In the battle between the two proposed BMC constitutional changes, the membership voted overwhelmingly for Option/Proposal A - 92% in favour out of nearly 7000 votes - at the AGM in Kendal this weekend. 6% voted Option B and 2% against both choices, in what was the largest ever vote at a BMC AGM. Lynn Robinson was voted in, becoming the first ever female BMC President, and John Roberts was elected as the new Vice President.
Emma Flaherty, Graham Richmond, Simon McCalla, Matthew Bradbury, Roger Fanner, Rik Payne and Will Kilner were all re-elected as BMC directors. Amanda Parshall became the new BMC independent director. Acting President Nick Kurth received a round of thanks for his "unstinting dedication" and the "incredible amount of work" he has undertaken over the last year.
Read a UKC interview with Lynn.
Here's a reminder of the two options below. Further details and a PDF download on the Option A proposal can be found in this BMC article.
AGM proposal Option A – as recommended by the BMC National Council (winning option)
Key points:
Would put in place a high level of governance in the BMC which better defines roles of National Council and the Board of Directors, ensuring clear lines of accountability and decision making, and much improved organisational transparency.
Would ensure continued government recognition of the BMC's status as the umbrella body for mountaineering, and continued eligibility for Sports Council funding for the BMC and its partners.
Requires members to accept the need for modernisation and change and for the Board of Directors to have greater operational responsibility than is currently the case.
AGM proposal Option B – as was recommended by J.Booth and supporters
Key points:
Simple and makes minimal changes to the current constitution, so the BMC would continue to operate much as it does today.
Members would have a similar degree of control over the BMC (via National Council) as they do today.
Would require less organisational change but would create uncertainties over the availability of Sport England grant funding for the BMC and partner organisations
Read a full report on the AGM by the BMC.
Comments
I thought it worth linking in the other threads for the sake of history.
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/crag_access/92_for_option_a-687873
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/crag_access/bmc_again_sorry-685194
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/the_bmc_-_rolling_with_the_times-685644
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/bmc_bombing_campaign_enters_third_week-687429
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/crag_access/important_questions_for_the_proposers_of_tier_1-685495
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/bmc_presidential_candidates-686366
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/bmc_members_open_forum_event_and_livestream-684896
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rocktalk/the_tier_one_proposal_for_the_bmc-685300
Why?
UKC discussions came up a lot in debate at the AGM. Not everyone knows what was said or where and some people who are not regular users might be trying to trace that from the news and opinion threads here.
There is a lot now to do in phase 2 with the implementation of the remainder of the recommendations from the Organisational Review Group, and next years AGM will be very busy and there will certainly be renewed interest on some phase 2 comments in these threads then.
Then we have people looking back from the further future . The impression someone might get from reading such threads is the membership position on the debate, especially at the point following on from the compromise at the Open Forum, was much closer (I certainly thought that even though I expected Option A to make the required 75%). That the result was 92% (and remembering there were a few percent abstentions) shows what the members who voted really thought.
Good enough for you?
I'd like to see now if BMC membership actually increased slightly alongside this decisive vote (I'd predict it did).
Wow, that's quite some majority! Almost feel sorry for the other guy.
There should be an 'and' in the article heading. I read she got 92% too, but more like 66%. Option A got the overwhelming 92