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Canal & River Trust to hold elections for new members of governing Council


Ray T

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PRESS RELEASE

 

1 October 2019

 

CANAL & RIVER TRUST TO HOLD ELECTIONS FOR NEW MEMBERS OF GOVERNING COUNCIL

 

The Canal & River Trust is calling on individuals to stand for election to the charity’s governing Council with nominations opening on 21 October until 18 November.

 

The Council is currently made up of 50 elected and independently nominated members together with six Regional Advisory Board chairs.  Together they reflect the wide appeal of the waterways – from boating and angling through to walking and conservation.  The Council is responsible for the appointment of Trustees, helps to shape policies and provides guidance and perspective to Trustees.

 

The elections are for representatives from the private boating, business boating, fisheries and angling, volunteers, Friends of the Trust, and Trust employees.

 

To be eligible to stand for election, sponsor an election candidate, and vote in the election, interested parties are referred to the Canal & River Trust’s website for the eligibility criteria: www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/council-elections-2020

 

Allan Leighton, chair of Canal & River Trust, said: “We are excited to be holding these elections to our Council and I would encourage people to stand as candidates.  The Council plays a vital role in our governance framework and this is a fantastic opportunity to get involved with our work, find out more about the opportunities and challenges we face, and channel the views of these constituency groups.”

 

The election process will be run independently of the Trust by Electoral Reform Services (ERS) and it will be an online process.  Anyone keen to stand for election, or anyone who may have a query about eligibility or the election process, can find out more at  www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/council-elections-2020

 

The Trust will be sending out emails to all those eligible on 21 October 2019.

 

ENDS

 

For further media requests please contact:

Fran Read, national press officer, Canal & River Trust

m 07796 610 427 e fran.read@canalrivertrust.org.uk 

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33 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Who ?

Andy Tidy

(The Jam Butty - also Captain Ahab)

 

However he represented boating businesses last time, not private boaters - I think I have seen they are changing the rules so a Roving Trader can no longer represent boating businesses.  I'm happy to be corrected if I have that wrong though.

 

I'm a bit tempted to have another go for it myself, though I must admit I'm a lot more disillusioned with CRT than when I stood before, so perhaps it's not a great idea?

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10 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Andy Tidy

(The Jam Butty - also Captain Ahab)

 

However he represented boating businesses last time, not private boaters - I think I have seen they are changing the rules so a Roving Trader can no longer represent boating businesses.  I'm happy to be corrected if I have that wrong though.

 

I'm a bit tempted to have another go for it myself, though I must admit I'm a lot more disillusioned with CRT than when I stood before, so perhaps it's not a great idea?

You are correct, a roving trader is within the private boater group.

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2 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

You are correct, a roving trader is within the private boater group.

So I hope Andy will decide to carry on, but moving his efforts to that group.

 

He has established himself as a good representative, unlike the continuing presence of the "invisible man" from the IWA.

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  • 2 months later...

The Trust has now published Private Boater Candidate information on the website. FYI, I am not standing as I had a kidney transplant, so due to that and my husband's illness, we've had to move onto land and sell our boat. Best of luck to all nominees & thanks to Tracey Clarke for highlighting this issue. 

I can recommend Andy, he has to stand as Private Boater as Roving Traders are included in the constituency. 

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/how-we-are-run/the-council/results-of-nominations-private-boating

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Initial thoughts:

 

Too many candidates.  I lost the will to live at candidate 20 and didn't read any more.

Too much focus on the life stories of the candidates and not enough on what they are actually standing for.  At least half of the candidates can be summed up as:

 

"I come from X, I've been boating for X years, I have a narrowboat/barge/canoe (delete as appropriate), I like canals, I'm a good egg."

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Cruising Clubs are now a nominated member so Andrew Phasey is in that category. Vaughan Welch had stood twice, so could not stand again, the others were myself and Phil Prettyman. I no longer own a boat, due to my transplant and recovery. I can't speak for Phil although I know he felt he'd done enough. 

