I believe somewhere in the distant past this thread stemmed from a discussion along the lines of "do representatives represent you?"
As BCA Conservation and Access officer I'd like to make it known that I'm here to help you (read - BCA members) where access and conservation issues are concerned. I do not mean by that that I will be able to solve whatever problem you have, or even necessarily agree with you. But I am here to discuss issues with openly and hope that I will be able to find ways to help you, such as bringing this discussion to regional councils and ACBs.
I believe that the role of the BCA in conservation and access through out the UK is to provide support at a local level and representation at a national level in both cases in the interests of all of our members.
Therefore, part of my role is to facilitate discussions and to chair meetings which involve regional councils and constituent bodies as well as other relevant individuals. For example, at our upcoming meeting there will be a representative from CCC Ltd to aid in a review of the recent issues that have arisen there. I do not mean by this that I aim to "solve" any ongoing issues at this meeting, but I hope to facilitate a discussion of the current state of affairs and where this is heading, to conclude if I can provide any support, or decide if indeed the BCA needs to be involved at all. By support, this could be anything from initiation action to remove an ABC or other body or individual from the BCA if it/them is thought to have contravened the constitution (please bear in mind I'm just using CCC Ltd as a generic example here and this by no means offers any opinions or conclusions!!!!), or linking up individuals who could work together to solve and issues present, or sitting back and letting relevant individuals at a local level sort things out (this is the preferable and prevelant option in as many cases as possible!)
This exemplifies how the BCA is involved in local access - support and hopefully staying out of this whenever possible.
At a national level the BCA is here to represent its members. This includes the ongoing CRoW campaign - here I'd point you to the recent work that Hellie Adams has been doing to continue links with politicians who might be able to help us in this. Additionally, this includes representing cavers in other "sporting" circles such as the meeting of the Sports and Recreation Alliance meeting of "outdoor sports" (caving, climbing, canoeing, horse riding, rambling etc) which Tim Allen and I recently attending. As well as this, the C&A committee are looking into reviewing published cave access and conservation materials such as the cave conservation handbook and the minimal impact caving guidelines materials.
To conclude! I am here to represent you, which in a lot of cases will probably involve fobbing you off to someone else who is better placed to support you. But this means any BCA member can (and should!) approach me if you feel you need to! I might regret saying that but realistically that is what I've taken it upon myself to do (wish me luck...)
Louise
BCA C&A Officer