Rising Toll Fees

[Andrewcook]

It was said in the Eastern Newspaper that  the Broads are in Deep Waters over the Rising Costs and Need to raise the Tolls Fees sharply next Year that's not on in my view now.

[Vaughan]

I saw the headline for the article but it is hidden behind their paywall.

At least the controversy has got into the press.

[grendel]

they cant be in deep water, there's not been enough dredging for that.

[Wussername]

Give the donkey another whack comes to mind.

 

[Andrewcook]

Yes Grendel you are quite right but not Dredging in the Right place as Griff knows where they should be

[dom]

It's fairly clear it's a back covering exercise. Release the news now as a "significant challenge" then, when people complain about another sizeable rise, BA can claim that "you've had 6 months to make constructive suggestions, but did nothing".

[Mouldy]

When the rate of inflation was running at about 10% a couple of years ago, they could use that as a benchmark figure to increase tolls by the same amount (or a bit more).

It'll be much more difficult surely for them to try to force a toll increase almost 10% more than the RPI, currently around 2%.

[BuffaloBill]

So, someone 'drip feeds' this news about a possible 10% rise

and we all start shouting about it etc. After Christmas they announce

that it will 'only be' 5-6% and everyone thinks that it's not too

bad after all!

Strategy or what? 

[Bikertov]

That sounds like the current strategy with the upcoming Budget at the end of October - a lot of figures and rhetoric being thrown around, that some are questioning as to their accuracy and validity and claiming it is to soften us up for what is to come.

[Ray]

Do you remember when there was a blackout on the Budget before it was announced, saved all that speculation... much better system.

As for BA, if they are forced into less than 10% then sure as eggs is eggs they'll cut back on dredging 🙁

[Bikertov]

1 minute ago, Ray said:

Do you remember when there was a blackout on the Budget before it was announced, saved all that speculation... much better system.

It seems to be the way these days - from both sides of the spectrum - to "leak" and "brief" information prior to official announcements and speeches.

How many times do you hear quotes from a keynote speech, a day or two before it is delivered - 

"Tomorrow (so-and-so) will say 'abc' and 'xyz' in their speech to the Commons/industry leaders/conference/a gathering of bored people in a random factory wearing hi-viz jackets"

[Mouldy]

48 minutes ago, Ray said:

As for BA, if they are forced into less than 10% then sure as eggs is eggs they'll cut back on dredging 🙁

There must be something drastically wrong with their management and finances.  There is a fair income from mooring fees at Ranworth, although they are having to pay three or four people to take the money and organise the moorings.  It must be questionable as to whether charging for mooring there actually adds to their finances or if it is running at a loss.

They’ve screwed the toll payers for an increase of over 22% over the past two years.  I think our toll on NL when we bought her in 2019 was about £370.  Last year we paid £517.  That represents about an increase of around 40% from the 2019 figure.

They are claiming that their income is reducing due to less tolls being paid.  Have they considered that ever increasing costs of running a boat are leading to people selling up and a further above RPI increase in tolls will potentially lead to an acceleration of that trend.  Maybe that is the aim.  Kill The Broads as a destination for boating and promote the National Park ideals.

 

[dom]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

There must be something drastically wrong with their management and finances.

It's easy to see there are too many staff in some areas, particularly planning.

Spirit of Breydon also appears to be disproportionately expensive to arguably little or no benefit. Historically there was no resource there and the frequency of incidents wasn't noticably different. The RNLI and coastguard also seem the most important resources when incidents occur.

The vehicle fleet is all owned and, if put under close scrutiny, is probably more expensive than it would be leased (there are regular things like gearbox replacements at substantial cost).

Their bills for fuel seem excessive. If I was their management accountant, I'd be doing an audit to make sure it's not going in staff's personal vehicles. It's equally possible a lot of it is just being burned needlessly up and down Breydon.

If they kill boating, their entire funding model will collapse, visitor numbers will dwindle and BA would probably be subsumed into EA - so running their "business" to achieve that ends would be corporate darwinism.

[rightsaidfred]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

There must be something drastically wrong with their management and finances.  There is a fair income from mooring fees at Ranworth, although they are having to pay three or four people to take the money and organise the moorings.  It must be questionable as to whether charging for mooring there actually adds to their finances or if it is running at a loss.

They’ve screwed the toll payers for an increase of over 22% over the past two years.  I think our toll on NL when we bought her in 2019 was about £370.  Last year we paid £517.  That represents about an increase of around 40% from the 2019 figure.

They are claiming that their income is reducing due to less tolls being paid.  Have they considered that ever increasing costs of running a boat are leading to people selling up and a further above RPI increase in tolls will potentially lead to an acceleration of that trend.  Maybe that is the aim.  Kill The Broads as a destination for boating and promote the National Park ideals.

