Reform The Broads Authority

[BroadAmbition]

Is a brand new FB group with 140 members already. There some interesting points and views 

Griff

[Smoggy]

Shame it's on faceache, there's a lot that care about the broads but don't care for faceache.

It's not much hassle or cost to setup a web address and a forum these days.

[Ray]

Facebook, despite it's many faults, has a great reach. It probably is a good place to start. Like anything else, with FB you can take what you want and leave the rest.

[FlyingFortress]

3 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Shame it's on faceache, there's a lot that care about the broads but don't care for faceache.

It's not much hassle or cost to setup a web address and a forum these days.

It's not. 

You are correct.

Trouble is , Faceache is easy to use and many folk live their whole lives on it.

Also, and I am trying to say this in the nicest possible way, it's for people who call programming coding. 🫣

[floydraser]

I've had a quick look at this FB page and so far so good. I like the honesty of the statement of intent; it's trying to do what it says on the tin. I'll give it a while and if it doesn't get silly I'll join just add my name to the numbers. I'm not sure I could contribute any more than the experienced  voices already there.

My biggest problem with InstaWhappFaceTwitTok is that they all seem to have interfaces designed for those who want to live on them. For instance, we have a family Whatsapp group but because I don't live on it I can never remember how to do things! There should be free night school classes for the over fifties to learn these things. 

[Andrewcook]

That would be interesting to see  how FB progress. As I'm now in my Seventies I do hope the Broads still got a good future in its Boating in its capacity. 

[Vaughan]

4 hours ago, floydraser said:

For instance, we have a family Whatsapp group but because I don't live on it I can never remember how to do things!

My wife Susie joined Facebook, just so that she could keep up with family news but never posted on it.  She ended up getting her identity hacked by someone in New Zealand and had an awful job to close it down.

I am very unlikely ever to go near the thing but I am in touch with a lot of the people who are forming this group.  I wish them success.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Sadly it's not only Facebook users that get scamed. There's info everywhere on all of us,which is useful to scammers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FlyingFortress]

Could someone who does use Facebook keep us updated on what's happening please 

[BroadAmbition]

Membership is increasing by the day now

Griff

[floydraser]

5 hours ago, Vaughan said:

My wife Susie joined Facebook, just so that she could keep up with family news but never posted on it.  She ended up getting her identity hacked by someone in New Zealand and had an awful job to close it down.

I am very unlikely ever to go near the thing but I am in touch with a lot of the people who are forming this group.  I wish them success.

Yes, unfortunately there are those who seek to mess it up for all of us. When I put the boat on Facebook Marketplace I had two, sometimes three enquiries per evening from genuine profiles but hackers were using them to try and get me to visit a dodgy website. Thankfully they were easy to spot after the first one and the website never opened anyway.

My profile clearly states I don't want any "friends" and the only reason I'm there is to sell stuff on Marketplace. I deliberately put in the wrong date of birth as a minor security thing and one of my neighbours sent me a card on the "wrong" day!

[Gracie]

3 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

Sadly it's not only Facebook users that get scamed. There's info everywhere on all of us,which is useful to scammers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I shouldn't worry Ian, judging by the gap at the bottom of your post no one will ever find you  

Just to stay on topic I hope the Facebook group does well and hopefully make a difference

 

[Smoggy]

I do have a faceache login but it's not my name or anything like and date of birth is way out, I just don't trust the social media sites with my info, check out the birthday list on any forum on jan 1st and see how many 100+ year olds are there, on a bike forum I wished somone a happy 168th birthday last year.

I may have a peek but I won't be putting my name to anything, I'm happy to put my name to my opinions but not to hand it to the tech companies more than I have to.

[Bytheriver]

The reformation of the Broads Authority along with all of the National Parks in England is already underway - The Landscape Review ( Glover) where the Broads get a mention of being "different"  A  lobbying of MPs Ministers, Civil Servants and others is underway (though not helped by the summers rapidly changing government with ministers being moved around) The review was instigated by Michael Gove who in his current position could help getting the review back on course however the promised clauses in the Levelling Up Bill failed to help.

Pressure can be brought by lobbying of local MPs though you have to live in their constituencies. Minsters - Thérèse Coffey - MP for Suffolk Costal - Trudy Harrison ( MP for Copeland which happens to be the Lake District )is the DEFRA Minister

Leading the parliamentary lobbying on behalf of the National Parks Friends Groups & Societies is the Campaign for National Parks who are currently well staffed following a major five year grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation starting this year - Check their website for regular updates https://www.cnp.org.uk/

Please avoid the National Park or not controversy as this will become a distraction from the need for reform due to the funding stream.

