Time to replace CRT is now due - what alternatives could there be?

[MtB]

I received many, many e mails inviting me to participate. I assumed the majority would have received similar invitations.

Sorry, didn't realise I was in the minority.

Rog

 

 

I only received one email, the day before it ended, despite me having two boat licenses.

 

The email reminded me to vote but gave no clue about how to, IIRC!

[Alan de Enfield]

I received many, many e mails inviting me to participate. I assumed the majority would have received similar invitations.

Sorry, didn't realise I was in the minority.

Rog

 

Majority / Minority - No idea but certainly a large number of people did not receive any communication about the election until the '11th Hour'.

[dogless]

I only received one email, the day before it ended, despite me having two boat licenses.

 

The email reminded me to vote but gave no clue about how to, IIRC!

They may have heard of your claxon antics !

By the way, I don't know what IIRC means

Rog

[MtB]

They may have heard of your claxon antics !

By the way, I don't know what IIRC means

Rog

 

Explanation here

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=IIRC

(Ignore the first result. it's all the others you want!)

[alan_fincher]

I received many, many e mails inviting me to participate. I assumed the majority would have received similar invitations.

Sorry, didn't realise I was in the minority.

Rog

 

 

 

Majority / Minority - No idea but certainly a large number of people did not receive any communication about the election until the '11th Hour'.

 

Well the claim has certainly been made by enough people that it seems unlikely they have all missed earlier communications about it.

 

However, unless CRT / ERS are going to come clean about some error that has caused this, (not impossible, I suppose as they have admitted to multiple other errors already), I don't imagine we are ever likely to get a statistic about how many it applied to.

[dogless]

Explanation here

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=IIRC(Ignore the first result. it's all the others you want!)

Brilliant ! It means if I recall correctly

IIRC

Rog

[alan_fincher]

 

 

I only received one email, the day before it ended, despite me having two boat licenses.

 

The email reminded me to vote but gave no clue about how to, IIRC!

I'm struggling to believe that last bit to be honest. I can't see why different emails would have been sent to different people, (other than of course the names and codes they contained!) My final reminder certainly told me exactly what the voting procedure was. I'll post it below - do you want to post yours to prove yours didn't?

 

 

Voting in the Private Boating constituency

 

Dear Mr Alan Fincher,

The Canal & River Trust is currently running elections to the charity’s governing Council and you are able to vote.

The deadline for voting is 23:59 on Thursday 17 December 2015.

The Council is made up of up to 40 nominated, co-opted or elected members as well as the Chairs of the waterway partnerships. 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.

Electoral Reform Services is administering the Council Elections on behalf of the Canal & River Trust. It is an online process so you will need to follow these instructions to log into the website and cast your vote:

Click on this link to go to the election website:

www.votebyinternet.com/crtelections2015

Once on the website, click the button “Login to Vote”

Enter your two-part Security Code:

Security Code Part One: 128308

Security Code Part Two: 7597

Once logged in, follow the instructions to read the candidates’ manifestos and cast your vote.

Note that you cannot find the voting website via search engines such as Google, you must click on the link above or enter the address into your browser.

More information about the Council and this year’s election process is on the website www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/councilelections2015 where results will be announced on Friday 18 December 2015.

If you have any queries about voting, you can find further information and contact details on the election website http://www.votebyinternet.com/crtelections2015.

Yours sincerely,

Electoral Reform Services

The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW

T: 020 8365 8909 (+44 20 8365 8909)

Visit our website at: www.electoralreform.co.uk

Keep up to date with the ERS blog

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

Electoral Reform Services Limited (ERS) is a company registered in England and Wales with company number: 2263092. It is a business of the Electoral Reform Society Limited, a company Limited by Guarantee. ERS is registered for VAT under registration number: 236-8689-15. ERS registered office is at: The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London, N8 0NW. Email disclaimer: www.electoralreform.co.uk/email_disclaimer.pdf

 

[MtB]

I'm struggling to believe that last bit to be honest. I can't see why different emails would have been sent to different people, (other than of course the names and codes they contained!) My final reminder certainly told me exactly what the voting procedure was. I'll post it below - do you want to post yours to prove yours didn't?

 

 

 

If you check my post, you'll see I ended my post with "IIRC". This was because I wasn't sure I was right.

 

It appears I was correct about being wrong!

[Jerra]

CRT with a canal members organisation then boaters would be a long way behind fishermen, cyclists, walkers, bird watchers, dog walkers......please remember the canals are run for everyone not just for the benefit of Laurence Hogg and Allan Richards.

