Management Process

The depressing prospect of yet another plan in the estuary usually leads people to look at what is in place, and this in turn frequently leads to the appointment of a ‘project officer to ‘write the plan’. The idea is that through ‘cooperation’, ‘consultation’ and ‘partnership’ the group of Relevant Authorities can together come up with ‘a plan’. That such an approach seems to have failed in just about every one of the estuary partnerships seem to be overlooked. Such plans have been written, but there is little ownership or commitment to the programmes which they declare (explicitly or implicitly).

It is suggested that there is an urgent need to find a better way forward, to understand the process better.