JennyMorgan

I have long wondered just how Maplin has managed to survive as long as it has. Overly pushy staff badgering customers as soon as they step over the threshold annoys the hell out of me but more than that they have long been frighteningly non competitive. Obviously I sympathise with the staff but Maplin's demise is hardly surprising. Who'll be next I wonder? Those £10.00 step ladders might even go down to a fiver yet!

The highest mast on the Broads, with burgee, is about eighty five feet thus if we go for the fixed bridge option then a cable car system might be the better answer.

The Oulton Broad end of Lowestoft Harbour, salt water, is frozen today. In the meantime my wife and I took our almost three year old grandson out into the garden, his first experience of real snow! All traditional stuff, snowballs, tobogganing, snowmen, angels and tracking animal tracks, magic, a good day!

Will do. Perhaps one of the usual suspects will challenge me.

A letter in today's local rag:

So have we run out of BA positives then?

Yep, all your fault!

What cost cutting? All that happened was that the tolls went up in order to make up the government funding shortfall! As for local signage, Fred has made an entirely valid comment. I can only suggest that adding and changing perfectly good signs is all part of what many consider to to be nothing other than a vanity project. Amusingly, or is it coincidently, Beccles railway station railway station has been adorned with an NP sign, I'm told that its the nearest station to where the Doctor lives. Perhaps he goes to work by train and needs reminding!

Grainside, just ignore the bits that don't interest you. Personally I think that this particular thread has become argument for argument's sakes which is unusual over here. Beyond that I'm sure that you will appreciate and enjoy this forumI As a fellow resignee from 'another forum' I welcome you to The Enlightened Side!

It has taken on the duties of promotion in a way that I do not believe was ever intended by the author of the Act or the understanding of the term as was promoted in the House of Lords.

It's thanks to the likes of Paladin that we all have a clearer understanding of reality.

Quite right but I'm not sure that it was ever intended that bypassing legislation would come under the heading of 'promoting opportunities' but then that is how the man works, and why so many of us distrust him.

You surprise me, John! The Broads has long been labelled and known as The Broads. As a destination title it has served the area well for over a hundred years. The Broads identity is established, it has pedigree. For rather less time the Broads has been linked with the national parks family, a situation that in general terms has not been seen as a threat and has been accepted. Why meddle with what's good?

Bill, recommendations that were not upheld. In regard to i) conservation of the Broads’ wildlife, as part of conservation of the Broads’ natural beauty; who could argue with that?As for ii) conservation of the Broads’ cultural heritage, including built heritage and local traditions; rather a pity that that ethos has not been taken onboard by our powers that be.

It's not so much the name issue, more the possible outcome of its use that matters and concerns an unknown proportion of the relevant populous.

Just making it crystal clear to those who won't see. Thanks again for the opportunity to yet again stress the legal reality, that is very fair minded of you and genuinely appreciated.

Thank you, Fiona, for confirming exactly what I have been saying all along. Thank you, Bill, for reconfirming the legal position. Fiona can't make it much clearer, the doubting Bill that you are!

The Broads has been promoted as The Broads, and sometimes Broadland, since about 1900. Done quite well out of it too, witness the crowded '60's. The Broads, a member of the national park's family, says it all really.

Fred is quite right and he makes a valid point in regard to the regime at the top. By that I assume that he means Mrs Burgess, the Authority's chairwoman. There appears to be an unfortunate and not always helpful link to the University of East Anglia, I really do think that an investigation is long overdue in that regard.

Honest questions deserve an honest answer! I don't know that he can. Regretfully there are now sides and both sides are now deeply entrenched. Dr Packman has dug his hole and I don't see a way out. I mean the man no disrespect but his flag has been firmly nailed to his mast. Whatever he has done in the past has always been done for good reason, in his books, and for the cause. In many respects I can only admire the man for his tenacity. Trouble is, how does he step back from the brim? Whatever the bloke does will now be viewed with suspicion. Even if he announces, with suitable fanfares, that the Broads is NOT a national park there will be people, including myself, who will regard his announcement with suspicion, what is he hoping to gain, what will be his next move? In my honest opinion there is much to like and admire in John Packman but equally I feel deeply suspicious of the man. So back to the question, what can he do? Well, it must be obvious, I would like to wish him well in his forthcoming retirement. Mind you, there will be something of a task in realigning the Authority after his passing. New blood will have to distance itself from an unfortunate, sometimes unhelpful culture yet retaining much that is good. I think that the question goes somewhat deeper than 'what can Dr Packman do'? It really does go down to 'what can the Authority do?' For a kick-off they can take back control. Sorry, John, you have to go, walk away with pride but it's time for a change.

Are you suggesting that he hasn't crossed his fingers behind his back? I wish that I could trust the man as you appear to!

Thanks, Fred, I do appreciate what you are saying. My feeling is that, for example, we are actually closer to Chichester Harbour Conservancy which, like the Broads, is subject to the Harbours Act.

What has to be remembered is that the Broads is the Broads. It doesn't easily adapt to the one size fits all National Parks Act. Whilst some English national parks have some boating I think I am right in suggesting that the Broads is basically a waterway with a relatively narrow corridor of land surrounding the navigable waters and, as such, is a unique member of the NP family. As Bill quite rightly says, 'Not possible to compare'. Other members of the parks family are largely land with perhaps some boating. The Broads are largely wet stuff with a lot of boating. It might be more apt to name the Broads as the national inland waterway, such is its importance to the boating community.

http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1117788/Broad-Sheet-FEB-2018.pdf

They tend to be web footed. Mind you, the hairs on the palms of their hands can be something of a giveaway!!