Cyclists’ Touring Club (CYCLING UK)
Elections for the chair of the CTC Board 2017
THIS IS NOT A CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT
I have had permission and encouragement from Jim Brown to circulated this item.
Cycling should be a liberation and fun.
Cycling UK has some fantastic achievements but in some respects, has lost its way:
• Our membership has declined continuously for the last five years. This is a serious failure. We must reaffirm our original long term target of 100,000 members, examine why we have lost ground since 2011 after a sustained period of growth. We must prioritise membership growth as a key performance indicator for our chief executive.
• Not allowing several members, some of whom have done good work for CTC on the Board and as local volunteers for many years, to stand in the 2016 elections was a huge mistake and has damaged our credibility amongst volunteer activists and to our claim to represent cyclists. It also casts doubt on our mandate. Our democracy was a key USP. If we disagree with people we should allow them stand but then try to defeat them in fair elections. Apart from the usual legal constraints that apply to companies and charities we must allow all members to stand for election if they wish. Indeed, they should be encouraged. A consideration of whether a member has the perceived skills to be on the Board should not be the same as worrying whether or not they might support the current leadership.
• I really hope that we will have a harmonious board in 2017 and into the future. We must improve on the last couple of years. However harmonious does not mean we should all be clones. That would lead to a desert of ideas and we would be failing in our duties as charity trustees and company directors. Our board needs the grits in the oyster, the catalyst for new ideas, scrutiny and constructive challenge. Without that we would, at best, become a staff led organisation.
• The recent drift to secrecy, confidentiality by default, is very disturbing. To see board and former board members being pursued by expensive disciplinary processes for allegedly being no more open and accountable than we took for granted only a few years ago is alarming. While the rest of the world has experienced “glasnost” and “perestroika” we have gone backwards. Why is this necessary? Insecurity? Lack of confidence in what we are doing?
• We must value our members. Somehow, we have developed a culture of treating many of our volunteer activists as a “problem.” Further proposals to degrade the status of membership should be dismissed forthwith. The heart of Cycling UK lies in its members…all of them. Perhaps our next awayday should include a session on the Arnstein Ladder of consultation and engagement. We could do so much better if we can loosen up a bit, trust members with information and different views and facilitate bottom up involvement rather than centralised top down control.
• Our volunteers and member groups are our greatest ambassadors. For example, the facts show that our membership density is significantly higher where we have lively and inclusive member groups.
• The quality of many proposal papers to the Board needs to be improved. It is totally inappropriate to accuse people of disloyalty and timewasting and/or rely on an apparent built in majority when some documents are clearly not fit for purpose. Proposals should be based on evidence.
• Now that we no longer have Board members directly elected by constituencies like Scotland and Wales we are going to have to work hard to avoid being seen as South East dominated and irrelevant to the rest of the UK.
• Looking at the fall in numbers and failure to openly engage with our members there is a risk that we could decline into an organisation that may lead on a few good and worthwhile government and private sector funded projects but little else and be compromised in its ability to stand up for cyclists. We are much more than a just fund raising charity.
• Cyclists need a strong uncompromised voice. We have a Secretary of State for Transport who blamed the cyclist that he knocked off his bike; we are blamed when a large vehicle overtakes us then immediately turns left; many view cyclists as an underclass; in some ways, we could feel like some of the minorities who suffered so badly in previous decades. Cycling can be a liberation for many facing transport poverty – and fun.
• I’ve lived in Stevenage since 1992 and appreciate the value of good cycle facilities but they need to be protected; they need to be suitable and they need to be maintained AND, even in Stevenage, almost every journey involves at least some distance on a road with motor traffic so we cannot forget the rights of cyclists on the roads.
• If you elect me as Chair for 2017 I promise not to seek ways to disqualify people who disagree with me. We can use this year to set up a sensible policy review cycle to examine what is going well, where perhaps to consider a new direction and to re-engage with our members and groups. Then perhaps in 2018 we can really move forward positively maybe with a newer board member as chair.
Jim Brown
• Was Vice Chair of CTC Council on two occasions during the period when our membership and influence was increasing. He was also Chair of the Cycling Development Committee and a member of the Executive.
• Was first elected on an 18% turnout in a postal ballot initially representing Scotland, then the national division and now the East of England.
• He founded new groups in Kent and Scotland and is a current group secretary; has been a cycle campaigner since the 1980s and organised events for thirty years.
• Was a policy and scrutiny manager in North Hertfordshire and is now a Borough Councillor and member of the Stevenage Environment and Economy Select, and Overview and Scrutiny Committees.
• Long term governor at a school which moved into new £43 million Building Schools for the Future buildings in 2013 and where leadership, management and governance were assessed as outstanding in November 2016.
Jim Brown,
106 Oaks Cross, Stevenage, SG2 8LT
redspoke@virginmedia.com
0793 968 7509).
