Lock keepers face uncertainties with cuts at the Environment Agency

Im not sure if this is factually correct as I don't know how a lock keeper had my information but ....
When Cuchilo went for a wonder in the recent floods the first contact I had was with the EA that gave me a ref no and wanted to put me through to someone to talk to . My boat was still heading down river at this point so I didn't fancy a chat .
I called Teddington lock to warn them about the situation and I had a call back from Teddington lock the next day telling me my boat had been found and an address to go to . Ive still not heard anything from the EA .
Maybe the paper work and information has been passed between head office and Teddington lock , I wouldn't know about that but from my point of view the people on the ground where pretty bloody fast in telling me where my boat was .
PS Steve . Youre cracking on a bit aint you mate ;)
 
Totally agree, has anyone mentioned the £3000 EA spent on Gold Braid Hats for the Pageant?
and the garden centre uniforms"
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You forgot to mention this from the DM.



Investigation shows the Environment Agency, headed by Lord Chris Smith - Britain's first openly gay Cabinet Minister - spent £639 on gay rights mugs

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rre-spending-quango-bosses.html#ixzz2uwKaBZjo
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter |

They then helpfully go on to tell you how many sandbags the money would have bought.
Probably be about a teabag per household ? :)
 
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oldgit said:
You forgot to mention this from the DM.



Investigation shows the Environment Agency, headed by Lord Chris Smith - Britain's first openly gay Cabinet Minister - spent £639 on gay rights mugs

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rre-spending-quango-bosses.html#ixzz2uwKaBZjo
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter |

They then helpfully go on to tell you how many sandbags the money would have bought.
Probably be about a teabag per household ? :)
Click to expand...

And here endeth the lesson by the resident EA flag waver:):)
 
oldgit said:
B1 has for ages been advocating that other users of the Thames should be asked to contribute a little more towards the upkeep of the river.
The uncomfortable fact is that leisure users of the Thames have long been subsidised by the taxpaying public and if you think 8000 boatowners paying a few hundred quid a year is going to finance upteen locks and 120 miles of navigation you may be in for a weeny shock when future cuts really start to bite.
Rolls Royce appetite......Bag of crisps budget. :)
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We're all taxpayers aren't we? What about homeowners on the river? Okay, some will have trouble getting insurance, but those homes are worth a huge amount more because of the river. And all those new developments of boring flats that have sprung up along the thames. They're there because of it, not in spite of it.

So that's commercial boat operatives, property developers, and millionaires with plenty of riverfront.

Do you still think the owner of an old cabin cruiser is the most realistic source of funding?
 
oldgit said:
Investigation shows the Environment Agency - spent £639 on gay rights mugs
They then helpfully go on to tell you how many sandbags the money would have bought.
Probably be about a teabag per household ? :)
Click to expand...

Well that's an annual license for someone who may have scrimped to pay for it.
 
"Do you still think the owner of an old cabin cruiser is the most realistic source of funding?
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If the owner of that old cabin cruiser cannot find £10.00 a week or the equivalent of roughly gallon and bit of petrol or a couple of packets of fags or 2 pints of beer,then perhaps a new hobby is in order ?
Have you tried pricing a gym membership or evening language course recently.
What you get for your money on the Thames ,must be one of the best bargains ever.
 
Actionmat said:
Best bargains ever? I haven't been able to move all year and we're in the second quarter!
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And remember you can only move up and down the middle third of the river cos the rest is silted up.

But Chris Smith has a nice new mug for his coffee, so thanks for your contribution.
 
oldgit said:
If the owner of that old cabin cruiser cannot find £10.00 a week or the equivalent of roughly gallon and bit of petrol or a couple of packets of fags or 2 pints of beer,then perhaps a new hobby is in order ?
Have you tried pricing a gym membership or evening language course recently.
What you get for your money on the Thames ,must be one of the best bargains ever.
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As I said in an earlier post, "it is easy to spend somebody else's money"

You do not buy a annual EA licence and if you did it would be half the price of the Thames Licence. You buy a visitor licence to visit the Medway and the Thames where you get and use exactly what you pay for and that does represent good value. Your new club mooring cost you circa £800 per annum, and the RCC Grid provides a £40 tidal lift out. I suspect you are understandably concerned about your boating costs.

To make the claim you need to feel the pain!
 
Hi,
I am new to this forum but on reading most of your replies on funding, they slowly move away from the point in question and spend too much time trying to score points against each other rather than accept that the “money pot” is shrinking and cuts will have to be made. If things are to stay as they are the service currently given will disappear.

Very few of you come up with any suggestion as to how we should tackle this. It is time we knew the true facts on how the EA is run, what funding comes in, how it is allocated and who does what in the organisation. It is funded by the Government, commercial and public money we should have the facts. Yes you can read the financial reports that are available but any one of you who has been in business will know that is just "top dressing" and tells us what they want us to know. We need to know what they do not want us to know.

The Lock Keepers and their house are very obvious targets. They are very visual and easy to put them forward when it comes to making them redundant. And where are all these fully trained persons that can travel at great speed to the locks and weirs to prevent an incident? It was only a few years ago that someone was sent from the Osney depot at great cost to cover a lunch break at a mid-thames lock. He was not “signed off” so the lock was left on public power. The boaters did not get good service that day.

The EA being a typical quango has I am sure many employees and top brass especially, who are at this moment building walls around their little empire’s and will fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs at the expense of those Lock Keepers who do not have any say in their future.

The EA needs a complete root and branch pruning, all dead wood removed, new ways looked at to achieve the same good results but more efficiently with less staff. It is not rocket science and all good commercial companies do it on a regular basis.

Let’s hear less of the easy options and find ways to bring an acceptable service back to all users of the River Thames at a cost we can all afford.
 
