New faces on the Broads Authority Navigation Committee
Five new people have been recommended to join the Broads Authority’s Navigation Committee in September following detailed consideration of the largest number of applications ever received for the role.
A new selection process, which included an invitation to all Broads users to put their names forward as well as consultation with local and national organisations, generated 47 applications - nearly five times more than in 2004 when the committee was last appointed. Then only 10 names were put forward for seven places.
The Navigation Committee, whose important advisory and scrutiny role is strengthened in the Broads Authority Bill, is made up of 13 members, five Broads Authority members and the remaining eight representing users. Two of the eight go on to sit on the Broads Authority.
In January the Broads Authority accepted that the selection process should be more open, transparent and based on merit in line with the best practice standards now expected in public appointments.
Consequently a job description was compiled for the first time and applicants required to attend an interview which included giving a brief presentation.
The selection panel was chaired by John Edmonds, former President of the TUC and now Chairman of the Inland Waterways Advisory Council. The other members were Mike Evans, Chairman of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association, Nik Parker, Technical Director of the British Marine Federation, and Professor Kerry Turner, Chair of the Broads Authority.
They interviewed 17 applicants and are recommending to the Broads Authority on 27 June that the following candidates be appointed after consulting the present Navigation Committee and relevant user organisations. The members will serve for three years, with a maximum term of 10 years.
• Melanie Farrar, Head of Design Technology at Diss High School, has been recommended to represent the interest of users of the navigation. If appointed, she will be the first woman on the committee selected to represent users. There have been women on the committee before, notably Brenda Ferris and Mary Haines, but they were local authority and Secretary of State appointees to the Broads Authority rather than representing users of the navigation.
Brought up on the Broads, Melanie races her river cruiser ‘Farthing’ and is a former Captain of the River Cruiser class. She is also a member of Green Wyvern Yachting Club, Yare Sailing Club, Norfolk Broads Yacht Club and Norwich Frostbites Sailing Club.
• Patrick Larner, a self employed chartered surveyor, committee member of the Broads Society and member of several yacht clubs, has also been recommended to represent users of the navigation.
• Martin Broom, Chairman of the present Navigation Committee of which he has been a member for 19 years, is recommended for re-appointment to represent the Great Yarmouth Port Authority. Mr Broom has been director of Broom Boats Ltd for nearly half a century and is highly respected in the boating world. He is a Hon President and a committee member of the British Marine Federation, East Anglia, a member of the RYA Inland Waterway Group, a committee member of NSBA and a past chairman of the Broads Hire Boat Federation. He is Commodore of the River Cruiser Class in which he races his yacht Raisena.
Two Broads businessmen have been recommended to represent the owners of hire pleasure craft.
• Paul Greasley, who has been Director since 1993 of Norfolk Broads Direct Limited, which employs over 100 staff in the Broads tourism industry, is also a chartered accountant and a toll payer. He has sat on the Navigation Committee since 2004.
• Anthony Trafford has been Director of JPC Ltd since 1981 and a Navigation Committee member since 2004. He is Chairman of the Broads Hire Boat Federation and BMF East Anglia.
• Philip Ollier, Executive Secretary of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association (NSBA) and a member of Horning Sailing Club and Norfolk Punt Club, has been selected to represent the owners of private pleasure craft nationally. He is a self-employed management consultancy partner, a civil engineer and a toll payer.
• David Broad, the retired former Chairman and Managing Director of a group of companies, has been a Broads resident since 1989. He is a member of Horning Sailing Club and the Royal Yachting Association, Chairman of the Broom Owners Club, a council member and Director of the Cruising Association and a toll payer. He has been chosen to represent the owners of private pleasure craft which use any part of the Broads.
• Paul Gurbutt, former Financial Manager and Business Development Manager for Cefas, has been a Broads user for 30 years. He is chairman of Lowestoft Rowing Club and a toll payer. Mr Gurbutt has been chosen to represent other users of the navigation area.
Mike Evans, Chairman of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association, who was on the selection panel, said: “The process of appointing the new committee has been scrupulously fair, involving a thorough and very considered series of interviews. The recommended appointments have been made entirely on merit.”
Professor Kerry Turner, Chair of the Broads Authority, said: “The level of interest and response to the advertisement was extremely encouraging, and the overall standard of the applications high. It was therefore a challenging task for the panel to reduce the 47 applications to a shortlist of just 17.
“The process has proved extremely successful and one which will provide the Authority with a strong, committed, knowledgeable and challenging Navigation Committee over the next three years.”
30/05/2008
