Landscapes Review

[Bytheriver]

Here is the link to the Governments long awaited response to The Glover Report with a 12 week Consultation

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/landscapes-review-national-parks-and-aonbs-government-response

Constructive comments welcome 

For those not wanting to see the entire document here is the Official Press Release

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ambitious-proposals-to-strengthen-our-protected-landscapes-announced?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=7bf33e5b-e2bb-4fc7-b346-7184cf6fa5c1&utm_content=daily

[grendel]

well at least they have highlighted the other priority for the broads authority, which I suppose is a comfort that they recognise the fact

Quote

We will obviously need to consider the effects of any changes to statutory purposes separately for the Broads, which has a third statutory purpose in relation to navigation.

 

[grendel]

and 

Quote

We will carefully consider any changes to this statutory purpose for the Broads, which has a third statutory purpose in relation to navigation, while the ‘Sandford Principle’ does not apply.

 

[grendel]

I do wonder if this could be used to regain access to some of the broads that have been shut off by landowners from access?

Quote

 

We support the intention of the wording proposed by the panel. We propose to amend the current statutory purpose to:

highlight the need to improve opportunities and remove barriers to access for all parts of society

clearly reference public health and wellbeing as an outcome

take a more active role in supporting access than just promoting opportunities

 

the local governance section contains some interesting revelations too, for example requiring fixed term appointments and performance reviews.

does this mean that the broads authority will be accountable unlike the present situation, that might be seen as a welcome step by some.

 as will

Quote

Strategic alignment

Currently, boards select a chair from amongst their members. Proposal 26 suggested that the chair should be appointed by the Secretary of State, in line with Defra’s public bodies, which we believe could provide greater continuity, strategic direction, and accountability.

 

[Vaughan]

Well, call me thick but I can't find the report on this website.

If it is anything like the press release, however, it is not worth the trouble of reading it.  These are not proposals to actually do something - they are just a lot of educated verbiage that says nothing at all.

For instance :

By harnessing their collective strengths whilst preserving their independence, the partnership will support local leadership to work together nationally, including by carrying out campaigns, organising events and offering volunteering opportunities that bring people closer to nature.

My word for this is b*******, which the forum filter translates as DAFFODILS.

I am sure Old Wussername would call it a load of old squit.

[Bytheriver]

3 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Well, call me thick but I can't find the report on this website.

If it is anything like the press release, however, it is not worth the trouble of reading it.  These are not proposals to actually do something - they are just a lot of educated verbiage that says nothing at all.

For instance :

By harnessing their collective strengths whilst preserving their independence, the partnership will support local leadership to work together nationally, including by carrying out campaigns, organising events and offering volunteering opportunities that bring people closer to nature.

My word for this is b*******, which the forum filter translates as DAFFODILS.

I am sure Old Wussername would call it a load of old squit.

Try this direct link

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/landscapes-review-national-parks-and-aonbs-government-response/landscapes-review-national-parks-and-aonbs-government-response

[Vaughan]

Thank you for the link, but I certainly didn't enjoy reading it!  I am afraid I see the whole thing as miles and miles of words in a foreign language, which produces nothing concrete.

For instance :

Share knowledge and expertise to build capacity across the protected landscapes family.

This was one of the bullet points but what on Earth is it supposed to mean?  And then later on, under sustainable tourism (whatever that is) :

To identify and deliver further ways to help the industry to grow back greener, we have also committed to producing a Sustainable Tourism Plan, working with the wider Visitor Economy sector and VisitBritain/VisitEngland (sic), and we will be engaging with representatives from the protected landscapes to help inform that plan.

Who writes this stuff?  Meghan Markle?  How is a Broads boatyard supposed to grow back greener?  Even if it knew what that meant?

I also noticed, under the heading "Nature and climate" :

Natural England's new Landscape Designation Programme . . . . . . . is exploring new approaches to improve landscapes for people and nature, particularly in and around towns and cities.

