The Broads Authority's Way Forward following the Spending Review
At its meeting on 19th November the Members of the Broads Authority will consider a report from the Chief Executive setting out a plan as to how the Authority can continue to deliver its core services while responding to advice from Ministers that national parks should prepare for a 30% reduction in their grant.
The plan aims to protect frontline delivery as far as possible so while it is proposed that the Authority will continue to manage and improve the biodiversity of fens and lakes, dredge the navigation area and maintain moorings, the management of the Authority will be streamlined, reducing the number of Directors from four to two, with fewer managers and larger teams.
The Authority is to create new visitor hubs at Whitlingham Country Park, Hoveton and How Hill combining its boat trips and visitor centres. The solar powered boat RA will be moved from Barton Broad to Whitlingham and the Liana from Beccles to Hoveton. In addition the yacht stations at Norwich and Great Yarmouth will take on a greater role in promoting tourism.
The Authority will be working with a number of partners, including local authorities, to look at how information for visitors can still be provided at Beccles, Ranworth and Potter Heigham where its current visitor centres will close.
It is proposed that the Authority leases out its field base at Ludham, reduces its occupation of its Norwich headquarters and cuts back on the number of vehicles used by staff.
The Authority is part way through delivering a major European funded project with Dutch and Belgian partners to promote sustainable tourism. This has been protected and the necessary contribution from the Broads put aside.
Broads Authority Chief Executive John Packman said: “We have been working with a small group of Members on this plan since the summer. The scale of the reduction in our grant is such that we have had to have a ‘root and branch’ look at everything we do and big changes are necessary if we are to continue to deliver good value for money.
“We are fortunate that our income from boats has held up well and this means that our dredging of the navigation area, the maintenance of moorings and patrolling will continue at much the same level. We are hoping that the relocation of our boat trips to three new visitor hubs will mean that we can tell the story of the Broads to even more members of the public.
“We have a skilled and dedicated staff and we are doing what we can to keep the number of redundancies down to a minimum, but to do so necessitates wholesale changes in the way we are organised and we will be supporting staff with training and help as we move forward.”
A copy of the full report is available here
12/11/10