Big John said:
Hi,
I am new to this forum but on reading most of your replies on funding, they slowly move away from the point in question and spend too much time trying to score points against each other rather than accept that the “money pot” is shrinking and cuts will have to be made. If things are to stay as they are the service currently given will disappear.

Very few of you come up with any suggestion as to how we should tackle this. It is time we knew the true facts on how the EA is run, what funding comes in, how it is allocated and who does what in the organisation. It is funded by the Government, commercial and public money we should have the facts. Yes you can read the financial reports that are available but any one of you who has been in business will know that is just "top dressing" and tells us what they want us to know. We need to know what they do not want us to know.

The Lock Keepers and their house are very obvious targets. They are very visual and easy to put them forward when it comes to making them redundant. And where are all these fully trained persons that can travel at great speed to the locks and weirs to prevent an incident? It was only a few years ago that someone was sent from the Osney depot at great cost to cover a lunch break at a mid-thames lock. He was not “signed off” so the lock was left on public power. The boaters did not get good service that day.

The EA being a typical quango has I am sure many employees and top brass especially, who are at this moment building walls around their little empire’s and will fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs at the expense of those Lock Keepers who do not have any say in their future.

The EA needs a complete root and branch pruning, all dead wood removed, new ways looked at to achieve the same good results but more efficiently with less staff. It is not rocket science and all good commercial companies do it on a regular basis.

Let’s hear less of the easy options and find ways to bring an acceptable service back to all users of the River Thames at a cost we can all afford.
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Well with you pompously talking down to us utter imbeciles, is there any point when you already obviously have the answer and we are too stupid to have an
opinion?

I thought that in general we are agreeing with what you suggest - pruning the EA management and collossal waste, an easier answer still would be to transfer it all to CART who seem to be making a better job of things.

Perhaps we should go to our ATYC leaders to drive this forward for us, on the other hand perhaps not
 
Big John said:
Hi,
I am new to this forum but on reading most of your replies on funding, they slowly move away from the point in question and spend too much time trying to score points against each other rather than accept that the “money pot” is shrinking and cuts will have to be made. If things are to stay as they are the service currently given will disappear.

Very few of you come up with any suggestion as to how we should tackle this. It is time we knew the true facts on how the EA is run, what funding comes in, how it is allocated and who does what in the organisation. It is funded by the Government, commercial and public money we should have the facts. Yes you can read the financial reports that are available but any one of you who has been in business will know that is just "top dressing" and tells us what they want us to know. We need to know what they do not want us to know.

The Lock Keepers and their house are very obvious targets. They are very visual and easy to put them forward when it comes to making them redundant. And where are all these fully trained persons that can travel at great speed to the locks and weirs to prevent an incident? It was only a few years ago that someone was sent from the Osney depot at great cost to cover a lunch break at a mid-thames lock. He was not “signed off” so the lock was left on public power. The boaters did not get good service that day.

The EA being a typical quango has I am sure many employees and top brass especially, who are at this moment building walls around their little empire’s and will fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs at the expense of those Lock Keepers who do not have any say in their future.

The EA needs a complete root and branch pruning, all dead wood removed, new ways looked at to achieve the same good results but more efficiently with less staff. It is not rocket science and all good commercial companies do it on a regular basis.

Let’s hear less of the easy options and find ways to bring an acceptable service back to all users of the River Thames at a cost we can all afford.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum John, would probably agree with most of what you say but not sure a complete reconstruction of the EA is required.

I guess you have noticed there are a few characters around here:D
 
apollo said:
Totally agree, has anyone mentioned the £3000 EA spent on Gold Braid Hats for the Pageant?
and the garden centre uniforms, and the self service lock signs X2 etc etc etc
and I have read B1s posts just don't happen to agree that EA are doing the best they can.
While the rowers still pay £19 a boat, there obviously is not a budget problem.
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Exactly! and while the rowers still pay such a cheap (subsidised?) rate, I will not support any increase to my license fee - the rowers use the river much more frequently than I do.
 
oldgit said:
If the owner of that old cabin cruiser cannot find £10.00 a week or the equivalent of roughly gallon and bit of petrol or a couple of packets of fags or 2 pints of beer,then perhaps a new hobby is in order ?
Have you tried pricing a gym membership or evening language course recently.
What you get for your money on the Thames ,must be one of the best bargains ever.
Click to expand...

Maybe so if you divided it by 12months but you can't.
We are lucky to get 6months on average with closures/flooding.
Traditionally fitting out was Easter/April,laying up was end of October,that ain't a year!
Think you have already started your season along with some on the Mobo forum.gd luck to you,I wonder when we will get to go out?:(
Btw gym membership for the lad who works for me is £40 per month 24/7/365,not a gd comparison
Are the figures quoted for RCC correct?if so wow,that is what you call a 'best bargain':)
 
Big John said:
....And where are all these fully trained persons that can travel at great speed to the locks and weirs to prevent an incident?........
..............The EA being a typical quango has I am sure many employees and top brass especially, who are at this moment building walls around their little empire’s and will fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs at the expense of those Lock Keepers who do not have any say in their future.
Click to expand...
There is a real problem that when flooding is occurring roads become impassable making it very difficult if not impossible for E.A. staff to reach outlying equipment. With regard to excess management however, they are in fact cutting out a layer at the moment. It doesn't always work like that though does it. One director is made redundant and the remaining staff have to receive pay rises due to their increased responsibilities. Prior to the latest problems in the south some 1500 redundancies were being implemented with all staff having to re-apply for their jobs. Perhaps some dead wood was going to be cut out. Now who knows?
 
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Well Big John, at last someone appears to understand what's the main problem with the EA, the best thing that could happen is that an external audit
of the organization is carried out asap.
 
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