[Vaughan]

3 hours ago, Bytheriver said:

Please avoid the National Park or not controversy as this will become a distraction from the need for reform due to the funding stream.

Tell that to Dr Packman, then.

 

Please don't think me flippant - I very much appreciate your posts which are very useful and well worthy of serious consideration.

When talking of a funding stream, the National Park question becomes relevant since the Broads, unique among the "Family" has the additional income from river tolls, owing to the obligation to navigation.   Other NPs have to rely solely on the fluctuation of Government funding.

This additional funding stream is dedicated to the maintenance of the cruising area and should be maintained separate from the funding of the "national park".

I trust that this is still the case and there has been no temptation to "rob Peter to pay Paul"?   After all, during the years of pandemic, the river toll income stream remained the same, as all river tolls, private and hire, continued to be payed in full.   Which makes me wonder why a 13% increase should be needed now. 

Just asking . . . .

 

[Vaughan]

Seems I am not the only one asking this question!

There is now an article on the EDP website entitled "Are toll payers propping up the National Park functions of the Broads Authority?"

Sorry I don't know how to link it here - maybe someone can?   

Towards the end it says "Mooring charges at Yarmouth and Norwich will increase from £6 to £8 for a day and £13 to £16 overnight. This is the first increase in charges in these locations since 2017."

There is no mention at all in the article about any new charge for other moorings.

[Wussername]

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23267237.norfolk-broads-boat-owners-raise-toll-price-hike-concerns/

There you go me old mate, me old mucker

Old Wussername 

[Ray]

From the article the BA seem to imply that up to now they have been using part of their NP funding to prop up navigation spending!

I have no idea whether or not that is true!

[Meantime]

13 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

There is no mention at all in the article about any new charge for other moorings.

That is probably just down to the poor level of journalism within the EDP. For instance take a look at the following sentence.

"The concerns follow an announcement to increase tolls by 13% this year, a move the authority is hoping will bring in an additional £4.26m over the next financial year. "

Which would tend to indicate that the toll income is around £37m per year. Just imagine how the BA could waste that amount.!!!!!

[Bytheriver]

4 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Seems I am not the only one asking this question!

There is now an article on the EDP website entitled "Are toll payers propping up the National Park functions of the Broads Authority?"

Sorry I don't know how to link it here - maybe someone can?   

Towards the end it says "Mooring charges at Yarmouth and Norwich will increase from £6 to £8 for a day and £13 to £16 overnight. This is the first increase in charges in these locations since 2017."

There is no mention at all in the article about any new charge for other moorings.

The EDP article a week ago was the first mention that the charge for overnight a Reedham & Ranworth was to be £10 & the first mention of the £5 daytime charge was at Fridays meeting! Maybe they thought they had covered it?

[Vaughan]

I can't remember who it was, who said the most efficient form of committee is made up of three people:

Two of whom are off sick.

[Hylander]

19 hours ago, Gracie said:

I shouldn't worry Ian, judging by the gap at the bottom of your post no one will ever find you  

 

 

Fantastic Gracie  

[floydraser]

On 22/01/2023 at 00:09, floydraser said:

I've had a quick look at this FB page and so far so good. I like the honesty of the statement of intent; it's trying to do what it says on the tin. I'll give it a while and if it doesn't get silly I'll join just add my name to the numbers.

Well as I expected, it just got very silly. Rule 2: No hate speech or bullying.

The very bloke who set it up then posts "Everyone say hi to the BA spy in our midst" 

Rule 4: No moaning. But the above kicked off a list of the same old moans.

I'll stay away thanks, it's just not the way to go on.

[FlyingFortress]

26 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Well as I expected, it just got very silly. Rule 2: No hate speech or bullying.

The very bloke who set it up then posts "Everyone say hi to the BA spy in our midst" 

Rule 4: No moaning. But the above kicked off a list of the same old moans.

I'll stay away thanks, it's just not the way to go on.

Feel very much the same as you.

I managed to take a look on my wife's account and it did seem to me the same old names airing the same old gripes.

 

[Vaughan]

22 minutes ago, floydraser said:

"Everyone say hi to the BA spy in our midst"

And there is the big difference!

We don't have a BA spy in our midst : we have a forum membership called @BroadsAuthority.

We know the BA read what we say here and we appreciate their input when Tom comes back and answers our queries.

This naturally also qualifies the remarks that we may make about them.  That is as it should be and I hope it will continue that way.

Doesn't hold me back - but there you go!