Bailiff Duties

After 18 months of doing the bailiff duties at Paul’s Pond I am giving notice that I am stepping down from that roll.

The reasons are many and varied but the main cause is the utter lack of support from everybody who has an interest in the fishery (with the notable exception on the Environment Agency).

LCC have been completely disinterested in even maintaining the place. I have spent hundreds of hours sorting out what they should be doing as a Council.

I gave up days off work and countless hours of my time to go to “meetings” where promises are made and next to nothing is delivered. I feel completely let down and demoralised by their incredible apathy.

• With the help of the EA I proved that the fish stocks, which were decimated in 1993, have never recovered. LCC have blocked our proposals to re-stock to levels recommended by the EA and have not come up with any plan to address this issue.
• The island on the pond has still not been cleared of detritus left by campers more that a year after it was flagged up as a problem.
• Parks Watch do not visit the pond and check tickets as was agreed. This issue leaves me completely exposed to threats of violence and abuse from people who aren’t even fishing (more on that point later) especially at night and at the weekends.
• Emails and phone calls are routinely ignored and there is no substantive line of communication with BTLAC.

West Yorkshire Police said that the pond and the issues surrounding it was a priority for their neighbourhood policing team. Regular patrols were promised and have never materialised. This issue came to a head this weekend when I asked officers to attend as I had taken several calls complaining about behaviour of people at the site. On Friday night I was told “officers attended but nobody was there” (they went to the wrong place) and last night I had to forcefully persuade officers at Weetwood to attend after many complaints were made to me about the same issues.

BTLAC members have in general been co-operative. However the lack of support from them when any issues arise does not help matters either. If any anti social behaviour occurs members seem to think that I am on call to sort it out 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  Not one member has phoned the Police about the problems they have encountered, they phone me instead, and I have had enough of it.

This weekend has brought matters to a head for me. As the sun was out I pre warned Parks Watch (answering machine) and the Neighbourhood Policing Team (put through to a phone which wasn’t answered) that there would be issues with camping and illegal fishing. Nobody even cared to ring me back let alone take any action. As predicted the calls started coming to me on Friday evening, reporting campers and fires etc round the pond. Last night was no different and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to sort out what was happening. I took abuse from BTLAC members and met resistance from the Police when I asked for support.

Friday was my wedding anniversary and yesterday was my birthday. Both occasions were ruined by problems relating to Paul’s Pond.

I have tried to get the authorities together to co-ordinate a plan for the fishery but feel I have been banging my head on a brick wall and I now have a considerable headache. I am not paid for the work I have done but enough is enough and I will as of now be stepping down as bailiff and will not be co-ordinating any action relating to the pond.

My recommendation to BTLAC for future action is.

• Ban night fishing.
• Set up a rota for ticket checks at the site during the remainder of 2012
• Withdraw the free Police tickets, as there is no co-operation from them any longer.
• Finally with a heavy heart I suggest that the lease be given up at the end of this season. The fishery is not worth having anymore and the problems surrounding it are just not being tackled with any degree of commitment.

I will pass on all the administrative passwords for the BTLAC Blog, contact details for any interested parties etc, to whoever wishes to take it on.