Voting for CART opens today - The candidates Page 4
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I have been boating on the Severn for over 30 years, travelling up and down most weeks of the summer months.
Been treasurer of two yacht clubs & committee member. Currently Chairman of Cookmill Parish Council (20 years plus). Member of Wychavon Standards Committee and an R.Y.A Instructor.
Understand budgeting, precepts, accounts, sales & marketing, wages and spreadsheets.
I run a small family business in Worcester (30 years), with my wife and son.
I wish to join the Canal & River Trust as I have the knowledge (as a boater) and experience gained over many years to give the new Trust.
ROBERTSON, IAIN
Location: Glasgow 25 years, Invernesshire eight years, Berwickshire nine years, Edinburgh four years, Isle of Arran 20 years, Nottingham seven years.
Work: National Service RAMC two years, paper manufacturing 15 years, publisher of photography based tourism products 15 years, operator of seaside caravan/camp site, shop, restaurant, golf course, 22 years.
Leisure: Scouting, rugby, golf, B&B operation, travel, cruiser, motor cycle.
Skills: Management, problem solving, planning, marketing, photography, DIY, IT.
Waterways: In August 2011 203 miles single-handed cruiser voyage provided very considerable user understanding of the good and the bad of our canal system.
Contribution: My exceptionally wide tourism and service involvements combined with this recent boating experience generate many ideas and opinions that could be utilised in the determination of positive policies, planning, and marketing, towards the betterment of the canal system.
Retired, fit and mobile, I look forward to being of service.
ROPER, PAUL
I have boated for years and been an owner for 11. I'm an IWA Trustee and Chairman of their Navigation Committee which campaigns for boaters. I have been the principal lead for IWA's response to the government's Canal & River Trust proposals. My primary concern, should you elect me, is to ensure that from the outset the waterways are maintained as boaters would wish. I believe in the primacy of navigation but if difficult choices have to be made I will be pragmatic over how the money should be spent, as I had to be in my senior civil service career. But my overriding priority will always be keeping the whole network open to boats. I am also clear that as the principal paying stakeholder, boaters need a strong voice on the Council and I offer myself as someone who can adopt that role on behalf of all boaters.
RUDD, STEPHEN
The navigations of the UK are a resource to be treasured and maintained so that they can be enjoyed both now and in the future.
Regrettably, the quality of maintenance achieved in the past by British Waterways has been disappointing resulting in the navigations deteriorating rather than improving. British Waterways didn't always use its resources wisely, too much being spent on administration.
The Canal & River Trust has its work cut out to do a better job than British Waterways by using its resources to improve the waterways.
To start by transferring the British Waterways administration and appointing the British Waterways senior management as Trustees is not a progressive start.
If appointed to the Council I will do my utmost to ensure that the available resources are focused on the maintenance and improvement of the navigations.
SCOTT, PETER
Council will "help to shape policy": We need policies that:
keep our waterways open and measure openness from one year to the next harass Management into improving availability; and reverse their creeping closures which restrict navigation - eg eleven day May closure for Oxford Canal bridge demolition; four-days-per week closure at Standedge Tunnel; 4pm daily closure Newlay to Leeds
get more boats, more moving boats, on our underused waterways
persuade the non-navigation majority of Council that while their interests could be served by a series of disconnected duck ponds, we all need open, used, connected, navigations
I'm Chairman of IWA Northeast and Yorkshire and do a thousand boating miles each year across the whole connected system.
SCOTT, ROBERT
My love affair with the inland waterways began on a hire boat in 1974. After a number of family holidays on the rivers and canals I have now reached the stage where I am a boat owner and Boatmaster.
Over the past six years I have had the good fortune to be able to spend more and more time travelling around the country on the water. Experiencing the state of the system first hand, I worry that the next generation will not be able to travel the system as I have done.
Maintaining and improving the system for all boaters is my top priority whether they be hirers, private owners or commercial operators, residential or continuous cruisers.
Whilst I am a member of several charities and societies, I have no vested interest in the waterways other than as a boater.
Please give me your vote.
SMETHAM, TONY
I am a 51 years old CC liveaboard and have been an active member of London Boaters for the past year or so.
London Boaters is becoming a pioneer of community-based provision of services and facilities for boaters (e.g. moorings, boaters' credit union). I believe that this could serve as a template for use in other areas, and fits in well with the local partnership model embodied in the Canal & River Trust structure.
There is a view that the canal network is a scarce commodity with competition for resources between leisure and residential users. Our research showed this not to be the case, and that a vibrant residential community actually encourages leisure users to make better use of the canals. I will work to promote the use of the waterways to maximise the benefit for all users.
I am independent of all organisations representing boaters.
TIDY, ANDY
Author of Captain Ahab's Watery Tales.
My passion for boating dates from the "dirty ditches" of the 1960's to the magnificent system of today. I have travelled widely on our narrowboat Wand'ring Bark, and it has been said that canal water flows through my veins.
Professionally, I oversee operational integrity within a multinational business, shaping policy, strategy and applying a commercial approach to planning.
If elected I will approach this Council role as an enthusiast and a professional, combining 30 years of commercial experience with a 40-year passion for our waterways. It's crucial that the Canal & River Trust strikes the right balance between the needs of the various user groups, particularly the boaters who must remain core to its operation. I will take a critical view of commercial and strategic aspects of the Trust's proposals and plans. I would be honoured to represent the boating community.