LESS than 7% of eligible boaters voted in the Canal & River Trust (CaRT) Council election according to the Electoral Reform Society.
In a show of no confidence in the Trust and its governance structure there was a drop in turnout from 27.4% at the last election (March 2012) to just 6.8% (December 2015).
Private boating
Just 1,860 (2012—7,556) out of an electorate of 27,280 (2012—28,805) voted for the eight candidates (2012—33) standing. The four private boaters returned, in the order they were elected, were Phil Prettyman,Stella Ridgway, Andrew Phasey,Vaughan Welch.
Other constituencies
Business boating (two to elect) also had a poor turnout with 11.1% compared to 37.4% in 2012. With employees (one to elect) turnout fell from 44.0% to 25.8%. In the new constituency of ‘volunteers' (one to elect) just 14.9% voted.
In the ‘Friends' category, the only nominee to gain the five sponsors needed (and thus stand for Council unopposed) claimed she was being excluded on ethnic grounds (Ethnic ‘Friend' not allowed to stand for Council). She has now been offered a place for two years but it is not known if this will be accepted.
Appalling turnout
The truly appalling turnout, particularly from private boaters, is only to be expected. In September, narrowboatworld published some of findings of a report that CaRT had kept hidden for a year. In particular: Respect—only one in four (24%) boaters say they feel respected by the Trust ...
The warning signs were all there but not acted on!
Internet 'questions and answers' cancelled
On 4th December ‘Boaters Update' stated: ‘On the afternoon of the 18 December the boating team will be taking to the internet to answer any questions you may have'. It never happened. No explanation for cancellation was given.
Perhaps boating team ‘bottled out' thinking boaters would ignore them. On the other hand perhaps they thought that they might have to answer a few awkward questions...
One of the questions the boating team might have been asked is why the number of eligible boaters has dropped by over 1,500 between the two elections...