SKIPTON has helped make a splash in the fight to get the Government to pump some more money into waterways.

Save Our Waterways campaigners protested in the town's canal basin in November.

The action group is unhappy that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has slashed the money it gives to bodies like British Waterways and the Environment Agency, which manage rivers and canals.

During the protest, which was one of 47 across the country, campaigners staged blockades and encouraged people to sign their petition.

Now a 38,000-name petition has been handed to the current waterways minister Barry Gardiner.

In a display of solidarity, representatives of the three major political parties joined the presentation.

The minister spoke of the success of waterways in making a difference to people's lives over recent years and referred to the multi-million pound Government investment that had been made.

But he was reminded by the delegation that while this investment had been welcomed, the recent cuts in the waterways maintenance budgets would risk losing the benefits achieved and could result in canals returning to a derelict, unwanted and unsafe state in the future.

Further information can be found on the website www.saveourwaterways.org.uk