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30 minutes ago, StarUKKiwi said:

Cruising Clubs are now a nominated member so Andrew Phasey is in that category. Vaughan Welch had stood twice, so could not stand again, the others were myself and Phil Prettyman. I no longer own a boat, due to my transplant and recovery. I can't speak for Phil although I know he felt he'd done enough. 

Phil is standing in the Private Boater category.

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3 hours ago, David Mack said:

Phil is standing in the Private Boater category.

OH good, well in that case I'd recommend both Andy and Phil as Phil was on the Appointment Committee

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Remember StarUKKiwi and Andy  are so far the only members who have gone to the trouble to tell us boaters what has been discussed at these meetings. 

 

Thank you, I did promise I would and if I get the Friends Nomination I will continue where I can. I hadn't applied because it was so soon after transplant and I was in and out of hospital for first eight weeks, but this is me yesterday after clinic out for lunch with my daughters 

IMG_20191219_110551_253.jpg

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7 hours ago, StarUKKiwi said:

The Trust has now published Private Boater Candidate information on the website. FYI, I am not standing as I had a kidney transplant, so due to that and my husband's illness, we've had to move onto land and sell our boat. Best of luck to all nominees & thanks to Tracey Clarke for highlighting this issue. 

I can recommend Andy, he has to stand as Private Boater as Roving Traders are included in the constituency. 

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/how-we-are-run/the-council/results-of-nominations-private-boating

 

Thanks StarUKKiwi for the stirling work you have done on behalf of us boaters. Much appreciated.

 

I hope you quickly recover from your surgery, that your husband recovers and that you and your husband enjoy many years of good health. 

 

 

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7 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Initial thoughts:

 

Too many candidates.  I lost the will to live at candidate 20 and didn't read any more.

Too much focus on the life stories of the candidates and not enough on what they are actually standing for.  At least half of the candidates can be summed up as:

 

"I come from X, I've been boating for X years, I have a narrowboat/barge/canoe (delete as appropriate), I like canals, I'm a good egg."

I can't agree with your synopsis, I'm afraid.

I've only skim read the candidates' statements so far, but am seeing some very different sub-divisions of people in those standing....

 

There are clearly a number of London & K&A live-aboard boaters in the mix.  None actually mentioned the National Bargee Travellers Association, I think, but some of their statement looked like they might have come straight off a NBTA post of some kind.

Slightly more amusing are words like...

" I am well known by the Trust and they know that I will pursue any policies which I believe are unfair. I recently carried out a review of the available Trust policies on their website and sent a report to management; discussions have been held with a senior manager. " You can read into that what you like, but I'm not sure it gives the kind of balance you need to be an effective Council member.

Also however noble a option of trying to revive freight on the Aire and Calder might be, it sounds a bit too compartmental and specialised to make you a suitable candidate to represent the interests of "Private Boaters" as your constituency.

Also we seem to be expected to think that having held some high rank in finance, industry, or local government somehow makes you a better candidate than someone immersed in the canals for decades, and with a real passion for the waterways.  Personally the latter is far more likely to get my vote.

Finally, when people manage to say "being on the committee" rather than "being on Council" I actually wonder how much trouble they have gone to researching the role, before putting themselves up for election.  May be they do know what it entails, but describing the role correctly might give potential voters a bit more confidence

 

Andy Tidy has a good track record with his 4 years as a rep for the trade, and now CRT have decided in their wisdom that small traders should move into the "private boater" category, I feel sure Andy will do an equally good job there.

Phil Prettyman has also been visibly engaging a lot in in his last 4 year stint, and I think will continue to do a good job if re-elected. he has rafts of experience of engaging with CRT, and BW before them.

It depends what matters to you I guess?  For example, someone who has owned boats since the 1960s or 1970s, and campaigned for the good of our Waterways for years, probably travelling most of them many times over, or a much more recent recruit to live-aboard boating and probably without that much of an overview outside of the particular localised community they find themselves part of.

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