1980s. Additionally, the work of voluntary restoration groups succeeded in restoring some waterways to their former condition. However, despite this steady progress throughout the 1970s and 1980s, organisations such as English Heritage criticised the newly named British Waterways for failing to provide "adequate training or access to professional advice [for British Waterways officers] on the conservation of historic structures".

However, by the late 1990s the canal network and British Waterways