Thats it - Until next time !

[boatone]

Well, the EA "consultation" closes tonight and much good may it do us all - but I doubt it. The questions were ill considered - in fact the whole exercise was something of a farce. Of the 15 questions the first 7 were all preamble info about the status of the respondent so no value contribution there.
Q8 asked us if we agree we need to pay more - do turkeys vote for Xmas?
Q9 asked us if we agreed with the increase itself - see above re Q8.
Q10 is a blatant attempt to point out to us that the registration fee is a relatively minor element within the overall cost of boat ownership - but didn't point out that cost against delivery is an important aspect of anything we pay for.
Q!! - Would the increases make me leave or give up boating? Leave -NO, I'm most unlikely to take the boat elsewhere. Give up boating? At my age thats a foregone conclusion in the not too distant future but they may hasten the day.
Q12 - Ah yes, if we don't have enough money we can't give you everything you want so please rank an ill-considered list of issues so that the EA can tell us we decided what was important. I wanted to rank at least 5 as Priority 1 but not possible.
Q13 - Tell them how we think they could raise more money. Collect the money from those that are evading payment would be a good start - must be at least half a million quid a year there for starters. £1 per premises supplied with water by Thames Water seems a pretty petty sum to contribute for their raw material - that would bring in over £12million a year and nobody would even notice.
Q14 Do you feel confident that the Environment Agency is working to secure a sustainable funding future for the waterways we manage? `NO - that was easy wasn't it ?
Q15 We really value your feedback on our proposals. Please tell us if you have any further comments and provide as much information as possible to support your answer.
Part of my response - There is no doubt that the EA is the responsible authority for the management and funding of the river. At present I see little evidence that they are getting to grips with the problems facing a much loved and valued waterway.
Thanks and goodnight.
Oh, before I go - Did YOU submit a response to the proposal?

Oh yes - and this is Boatone posting this.

 

[oldgit]

So how many of the 8000 Thames users actually responded, how many were aware of the consultation and a question that nobody has asked....... How many are , if not actually happy with the situation, think what on earth are this lot whinging about ?. I rock up at my marina, tootle out into the river , spend a delightful day going up and down the river and then return, moor up and go home, while thinking, I am extremely lucky to be able to afford to buy and run a boat, to be able to have the time to enjoy it. Whatever it costs me, its my money and am happy to spend it on this. Its a bargain, you cannot buy this much fun and enjoyment at this price doing anything else on the planet. ?

 

[boatone]

So how many of the 8000 Thames users actually responded, how many were aware of the consultation and a question that nobody has asked....... How many are , if not actually happy with the situation, think what on earth are this lot whinging about ?. I rock up at my marina, tootle out into the river , spend a delightful day going up and down the river and then return, moor up and go home, while thinking, I am extremely lucky to be able to afford to buy and run a boat, to be able to have the time to enjoy it. Whatever it costs me, its my money and am happy to spend it on this. Its a bargain, you cannot buy this much fun and enjoyment at this price doing anything else on the planet. ?

Club subsidised mooring, Peel Ports "sub" around £50, occasional visitors licences for Thames - you personally informed me that you thought that was an absolute bargain and expected it to be more - guess you have every reason to feel smug.
Do you have a Mudway EA licence these days (did you respond to the consultation?) Im sure your EA Medway boating friends are positively delighted that they are being asked for 10% extra - makes our 5.7% look like an absolute steal !

This is not about whinging or personal enjoyment. It's about us, joe public, paying over £4 million to fund the Thames and seeing it being badly managed.

 

[Viking23]

Well, I’ve done the survey! Yes, it was poorly advertised and it was only through the forum I heard about it. I personally thought the survey was better than most, in that for each topic there was a comment box. I guess the first part was to identify what sort of river user you are, so had no problem with that.
I don’t know much about the EA, but I have great respect for lock-keepers, who know their stuff. But I suppose with any large organisation, the higher up you are, the more remote you can be. And at the top there is always politics.
Agree wholeheartedly that more must be done to collect unpaid revenues!
I love the Thames, but it’s so quiet now compared to the 70s/80s the funding is bound to come under pressure.
Personally believe the Thames (and other rivers) are national assets and should be funded properly by government. i would hate to see the river decline further.

��

 

[Parabordi]

Yeah i pretty much agree with all of this, badly worded by people that plainly dont have a clue about the river, and are in essence, are lazy.

Unlike you, i will at some stage vote with my feet. I know of several large craft within our club that have already done so this year and i know of more that are close to going. Replacing them with the ever-breeding interboat/open boats of 22feet around Henley wont fund the river.

 

[mersey]

Oh, before I go - Did YOU submit a response to the proposal?

Yes.

 

[oldgit]

Club subsidised mooring, Peel Ports "sub" around £50, occasional visitors licences for Thames - you personally informed me that you thought that was an absolute bargain and expected it to be more - guess you have every reason to feel smug. Do you have a Mudway EA licence these days (did you respond to the consultation?) Im sure your EA Medway boating friends are positively delighted that they are being asked for 10% extra - makes our 5.7% look like an absolute steal ! This is not about whinging or personal enjoyment. It's about us, joe public, paying over £4 million to fund the Thames and seeing it being badly managed.

With the greatest and utmost respect. Oi Grumpy.... I am the one out there on a Sunday morning in mid January chipping and painting the drying blocks and bolting ginormous new anodes onto the pontoon piles while scraping orf barnycules and getting smothered in black paint. , am also the one up on the club roof clearing the gutters in Autumn as well as doing a neat bit of hedge cutting, also ace at filling holes in the car park. Far to modest to mention my interior decorating skills and emergency plumbing talents. Pretty good at mucking out galley drains blocked with kitchen fat .........and worse.......... Yup to your 2nd question, sticker is on the wheelhouse window, Peel Port contribution is basically light dues . As for my Medway chums, if I had several million quid spent over last decade upgrading all the locks/moorings/ landing stages/showers and other facilities on the entire navigable length of river and then had virtually another million spent on single lock, some folks might think they should be very grateful indeed and cough up with smile. Nobody has put a padlock on the gates at Teddington or Allington. You olde curmugeon If you look very carefully you should be able see my halo even as far away as the Thames.

 

[Old Crusty]

FIGHT!

 

[oldgit]

FIGHT!

I,ll hold your coat Boating to Conyer over weekend, was going to Faversham but discovered its the Hop Festival weekend so town will be full of old farts with beards drinking stuff that tastes/looks like dishwater with lumps innit. Thank the Gods at least the Germans know how to brew .

 

[Actionmat]

German beer?:disgust: You do realise you can make a perfectly passable Lager by urinitating in a Soda Stream?

 

[Old Crusty]

I,ll hold your coat Boating to Conyer over weekend, was going to Faversham but discovered its the Hop Festival weekend so town will be full of old farts with beards drinking stuff that tastes/looks like dishwater with lumps innit. Thank the Gods at least the Germans know how to brew .

Faversham? Shepherd Neame? Oldest family owned brewery in the UK? Yes, it's lumpy, rather drink Badger Ales!

 

[oldgit]

http://www.swalemarina.co.uk/pages.php?pid=13&page=find_us Always an interesting entry...helpfully it is merely lots of icky sticky mud if you get it a tiny bit wrong.