Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential ways rivers may be further utilised as urban transport routes (a) nationally and (b) on the River Ouse, Yorkshire.

Whilst operational usage of rivers and canals is a matter for the relevant navigation authorities, rather than the Department for Transport, as part of the development of the Future of Freight Plan, published in 2022, Government engaged with the inland waterways sector to better understand domestic freight flows but has made no specific assessment of individual waterways.