I am not for one minute suggesting CRT should be run by members but I do feel replacing "friends" with members and giving them a more structured influence on the organisation would be beneficial from both the income stream and the effect of such members.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Management has been crap ever since it was decided it was a thing in itself, rather than expertise in the thing you were managing.

 

And this is actually one of the things that Richard Parry has got right.

 

BW management under Robin Evans was constantly being reorganised - it was almost Marxist in its "permanent revolution" approach. Offices were merged and demerged, chains of command constantly shifted, bankside staff moved from pillar to post. It was absolutely the "management as profession" approach you describe, Arthur, and it was a disaster for BW. Commitment to the canals was no longer valued, and commitment to the organisation was impossible when that organisation would bite you in the ar*e at the next inevitable reorganisation. Every rejig was done in the name of "efficiency", but it was obvious to anyone watching and talking to BW that the staff were less dedicated and less efficient each time.

 

Richard Parry has taken a much more gradual approach. No, CRT does not have the same exact layout as it had when he took over. But the changes have been gradual rather than a series of big bangs, and the approach appears to be pragmatic rather than textbook-led. It seems happier and more harmonious to me, and that makes for a better and more customer-responsive organisation.

[jenlyn]

 

And this is actually one of the things that Richard Parry has got right.

 

BW management under Robin Evans was constantly being reorganised - it was almost Marxist in its "permanent revolution" approach. Offices were merged and demerged, chains of command constantly shifted, bankside staff moved from pillar to post. It was absolutely the "management as profession" approach you describe, Arthur, and it was a disaster for BW. Commitment to the canals was no longer valued, and commitment to the organisation was impossible when that organisation would bite you in the ar*e at the next inevitable reorganisation. Every rejig was done in the name of "efficiency", but it was obvious to anyone watching and talking to BW that the staff were less dedicated and less efficient each time.

 

Richard Parry has taken a much more gradual approach. No, CRT does not have the same exact layout as it had when he took over. But the changes have been gradual rather than a series of big bangs, and the approach appears to be pragmatic rather than textbook-led. It seems happier and more harmonious to me, and that makes for a better and more customer-responsive organisation.

That's not the message I get from some of his staff.

[raymondh]

Richard Parry has taken a much more gradual approach. No, CRT does not have the same exact layout as it had when he took over. But the changes have been gradual rather than a series of big bangs, and the approach appears to be pragmatic rather than textbook-led. It seems happier and more harmonious to me, and that makes for a better and more customer-responsive organisation.

 

All my dealings with BW/C&RT since our move to water in 2007 have been 100% positive, each and every contact by phone, email or calling into the Wiagn office have been efficient and had the outcome I required

 

We have CC'd, none BW water moorings and several canal and river moorings (yes we move about) and met conversed at all levels with BW/C&RT employees on our travels with only one misunderstanding where we were to spend a glorious night moored on the MSC side of Marsh Lock

 

Just booked two weeks at Wigan dry dock, great response and service from the team at Wigan Office ditto renewing our licence when I made a few errors on the website

 

Is it just luck or maybe I treat folk as I would expect them to treat me

 

Ray

[Allan(nb Albert)]

That's not the message I get from some of his staff.

Number of staff voting dropped from 44% last time to 25.8%. I think that speaks volumes about staff commitment to the Trust and its governance.

 

Roger Hanbury (Head of Governance Services - January 2014) - 'In future elections we want to improve turnout and will support this with communications before and during the election'.

 

... yet they have not managed this with their own staff.

 

[Arthur Marshall]

Number of staff voting dropped from 44% last time to 25.8%. I think that speaks volumes about staff commitment to the Trust and its governance.

 

Roger Hanbury (Head of Governance Services - January 2014) - 'In future elections we want to improve turnout and will support this with communications before and during the election'.

 

... yet they have not managed this with their own staff.

 

There again, the staff would be the best people to be aware that this particular set-up has no power, appears to meet just a couple of times a year and be a waste of everyone's time. That doesn't mean the whole of CRT should be scrapped, just that changes should be made so that users in general have a voice that will be heard. This takes time... throwing babies out with bathwater, or possibly toys from pram, is pointless.

All another reorganisation would do would be to cost millions of quid and put another load of overpaid (probably, as the song has it, fat white men in) suits at the top. The French have a phrase for it. So did the Romans. So probably had the Greeks and the ancient Egyptians.

[mrsmelly]

When I first became a liveaboard it was BWB and everything was fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok.

Then it became BW and everything was fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok.

