Last Wednesday I fired a shot across the bows of the British landscaping industry with the message 'change or die'.
'An open letter to the APL and BALI - A time for change' was meant to be provocative and I certainly wasn't worried if it made certain people uncomfortable; In fact, making our current incumbents uncomfortable was part of the aim and a necessary side effect of what I proposed and have been saying for a long long time.
The APL have referred to my antics of the last three years as 'throwing hand grenades'. I guess that until now there has been a comfort zone that the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) have enjoyed and probably only felt ripples of shock waves but this time, the full blast seems to have had an effect.
I am delighted to say that the APL at least have acknowledged that change is necessary and they have agreed to come to the table and discuss a potentially unified landscaping and horticultural trades association. The SGD are mulling over the letter and BALI have yet to respond.
A lot of what APL Chairman Adam Frost and CEO Jason Lock said was off the record so that they had the freedom to speak without the worry of having their words published on Landscape Juice. I respect that and I was delighted, if not a little surprised, that their calls should come so soon and we could start talking about current problems within our industry. Adam Frost even left a message to signal their intent.
I can say that we agreed mostly that changed was needed and that the horticulture scene was fragmented with no single voice to represent our views to government.
I didn't disagree that an organisation needed to make money so that it could do its job properly but I made it clear that basic information and support should be available to everyone free of charge and should not be restricted to an exclusive few.
In the meantime we have been discussing a way forward in the British landscaping and horticultural policy group and have covered some tricky ground. The strength of feeling and energy in the debate convinces me further - if it were needed - of how disenfranchised horticulture and landscaping business feel.
If you care about about the horticulture industry and wish to get involved then please come over to our free and open forum www.landscapejuicenetwork.com and add some weight to our campaign to make us all feel proud and unified in our profession.
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