JennyMorgan

A lot to be said for a pocket cruiser on the Broads. My experience of my friend's boat was that she handled very well under power and sails more than adequately. I've had a 44 footer and a 27 footer whilst also owning a 21 foot Drascombe on the Broads and it's her that I've remained loyal to so to speak. Okay, so it's oilskins rather than a cabin, no fridge, microwave or TV but I enjoy a freedom that is simply not obtainable with a larger boat. Okay, so I have a house to return to but for a Broads boat a relatively small one has a great deal to recommend it.

Hi Perry, until recently there was a Skanner 19 on Oulton Broad, she belonged to a good friend of mine. Had some good trips aboard her. Don't expect that you'll be tacking up the Ant very often but a grand boat on the wider rivers and of course you can go to sea. A proper little ship! I regret my friend parting with his. Where will you be keeping yours?

So why do the 'boogers' flock to the Broads then? Anyway, the Broads couldn't win, with not being a national park !!!

He didn't! 15 meter poles are only just over 49 feet. Why do I and others fish the far bank, because that's often where the fish are, away from us humans!

https://www.countryfile.com/magazine/awards/bbc-countryfile-awards-winners-2019/ Actually it's down to the Suffolk Broads, well done guys, well deserved. First place next year!!

I've had a few surprised anglers when I have returned fire with either maggots or groundbait!

I doubt very much that JP's post could be filled as a result of our vote. More likley a vote by Authority members and maybe other official factions as dictated by DEFRA. The Authority should be governed, and policy set, by Authority members who in turn are lead by the Chairman, 'tis those good folk that should be elected. As things are, as I understand it, Parliament can ask a CEO of a public body to retire, certainly we can't. Effectively John's second paragraph is spot on the money, in my opinion.

Like Griff I wear two hats, as a boater & an angler. Seems to me that we just need to learn how to live together and to accept each other! Fact of life, we share, we have to. Us anglers do pay our way, as taxpayers, about 50% of BA income is from taxes.

Why this talk of democracy on the Broads? To much complacency by Authority members perhaps? The Authority has an emasculated, kowtowing chairman and an overreaching CEO, don't suppose there could be much argument about that. Just my opinion of course but this call for elections is relatively recent and clearly born out of frustration and increasing anger along the river banks. For this the Authority's higher echelons only have themselves to blame. We shouldn't need elections, but what other tool is there for dissatisfied stakeholders? The present BA hierarchy has a patently deaf ear and a cavalier manner when it comes to us, the much maligned and largely ignored 'little people'. Personally I regret the growingly obvious need for elections but how else can we have any sort of input and control over the future well being of OUR Broads? Didn't used to be like this in the days of Aitkin Clark, the previous Authority CEO! Roll on democracy, there has to be a way.

https://broadsswimming.co.uk/

No doubt that the BA needs some good PR, there has been some pretty alarming reading in the EDP (local rag) of late. JP has managed to upset a good few good folk recently, bless him! However, even I don't see anything sinister in the Waveney dredging.

Doubling of the toll to pay for the Acle Debacle by any chance?

Fingers crossed. I actually have some faith in the Waveney Rangers, good people.

Vanessa, have faith.

Apparently they have 'clam shell' equipment down South.

https://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/river-waveney-to-be-dredged-by-broads-authority-1-5918325

Dictatorship, when nobody votes.

Wroxham, that would be a wholly plummy voice then!

I promise that I will never again call a traffic warden a 'little you know who' then!

By the way, syndicate owners, surely a simple solution, whoever pays the toll or perhaps for the syndicated to decide for whom they will cast their vote. I have a minor fleet of small boats thus should I have a similar number of votes? No, of course not, just one vote as an individual toll payer. I'm also a riparian owner so should I also have a vote as a toll payer and a landowner? No, of course not, just one vote as an individual person. Rather than objecting we have to find a way forward. No perfect answer, just the best that we can come up with.

If we take the BA's submission to the Glover Review as indicative of JP's thinking then elected council members are to be excluded from the BA. Thus the ONLY elected members are to lose their seats on the Broads Authority. The Broads Forum has become dormant. The Broads Authority is becoming, to an increasing degree, lead by a chairman's group, totally contrary to the Broads Act. Things are not right

The lack of actual democracy is not just confined to the Broads. It is an increasingly abhorrent problem where the 'boss' sets policy and then expects his/her officers and committees to unwaveringly support his/her dictate. Am not convinced that JP ranks alongside 'Adolph'. Other than that Speed's commentary is, in principle, on the money.

And so back to the Broads and the BA in particular. Career politicians and public servants are not, in my opinion, serving the Broads well. Whether people give Norfolk's political leaders any credit or not is for them to decide but nevertheless the criticism by those leaders is regrettably 100% sound. From day one the present incumbent at the peak of the pyramid has both set and lead policy, history will support that view. From our position as boaters we have seen attempts to disband the Navigation Committee, continuing attempts by the BA to abandon its duties as the Harbour Authority, attempts to 'cleanse' the Authority membership of navigators, attempts to close Horsey Mere to navigators with threats of massif fines and attempts to absorb tolls income into the general fund. The Broads Forum grew a set and stood up to JP, the result being that the Forum is now dormant. We no longer have qualified Navigation Officers, regretfully they knew more than the man at the top. All according to one man's plan, bugger the non existent electorate, the stakeholders and Broads Lovers, we are NOT listened to, we really don't matter. Well, that has to change, locals and toll payers alike are now clamouring for elections, demanding to be listened to. For Broads sake we need an accountable Broads Authority.

In confidence at the moment, sorry.

I heard some good news earlier today, cause enough to have some confidence in the future of our Broads.