE major breach in the Leek arm of the Caldon Canal last week demonstrates the importance of the role British Waterways plays in maintaining our 200-year-old canal network.

Just a few days before the breach on Monday night, I led a delegation of four MPs to meet Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. We were there to warn him of the folly of any plan to sell off the property portfolio of British Waterways.

Over the last 10 years, the waterways have enjoyed a renaissance under Labour, with towns and cities enjoying major waterside regeneration, attracting 11 million visitors every year to the network.

This has been achieved through record Government waterways funding.

But now, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' grant is declining and British Waterways depends on its increasing commercial income.

Property earns British Waterways £45 million a year, so I had to remind the Chief Secretary that any sale of these property assets would leave the Government with a big canal maintenance headache and even the return of canal dereliction – the fate of the Caldon Canal in the early 70s.

Our 2,000 miles of canals were built by the private sector. They were rescued and brought back to life by the public sector, and now British Waterways is working on its organisation, evolving into a third sector mutual or charitable operating company, working more closely with its local communities to maximise the public benefits from our canals.

Earlier in the year, I hosted the Parliamentary event which launched British Waterways' new vision for the future.

That vision sits very well with the tradition of mutuality within the Staffordshire Moorlands with our two mutual building societies, Leek United and Britannia.

In the meantime, I will be urging British Waterways to repair the breach in our canal as soon as possible.