Editing British Waterways (section)

===Transport Act 1968 {{Anchor|Commercial waterway|Cruising waterway|Remainder waterway}}===
The [[Transport Act 1968]] classified the nationalised waterways into three distinct categories as specified by BWB:

* '''Commercial''' &ndash; Waterways that could still support commercial traffic; these were mainly located in the North East of England
* '''Cruising''' &ndash; Waterways that had a potential for leisure use, such as cruising, fishing and recreational use
* '''Remainder''' &ndash; Waterways for which no potential commercial or leisure use could be seen.

British Waterways Board was required under the Act to keep commercial and cruising waterways fit for their respective traffic and use. However, these obligations were subject to the caveat of being by the most economical means and BWB had no requirement to maintain remainder waterways or keep them in a [[navigable]] condition. As a result, many remainder waterways could face abandonment or transference to the [[local authorities#United Kingdom|local authority]] who would contribute to the waterway's upkeep as part of the act.<ref name=1968act>{{Cite web|url=http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=Act+(UK+Public+General)&title=transport&Year=1968&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=2462774&ActiveTextDocId=2462930&filesize=97370 |title=Transport Act 1968 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930083440/http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=Act+%28UK+Public+General%29&title=transport&Year=1968&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=2462774&ActiveTextDocId=2462930&filesize=97370 |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> Additionally, many of these remainder waterways were crossed by new roads and motorways without provision for boat navigation.