Now its called CART and everything is fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok

 

Tim

[Arthur Marshall]

When I first became a liveaboard it was BWB and everything was fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok.

Then it became BW and everything was fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok.

Now its called CART and everything is fine, abide by the few easy rules and do your bit and everything ok

 

Tim

As a mostly summer boater these days with a home mooring and a few overstays when I've broken down or been iced in, I've never had any grief from BW or CRT, either now or when I lived on. Doesn't stop me sympathising with those that do undeservedly, but it does stop me whinging a bit. I grumble about maintenance same as everyone does, but I think I've been doing that for thirty years, so it's probably not a lot worse than it was. Mostly I grumble about other boaters running engines at unsocial hours or driving down the cut with a radio playing hideous (to me, that is) music at full volume on the roof. And someone with a banjo moored next to me once.

[MtB]

There again, the staff would be the best people to be aware that this particular set-up has no power, appears to meet just a couple of times a year and be a waste of everyone's time. That doesn't mean the whole of CRT should be scrapped, just that changes should be made so that users in general have a voice that will be heard. This takes time... throwing babies out with bathwater, or possibly toys from pram, is pointless.

All another reorganisation would do would be to cost millions of quid and put another load of overpaid (probably, as the song has it, fat white men in) suits at the top. The French have a phrase for it. So did the Romans. So probably had the Greeks and the ancient Egyptians.

 

 

Ah how pleasing to read the voice of reason. You really don't fit in around here, do you!!

[Jerra]

Number of staff voting dropped from 44% last time to 25.8%. I think that speaks volumes about staff commitment to the Trust and its governance.

It could mean either of two things.

 

1. They re happy and see no reason for change so don't bother voting.

2. They think there is no point in voting it will make no difference.

 

Without more data it is impossible to tell.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Jerra

[StarUKKiwi]

CRT is like any big company - the higher up the food chain you go; the more they understand engagement, just not how to go about it. That's where having boaters on the National Advisory Group, National Users Group and the Council may help.

I agree that there is room for improvement. The election process was ill-thought out IMHO. last time, all postal - this tome , all electronic; but they should have sent out explanations from at least a year before, as I am sure many people don't/won't have access to email.

The regions are, to a certain degree, siloed. I think this is slowly changing; but needs time to evolve.

In answer to the question above, 32% of voters bothered to vote in the General Election and of that 32%, about 26% (?)voted Conservative.

[adam1uk]

In answer to the question above, 32% of voters bothered to vote in the General Election and of that 32%, about 26% (?)voted Conservative.

 

Where did you get that figure from? Turnout in the 2015 General Election was 66.1 per cent.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

It could mean either of two things.

 

1. They re happy and see no reason for change so don't bother voting.

2. They think there is no point in voting it will make no difference.

 

Without more data it is impossible to tell.

Perhaps it is backlash from the Trusts ‘Growing Our Trust’ employee engagement and culture change programme ...

[MtB]

 

Where did you get that figure from? Turnout in the 2015 General Election was 66.1 per cent.

 

 

92.6% of statistics quoted on internet forums were made up on the spot to suit the case being made...

[jenlyn]

 

Where did you get that figure from? Turnout in the 2015 General Election was 66.1 per cent.

Cuckoo's and land?

[Laurence Hogg]

Number of staff voting dropped from 44% last time to 25.8%. I think that speaks volumes about staff commitment to the Trust and its governance.

 

Roger Hanbury (Head of Governance Services - January 2014) - 'In future elections we want to improve turnout and will support this with communications before and during the election'.

 

... yet they have not managed this with their own staff.

 

 

In my opinion Roger Hanbury isn't doing a good job at all and all the shortcomings of this election and the way it was run, manipulated, Candidates getting lost etc all lands back in his lap.

I have had dealings with him in his former role as head of TWT and was less than satisfied with his outcomes back then, nothing changes imho except probably the wages figures!

[DeanS]

In the first elections, people thought they were voting for "boaters representatives" a name which was misleading, as the folk voted for were not to represent boaters at all, but be a legal counsel to oversee the charity board.....

 

so this time round, people probably thought....why vote.......whoever gets in has no real powers to represent boaters anyway...

 

 

 

however.....

 

when CRT has organised feedback meetings, some minority parties/individuals among boaters have taken over those meetings, drowning out any form of proper dialogue...so CRT are not always to blame.

 

What's missing, is :

 

1. A bunch of proper representatives, properly elected.

2. A proper dialogue by those representatives with CRT.

3. A proper communication channel amongst boaters, their representatives, and CRT.