What, around Norwich??  In only a few years' time, a journey by road or rail between Norwich and Wroxham or Acle will  just pass through a continuous estate of little "affordable" boxes with no countryside left whatever!  How can all these wonderful ideas for maintaining our countryside and its "bio-diversity" have any hope at all if the local authorities are still allowed to grant planning permission for "green building" all over it?

I am afraid I get the distinct impression that the government mindset behind this document is that there will now be certain designated areas of the UK which will be preserved as national parks, while the rest of our "green and pleasant land" can go to Hell.

[grendel]

at least under their proposals the broads is one of those areas. its all carefully worded in political speak, its not meant to be easy to understand i guess.

[YnysMon]

I’m with Vaughan on this one. Okay, I admit I work in ‘middle management’, but as soon as I get a whiff of this type of verbosity my cynical self emerges. Colleagues who wrap up their talk in wordiness quite often turn out not to have a clue. 

[AndyTBoater]

"Share knowledge and expertise to build capacity across the protected landscapes family."

Beautiful. I do admire people who can put that many words together and still not actually say anything. 

I know what each of the words mean individually but have no idea what they mean when put in this order. 

 

[Wussername]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Thank you for the link, but I certainly didn't enjoy reading it!  I am afraid I see the whole thing as miles and miles of words in a foreign language, which produces nothing concrete.

For instance :

Share knowledge and expertise to build capacity across the protected landscapes family.

This was one of the bullet points but what on Earth is it supposed to mean?  And then later on, under sustainable tourism (whatever that is) :

To identify and deliver further ways to help the industry to grow back greener, we have also committed to producing a Sustainable Tourism Plan, working with the wider Visitor Economy sector and VisitBritain/VisitEngland (sic), and we will be engaging with representatives from the protected landscapes to help inform that plan.

Who writes this stuff?  Meghan Markle?  How is a Broads boatyard supposed to grow back greener?  Even if it knew what that meant?

I also noticed, under the heading "Nature and climate" :

Natural England's new Landscape Designation Programme . . . . . . . is exploring new approaches to improve landscapes for people and nature, particularly in and around towns and cities.

What, around Norwich??  In only a few years' time, a journey by road or rail between Norwich and Wroxham or Acle will  just pass through a continuous estate of little "affordable" boxes with no countryside left whatever!  How can all these wonderful ideas for maintaining our countryside and its "bio-diversity" have any hope at all if the local authorities are still allowed to grant planning permission for "green building" all over it?

I am afraid I get the distinct impression that the government mindset behind this document is that there will now be certain designated areas of the UK which will be preserved as national parks, while the rest of our "green and pleasant land" can go to Hell.

Thank goodness there are amongst us that recognise it for what it is.

Thanks Vaughan.

 

[BroadAmbition]

I know what each of the words mean individually but have no idea what they mean when put in this order

I'm so glad its not just me! 

Griff

[Andrewcook]

Actions Speaks Louder then Words that's what I would like to see if it happens? 

[Wussername]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

I know what each of the words mean individually but have no idea what they mean when put in this order

I'm so glad its not just me! 

Griff

I think Griff that it relates to b*** ***t baffles brains.

[floydraser]

I've not managed to get all the way through it yet but I'm doing my best. 

Whoever wrote it would be a very boring dinner guest. I'm pretty sure though, it was Sir Humphrey from Yes Minister.

There is one section which I have worked out is saying we will either do something, or we may do nothing. I'll have to wait to see if it applies to the whole document.

On a note as positive as it's possible to get in these matters: No-one has found anything totally unexpected, shocking or contraversial... yet.

[Bytheriver]

This may be of help from the Charity that is the umbrella organisation for all of the National Park Friends Groups & Societies

 https://www.cnp.org.uk/news/campaign-national-parks-calls-new-landscapes-bill-government-responds-glover-review

[Vaughan]

7 hours ago, Andrewcook said:

Actions Speaks Louder then Words that's what I would like to see if it happens?

Yes, but what actions?  All they have actually proposed, as far as I can see, is to form a whole lot more committees and give new official titles to existing and rather dubious Quangos.

