I well remember Packman's positive spin when he stated that 'only' four people petitioned the Commons.

Wonder what the spin will be this time?

No, gloating is poor form, mustn't do it!! Ho ho ho!!

It is even more difficult to avoid the obvious conclusion that much of the content of this Private Bill has failed to gain enthusiastic support from the U.L.P., namely the Uninformed Little People.

Wonder when the BA's web site will be updated?

It isn't costing 'them' a penny. It's costing you and I.

'They' simply mismanage and waste our money while under-achieving in their nice comfy safe overpaid jobs. Estimates vary wildly, but the total cost to us is probably the equivalent of a couple of years dredging and given that very little effective maintenance has been performed in 20 years, it's not much in practical terms.

My personal view is that no executive should ever be paid for failing to achieve or for wasting funds, but should be handsomely rewarded for success. Anyone in a corporate position knows exactly what performance related pay is, it's what their very existence depends upon. They can starve or become wealthy, it's in their own hands and their incentive to get it right is daily bread and a roof over their family's heads.

This Bill is already a failure because its provisions really aren't necessary and it continues to soak-up heaps of our revenue while further alienating the stakeholder. Even when it's all over, very little - if any - positive improvement will have been achieved which isn't already possible by proper consultative and democratic means. I continue to maintain that, given the huge numbers of people who take to the waters each year, they are statistically safer on the Broads than they would be staying at home watching the telly and going shopping. In that respect the effect of the Bill has only been to obstruct any possibility of agreement between local authorities and the BA to unite in licensing hire boats for the purpose of introducing a safe conduct policy - that's where evidence of danger exists, but still nothing has been achieved.

The real cost of trying to turn the Broads National Park Bill into something less damaging is being borne by those who give their spare time and financial resources to opposing the ill-conceived contents of the Bill before it's too late. The very nature of this process means that there must be a vast army of moral supporters who simply cannot afford to commit a big chunk of their private lives and resources to the battle. Those soldiers will not be counted when reports of the number of House of Lords petitions become official, but a glance back to Jamie Campbell's dredging petition might provide a clue to the true volume of feeling.

My thanks go to the individuals and organisations who stood in opposition during the early chapters, and to those who now carry the baton to the Peers of the Realm.

Now brace yourselves for the forthcoming spin. See if you can guess what it will say...

Yep. I think you're going to be right.

BT

The Broads Authority website a few minutes ago:

'The Broads Authority Private Bill
Latest news
(Updated 9 May 2008)'

Presumably not much has happened since the ninth.

Mind you, it will take a day or twelve to come up with a spot of convincingly creative spin, e.g. how to pass the unpassable buck onto those nasty petitioners.

Hmmm. Can't argue with that. Might be as well to view that alongside today's EDP report:-

http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnli ne&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED 22%20May%202008%2019%3A36%3A02%3A050

Probably the most interesting quote from Blackbeard on the cost of the Private Bill so far is that c£499k was good value as it cost the Lake Distict far more just to get rid of waterskiing.

An interesting line of thought. I think the public enquiry over waterskking on Lake Windermere cost roughly £1m. If the Bill goes through intact, the Broads Authority will be able to ban waterskiing and wakeboarding in a single meeting, behind closed doors.

Whatever your stance on waterskiing, that's quite a price they could pay just for trusting Blackbeard. I really can't imagine why they haven't Petitioned against this Bill.

Bermudan Triangle wrote:

My thanks go to the individuals and organisations who stood in opposition during the early chapters, and to those who now carry the baton to the Peers of the Realm.

Now brace yourselves for the forthcoming spin. See if you can guess what it will say...

Yep. I think you're going to be right.

BT

And you were...

"...It is this small group of individuals pursuing their own cause that are costing us money and costing toll payers money."

Well done. No prizes though, it's all becoming much too easy.

BT