Stronger Together Strategic Plan

British Canoeing have launched Stronger Together, the new strategic plan for the whole of the sport which will guide our work until 2021.

It is not only for the Board and the executive team but also for the clubs and centres, regions and disciplines and many other committees, for the national associations and for our many national and regional partners – because it is through working cooperatively that we will be stronger together.

It seeks to better harness the skills, enthusiasm and commitment of all of those individuals and organisations who want to play their part in building an even brighter future for the sport in England and throughout the UK.

Stronger Together presents a clear purpose and vision for British Canoeing. It also sets out 11 ambitions to be delivered by 2021.

Our Purpose and Vision

The purpose of British Canoeing is to;

“Inspire people to pursue a passion for paddling; for health, enjoyment, friendship, challenge and achievement”

The vision for British Canoeing is;

“A united British Canoeing, focused on our people and ambitions and excellent in delivery”

Our ambitions


Ambition One	Increase regular participation in paddlesport
Ambition Two	Attract new members to British Canoeing and improve member engagement and satisfaction
Ambition Three	Create and promote more opportunities for exploration, adventure and challenge
Ambition Four	Develop a stronger network of clubs and centres
Ambition Five	Create more places to paddle and improve facilities
Ambition Six	Improve access and promote environmental awareness
Ambition Seven	Provide excellent competitions
Ambition Eight	Improve pathways to performance and international success
Ambition Nine	Develop volunteers, coaches and leaders
Ambition Ten	Strengthen governance and financial sustainability within the sport
Ambition Eleven	Improve the profile of paddlesport and communications throughout the sport

Ambition one - increase regular participation

Increase regular participation in paddlesport:

increase in the number of regular participants as measures by Active Lives by 2021
Increase participation in 1 & 2 Star Awards (or equivalent) annually from 2018

Ambition two - attract new members

Attract new members to British Canoeing and improve member engagement and satisfaction:

Increase the number of people in membership of British Canoeing annually and to 75,000 by 2021
Increase the levels of member engagement within the services provided by British Canoeing annually from 2018

Ambition three - exploration, adventure and challenge

Create and promote more opportunities for exploration, adventure and challenge:

Increase the number of registered mass paddles (with more than 100 participants) and develop three national mass paddle events by 2021
Increase the number of national challenges annually to at least eight by 2021

Ambition four - clubs and centres

Develop a stronger network of clubs and centres:

Increase the number of quality marked clubs and centres in membership of British Canoeing annually from 2018
Improve the annual club satisfaction rating year on year from 2018

Ambition five - more places to paddle

Create more places to paddle and improve facilities:

Annually increase the number of registered canoe trails promoted on the British Canoeing website to reach a target of 150 by 2021

Ambition six - improve access

Improve access and promote environmental awareness:

Develop and promote new digital resources which promote the public rights to rivers in England with 50% of rivers included by 2021
Annually improve awareness amongst members of environmental issues and best practice from 2018

Ambition seven - excellent competitions

Provide excellent competitions:

National competition discipline committee plans produced and published annually from 2018
International Events Strategy approved in 2017, updated annually and delivered to plan

Ambition eight - improve pathways to performance

Improve pathways to performance and international success:

achieve a minimum of three Olympic medals and three Paralympic medals in Tokyo in 2020
Consistently be in the top three nations in terms of medal success at World and European Championships across all classes and disciplines of international competition

Ambition nine - develop volunteers, coaches and leaders

Develop volunteers, coaches and leaders:

All coaching and leadership awards revised and relaunched by 2021
Improve the coach and coach educator satisfaction rating annually from 2018

Ambition ten - strengthen governance

Strengthen governance and financial sustainability within the sport:

To comply with the UK Code of Sports Governance and annually retain a 'green' rating for governance from UK Sport and Sport England
To annually increase the percentage of income into British Canoeing from non-public grant sources from 2018