"When in doubt, form a committee" is a well known maxim in government.  Most of us know that the best form of committee consists of three people :

Two of whom are off sick.

[Ray]

I get a feeling of unease reading these documents... not a single concrete proposal. A call for funding by the Campaign for National Parks which is likely to fall on deaf ears given the recent pandemic associated spending. 

Are we going to end up with nothing but a pointless rebranding?

"Welcome to the Broads National Landscape"

[Vaughan]

This rather reminds me of the awful day when Crown Blue Line was sold to the tour operator, First Choice, who of course, knew nothing about hire boats.  At that time I was the only Englishman on the French board of directors and the only English base manager in a company running over 450 hire boats.  Very soon, a party of young First Choice wizz-kid executives came out from London for the day to hold a big meeting of all the managers and base secretaries, to tell us all how to run a boatyard.  None of them spoke a word of French, of course.

The first Yuppy put up the first slide, which was headed MISSION STATEMENT.

All eyes in the audience turned to me for a translation but after the meeting was held up while we muttered among ourselves, it turned out there wasn't one.  The expression just doesn't exist in French!  From then on the meeting became more and more risible, until another Yuppy was presenting his project for "local income".  This turned out to mean the sale of T shirts and coffee mugs in reception and one of the bullet points on the slide was "assumes on-target client take-up". Again all eyes turned to me but I was no wiser than they were!  It turned out later that it meant "so long as we get enough bookings". 

So why the "Sam Hill" couldn't they have said that in the first place?

I am afraid I also got to know what it means when a corporate tour operator talks of the need to "drive down costs".  This translates as "stop doing any maintenance on the boats and get rid of a third of the personnel".

[NeilB]

I'm afraid this kind of claptrap is common amongst big business these days, lots of words with no substance, meaning or details.  I sometimes struggle to keep my head down and mouth closed, luckily everyone in my team is of the same opinion so we have a good laugh about it and go back to doing our jobs.

The people responsible for writing this rubbish usually congratulate themselves and then disappear to another company to repeat the exercise.

[grendel]

Vaughan, I would have thought that some of the positives I quoted at the beginning of the thread would have made you happier, -  as in fixed term board appointments and allocation of the chairman by the secretary of state- thus accountable to the secretary of state.

[CeePee1952]

56 minutes ago, NeilB said:

I'm afraid this kind of claptrap is common amongst big business these days, lots of words with no substance, meaning or details.  I sometimes struggle to keep my head down and mouth closed, luckily everyone in my team is of the same opinion so we have a good laugh about it and go back to doing our jobs.

The people responsible for writing this rubbish usually congratulate themselves and then disappear to another company to repeat the exercise.

Including politicians! Now, I consider myself to be fairly well educated and able to string a fairly decent plain language sentence together most of the time but lately, as well as the topic being discussed here, I noticed that some politicians must have had a dictionary and/or a Thesaurus for Christmas!!  "Obfuscation"????  Really??? I had to google it to find its meaning!  Unintelligible would have sufficed methinks!!  Like Neil has said, I also had a good laugh when I discovered its meaning. 

Chris

[Bytheriver]

This may be of interest - the BBC item includes a interview with Julian Glover 

It certainly picks up on some of the points raised locally

https://deframedia.blog.gov.uk/2022/01/17/coverage-of-the-governments-response-to-the-landscapes-review/

[Vaughan]

3 hours ago, grendel said:

Vaughan, I would have thought that some of the positives I quoted at the beginning of the thread would have made you happier, -  as in fixed term board appointments and allocation of the chairman by the secretary of state- thus accountable to the secretary of state.

I certainly agree that it is an actual proposal to do something - one of few that I noticed - but I am still not sure whether it would turn out to be a plus or minus in the long run.  I have always felt that the Broads have been best run by Broadsmen.

In the 60s, the chairman of the River Commissioners was Desmond Truman, of Oulton Broad.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

In the 60s, the chairman of the River Commissioners was Desmond Truman, of Oulton Broad.

I`m unsure about genetically modified foods but I am against cloning humans!