Hi everyone
As the draft agenda for the AGM is now available on the CNCC website, you may have seen that I have been nominated to stand as Secretary at the coming annual general meeting.
I am not an avid forum user here, however, it is clear that many people who feel very strongly about matters relating to northern caving are, and so I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I am standing as CNCC secretary so you can make a choice as to whether to vote for me.
My involvement with the CNCC started about 4 years ago when we were considering how best to approach an access agreement for Excalibur Pot. The landowner was keen that the cave should be locked, and that access should be in some way controlled to limit numbers and restrict access during the shooting season, as the cave is on a private shooting estate.
A permit system sounded perfect so I contacted the CNCC and was surprised by how helpful they were (Les gave up a tremendous amount of time, and without his work, Excalibur would have no access agreement whatsoever). As the new meets secretary for Excalibur, I started attending meetings. I was inspired by the realisation that the CNCC does a lot more than just issue permits, and that those involved give up a tremendous amount of their own time (when they would rather be going caving themselves) to negotiate new access agreements, liaise with landowners, arrange and fund conservation projects, teach others to install eco-hangers, and generally promote responsible, safe and sustainable caving. However, I also saw that there are certain matters that would benefit from improvement such as the antiquated permit application system (three months? notice on club letterhead paper seemed rather old fashioned), the clunky website (now improved), and most importantly the way by which the CNCC engages, consults and interacts with the wider caving community.
If you are reading this then I am sure you are aware of all the discontent on this forum, particularly following the recent CNCC meeting. This brought to a head a number of problems that I feel have been building for some time.
Firstly, I believe the CNCC constitution needs to be extensively rewritten, defining exactly who the CNCC represents, who the committee actually are and who can vote. It needs to be simplified and made very clear indeed. I don?t particularly relish this job as constitutions aren?t exactly the most exciting things, but I understand the importance of them and for the CNCC to be constitutionally abiding, as this is an area for which it has taken considerable criticism lately.
Rewriting of the constitution provides an excellent opportunity for change. I feel we need to dispatch the current full membership system and simply give all BCA registered clubs (either just northern clubs or all clubs nationally, to be debated) the right to attend meetings to vote on important issues. Secondly, and most importantly, the CNCC really needs to be more interactive, transparent and to engage more with the caving community via newsletters, the website (which could be made to have an interact back-end to which BCA registered cavers can log into) and open meetings, to ensure that cavers not only know what we do, but are also able to give their opinions and suggestions on important matters.
I personally would like to see greater representation for Direct Individual Members on the CNCC (possibly including a DIM representative on the committee). Matters such as permits for DIMs are clearly a complex issue? overall I sway towards favouring them, however, this has wide reaching implications that requires some discussion (not least the fact that it is the Council of Northern Caving Clubs), and this is something I would want to see the CNCC consult people (including people from all kinds of caving background) on over the next year.
An important point to note is that I strongly support the permit system where it is required to sustain access and landowner relations ? and it has done a first class job of making the caves of Yorkshire the most easily accessible in the UK for the majority of cavers (with this improving as more and more permits are available electronically and often at short notice). I am not a supporter of the concept of completely open access where it goes against landowner wishes, regardless of what the law says, as I firmly believe caver-landowner relationships work a lot better when people work together.
However, I would like to see considerable change to the permit system, making it electronic wherever possible and to make permits easier to get, and overall, to make it easier for people to go caving while also abiding by the landowners wishes. I would like to make getting a permit as simple as logging into the CNCC website on a smartphone while having breakfast at Bernies/Inglesport, checking availability and booking a permit for that same day. Obviously this is not going to be possible in all situations, but it?s a good aspiration to move forward with!
Transparency is critical. You will see that the draft agenda is now available on the website. My understanding is that the list of ALL full member clubs of the CNCC cannot be published publically as some of clubs have requested in the past that their status as a member club is not published (for reasons I do not understand? this may be a very historic thing that is no longer relevant but which must still be honoured? of course this is certainly something to look at addressing in the next year, for example, by abolishing the full member system). However, if you do not know if your club is a full member club, just drop the CNCC committee an Email and they will hopefully be able to tell you.
The system is confusing however, in a nutshell, all full member clubs of the CNCC have a right to send one representative to vote at the AGM (bring a letter, on club letterhead paper and signed by a club official to say that you will be representing that club). If you are not a full member club (or not sure if you are) and you wish to be, I suggest contacting the current committee to discuss applying to become a full member at this AGM (my understanding is that this can be done by an officer of the club submitting an application ahead of the AGM).
I know these systems are clunky, outdated, confusing and disorganised, but they are the systems that are currently in place which must be followed if the CNCC is to be as constitutional as possible. As a new secretary, a complete overhaul of these systems to make it easier for all clubs to be represented at meetings would be of top priority.
My views are not set in stone. Ultimately I would like to work to ensure the CNCC represents the needs and views of the majority of the caving community, while continuing to do (and more actively promote) the superb work that they are already doing. Everyone always focusses on the things that they think the CNCC does wrong, or that they disagree with. The CNCC is not perfect, and I think things do need to change, however let?s not forget the superb and highly commendable work that has been done by the current committee relating to access, conservation and bolting.
Regarding all the matters that have happened in the past (which I don?t want to go into but which have been discussed on this forum), I would like to use this AGM as a chance to put these matters behind us and move forward to make the CNCC a more constitutional and interactive body.
I will be explaining all of this stuff again to everyone present at the AGM before any voting takes place, so there is no doubt about why I am standing. Therefore, if people think my proposed changes are crap/unnecessary/wrong, then simply don?t vote for me, I won?t be offended and I will happily get back to enjoying caving, and allow someone else to take on the role.
If anyone has any questions then my Email address is on the CNCC website. I personally am not currently on the CNCC committee; however I will try to answer any questions.
Cheers
Matt Ewles