On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 12:30:39 +0100, Nigel Stanley wrote: >On 22/10/06, Nick Atty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> >> I've been giving this some thought, and feel that this could well be the >> perfect moment to make a move. There's a lot of reasons for this, and >> background that anyone creating a detailed strategy can make use of that >> I've found but won't post here for the moment, but here are a few >> thoughts and questions I'd love to here your views on - making it as >> simple as possible (but still not simple!): >> ><lots of snipped questions) > >These are all well put and worthy of debate. > >But now is not the time to put a lot of energy into such a discussion. >The cuts in BW funding are too urgent, and some of these would be >quite divisive, among people who should be working together to reverse >the cuts.
I'm not so sure (obviously, or I wouldn't have posted!). As I said, this may be the perfect moment. Everybody seems to think Defra is doomed, so having a proposal to the Government to move this small bit that causes so much fuss out from direct control could be very attactive. Once it's been reorganised into something else there'll be a strong incentive to leave things alone for a while. The current cuts are a good - real rather than theoretical - argument to find an alternative funding source, and to remove from Government control. Obviously it's lower priority than trying to get the grant cuts reversed, but it is of value not just as a "and now, how about" but also to use if the response from the Government is - as it could well be - not "ooh you're right, we'll give the money back" but "well we're not reversing the cuts, do you have any practical suggestions for how to fund the waterways". I'm not rubbishing your comment - there's a clear danger of spreading ourselves too thinly. But there's the converse danger of putting all our eggs in one basket, and of missing the chance of a lifetime through failing to see the bigger picture. That's why I'm interested in seeing what people think! -- On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk (Waterways World site of the month, April 2001) My Reply-To address *is* valid, though likely to die soon Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