 

The Ranworth mooring charges are net income as it was staffed at the same level including volunteers before the charge was introduced. 

Fred

[Mouldy]

15 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

The Ranworth mooring charges are net income as it was staffed at the same level including volunteers before the charge was introduced. 

Fred

I don’t recall there being a ranger on the quay to organise the moorings years ago.  For a while before charging was introduced , there was someone there wagging a boat hook about and tying and untying ropes, probably to assess the benefit of organising utilisation and gauging potential income from introducing the charges.

When we were there a couple of weeks ago, there were two on the quay and two staff manning the office.

Don’t get me wrong, the rangers outside were doing a good job, shouting instructions where necessary to those wishing to moor and assisting with ropes, but do we need two?  That being the case and at least some of the personnel on duty are being paid, I must question nett income from the mooring fees.

30 minutes ago, dom said:

It's easy to see there are too many staff in some areas, particularly planning.

Spirit of Breydon also appears to be disproportionately expensive to arguably little or no benefit.

I seem to recall that Spirit of Breydon was on the market through NBS a few years ago, but didn’t sell.

[CambridgeCabby]

21 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

The Ranworth mooring charges are net income as it was staffed at the same level including volunteers before the charge was introduced. 

Fred

There are certainly more rangers in attendance since the introduction of the mooring fees at Ranworth .

Prior to their introduction you used to have one ranger (paid) on duty in the office plus the occasional volunteer who normally appeared at weekends ; during my visits this season there has always been two paid rangers on duty plus occasional volunteers again mainly at the weekends .

if memory serves me right , after the failed attempt to sell Spirit of Breydon the boat was re engined (at considerable cost) to something more appropriate to its role 

[kpnut]

3 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

So, someone 'drip feeds' this news about a possible 10% rise

and we all start shouting about it etc. After Christmas they announce

that it will 'only be' 5-6% and everyone thinks that it's not too

bad after all!

Strategy or what? 

That was my thought as soon as I read about it. It's now plastered all over Facebook and all over the press. And we all, like lemons, have fallen for it.

[Bikertov]

37 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

if memory serves me right , after the failed attempt to sell Spirit of Breydon the boat was re engined (at considerable cost) to something more appropriate to its role 

I found this on FB, from when the BA announced they were trying to sell Spirit of Breydon

https://www.facebook.com/BroadsAuthority/posts/after-6-years-successfully-patrolling-breydon-water-including-assisting-many-ves/2227153777405775/

The comments made me both laugh and cry - not a lot has changed, and it is clearly not just members on this forum that are unimpressed with the BA

[Mouldy]

2 hours ago, Bikertov said:

I found this on FB, from when the BA announced they were trying to sell Spirit of Breydon

https://www.facebook.com/BroadsAuthority/posts/after-6-years-successfully-patrolling-breydon-water-including-assisting-many-ves/2227153777405775/

The comments made me both laugh and cry - not a lot has changed, and it is clearly not just members on this forum that are unimpressed with the BA

Thanks Danny.  I didn’t think I’d imagined Spirit of Breydon being on the market!

[Andrewcook]

I've been on Facebook and put my points on view 

[rightsaidfred]

12 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

There are certainly more rangers in attendance since the introduction of the mooring fees at Ranworth .

Prior to their introduction you used to have one ranger (paid) on duty in the office plus the occasional volunteer who normally appeared at weekends ; during my visits this season there has always been two paid rangers on duty plus occasional volunteers again mainly at the weekends .

if memory serves me right , after the failed attempt to sell Spirit of Breydon the boat was re engined (at considerable cost) to something more appropriate to its role 

I havnt been there this year but it has always been manned in the past, years ago before it was handed over to NWT Ron used to be the seasonal mooring attendant with cover on his days off, he had a volunteer assistant, the information office and trip boat are nothing to do with the navigation, the information officer only ever noted the boat Reg for the 24 hour so shouldn't  be funded by tolls or mooring charges.

Fred

[SwanR]

It’s interesting. We have moored at Ranworth many times over the last 12 years. I never saw an attendant and any assistance always came from other boaters. Even the one occasion since the charges came in, we moored ourselves with not a sign of direction or help from the rangers, although I have seen them busying themselves on many of our weekend visits to the Granary. 

[rightsaidfred]

24 minutes ago, SwanR said:

It’s interesting. We have moored at Ranworth many times over the last 12 years. I never saw an attendant and any assistance always came from other boaters. Even the one occasion since the charges came in, we moored ourselves with not a sign of direction or help from the rangers, although I have seen them busying themselves on many of our weekend visits to the Granary. 

You are right, from memory it was about then that BA closed the office along with the one at PH and leased the shop to  NWT, Ron moved up to the Wroxham office and did the trip boat to Coltishall, BA reopened the shop in 2021.

Fred