In reply to johncook:
> My response is "Were you at the meeting? If you are so concerned about this and other Peak problems, turn up and have your say, even volunteer!" That is usually a conversation killer!
Yes, volunteering should be applauded; many thanks to those that do.
But the idea that "having your say" at the Peak meeting counts, whereas saying it on UKC does not, seems a bit peculiar.
I've climbed a lot in the Peak and care about it, and I have been to some of the Peak Area meetings. But living on the opposite side of the Peak to Grindleford means that it would take me an hour and 20 mins drive each way to attend, so I usually don't.
So why is speaking in person in the Maynard treated as magic, whereas doing so on UKC is discounted? The latter emits a lot less CO2 than driving to Grindleford and back.
Further, as for "turn up and have your say", most of the time you *cannot* have you say! The need to get through the agenda usually means that discussion is limited and curtailed. At most a typical attender might get to say a few sentences. (Chairs, access reps, etc, rightly get much more time to speak.)
Realistically one cannot have 30 or more people all having their say, it just takes too long. And if more people took note of the "turn up and have your say" request, and did indeed turn up, then obviously an even smaller fraction would actually get any significant chance to speak.
Yes, if you attend you might get to *vote* on issues, but that's not really the same thing (and why does it make sense to drive for 3 hours to cast a vote, when there are easy means of doing online polls?).
In the age of the internet I find the fetishisation of a physical meeting as a means of consultation and discussion a bit weird.
So here's a radical thought. Each "agenda item" should be introduced as a thread on a forum (on the BMC site or UKC or somewhere). People can then discuss it an length on a thread such as this one. After which, if there's a vote to be taken, it can be done online with people logging in with their BMC number (and since the BMC has home addresses, it can restrict voting geographically if it wishes).