The winning candidates have been announced in the elections to represent boaters, boating businesses, volunteers and waterway staff on the Canal & River Trust’s governing national council.
Andrew Phasey of St Pancras Cruising Club, Phil Prettyman of the Historic Narrow Boat Club, continuous cruiser Stella Ridgway, and the Inland Waterways Association’s Vaughan Welch will take the four places for boating representatives. They will join Ian McCarthy (volunteer lock keeper representing volunteering); British Marine Tourism Chair Nigel Hamilton and floating trader Andrew Tidy (representing businesses) and CRT’s National Fisheries Manager (representing employees), plus the regional partnership chairs and nominated representatives to make up the 40-strong Council.
There was a low turnout among boaters this time, with just 6.8 percent of eligible CRT leisure boat licence holders casting their vote – compared to 26 percent at the last elections in 2012.
The unpaid positions on the Council are for four years, with the first meeting scheduled for March 2016.
