Despite this, there is growing concern among those who use the canals that cuts to government funding for British Waterways will adversely affect the maintenance and enjoyment of the UK's canal network.

Only in July, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee voiced "extreme concern" about the scaling back in public finance for the maintenance of inland waterways following cuts to the British Waterways budget.

By cutting the BW budget, the Government is failing to recognise the canal system as an important environmental feature, a tourist attraction, and a transport link.

On a recent visit to Doncaster, following this summer's floods, I was shown the Bentley Ings and the adjoining canal, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal. I was very alarmed to see there were physical cracks to the flood defences on the Bentley Ings, and that they had to have additional concrete added to reinforce them as an emergency measure.

There is great concern locally as to whether the banks would hold in the event of further flooding. There was also clear evidence of a failure to dredge the Don River and the Beck – they were both two-thirds of the width and depth they should be to allow the water to flow.

Through no fault of their own, British Waterways, the Inland Waterways Association and other agencies funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have had their budgets cut. This has been largely due to the fact that Defra has overspent by £115m this year following animal health crises such as foot and mouth and bird flu. There has also been an overspend on day-to-day administration relating to flooding that ran to £30m. Cuts of £7m have therefore been made to the British Waterways budget, impacting on the maintenance and upgrade work of 2,200 miles of the UK waterways.

It costs £125m annually to maintain our canals. Even after the cuts that have been imposed, British Waterways has only 85 per cent of the money needed to fulfil that obligation.

It has been suggested that boaters will shoulder much of the burden, with mooring fees set to rise dramatically and annual licence fees to rise by a third. This will act as a major deterrent to people who use the waterways. Maintenance of the canal network has been further hit by the effect of the flooding this summer. British Waterways has admitted that £3.8m of maintenance this year has been deferred.

The canals offer a unique environment as a recreational activity, and are incredibly popular. In 2005, there were more than 300 million visits to various canals in the UK, demonstrating their enormous value as a tourist attraction, especially so here in Yorkshire at places such as the Bingley Five Rise locks.

This is particularly pertinent at a time when the Government would like to see fewer foreign holidays made and greater encouragement of the holiday opportunities in this country. The rising cost of fuel has had a devastating impact on those who use inland waterways, including for recreational boating. Not only this, but as a consequence of EU legislation the cost of marine fuel will triple on the inland waterways from November 2008.

The canal network is also extremely useful to transport freight. Moving freight by water in this way is several times more environmentally sustainable than doing so by road, and this method takes lorries off the congested road network. Water freight makes a major contribution to the UK's economy and employs more than 200,000 people.

Recently, Tesco switched the transport of its New World wine from lorry to water over the 32 miles from Liverpool to its bottling plant in Irlam, saving 50 lorry trips a week and cutting carbon emissions by 80 per cent. The contribution inland waterways can make to cutting our carbon emissions is crucial.

I would like to pay tribute to all those who work on and support the canals system, including those involved in boating and recreational activities, and see the Government recognise the need to support and maintain our waterways as the pride and joy of the country.

Anne McIntosh is the Vale of York MP and Shadow Environment Minister.