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Concerns were expressed at the start of 1953 that the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive had plans to transfer canals that were not "required commercially" to local autorities or other bodies. These included some legally abandoned waterways such as the Cromford Canal, Grantham Canal and Llangollen Canal. Other canals included in the list were the Ashton Canal, Peak Forest Canal, Lancaster Canal, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal and the southern section of the Oxford Canal. In response to this the Association continued to advocate full use and development of the whole waterways system for the benefit of all types of user and for the establishment of a National Waterways Commission covering all navigations as well as a public enquiry into the best ways of developing them.
The prospect of the closure of the Forth & Clyde Canal and the southern section of the Oxford Canal occupy the minds of IWA Members in 1954.
In March 1955 the Board of Survey reported and recommended the disposal of 771 miles of waterway including some canals like the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Barnsley Canal that had already been abandoned and closed to traffic. These "Group 3" waterways also included the Ashton, Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Bridgwater and Taunton, Chesterfield, Cromford, Dearne and Dove, Erewash, Forth & Clyde, Grand Western, Grantham, Kennet & Avon, Lancaster, Manchester, Bolton & Bury, Monmouthshire & Brecon, Nottingham, Oxford (southern section), Pocklington, Ripon, Llangollen, Montgomery, Stratford-upon-Avon (southern section), Swansea and Edinburgh & Glasgow Union canals as well as the River Witham.
In response IWA advocate a National Waterway Conservancy to look after all our waterways and point out that it is cheaper to restore and use waterways than to eliminate them.
Also in 1955 the Midlands Branch organised a Rally at Banbury.
In 1982 British Waterways undertook several major engineering projects including work on Boddington Reservior (see photograph) on the Oxford Canal.
The 1984 IWA National Rally at Hawkesbury on the junction of the Oxford and Coventry canals had a record entry of 720 boats of which 661 actually attended.
After 3 years the 1987 IWA National Rally returned to Hawkesbury on the junction of the Oxford and Coventry canals. It attracted around 50,000 people and 530 boats.
A National Heritage Lottery Grant of £2.2 million was awarded in 1998 towards the cost of a waterways museum at Banbury which was to incorporate Tooley's Boatyard. Exceptionally heavy rain at Easter caused floods on the southern part of the canal.
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