FDBusiness.com

Time is running out for anyone – not just members – who want to have a say about the future of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). The online survey which formed the first stage of a six-month consultation for the Revitalisation Project – a strategic review of the Campaign’s purpose and structure – is due to close on Saturday 30 April, 2016.

More than 20,000 people have already responded to the survey. The results of which will help to inform the next stages of the consultation of CAMRA’s members about how the organisation should position itself in future.

With several of the options offered in the survey for CAMRA’s future already proving popular, it’s important for anyone with an opinion about what direction the Campaign should take to make their views known at this stage.

Once the survey is closed, consultation with members will continue through a series of around 50 meetings being held across the country this summer. The survey outcomes will help focus the consultation steering group discussions.

By the end of April eight consultation meetings will already have been held, with many hundreds of CAMRA members attending to debate the issues affecting the organisation.

Chairman of the Revitalisation Project steering group, and one of the CAMRA founders, Michael Hardman says: “Although the consultation will continue throughout the summer we may launch a further round of surveys later in the year. The rest of the process will focus on the options members have indicated are their preferences when completing the online survey.

“It’s therefore essential that if you have an interest or opinion on what CAMRA should be doing next, you make sure you’ve filled in the online survey and register to attend one of the consultation meetings. If you’re a publican or interested beer drinker but not a CAMRA member, you can still complete the survey and even come along to a meeting if you join CAMRA on the door.

“The Revitalisation Project has always been about asking our members to tell us who CAMRA should represent and how we should represent them. We’ve made it as easy as possible for people to have their say and whatever your opinion about CAMRA’s future, you need to make sure you’ve taken the opportunity to tell us.”

The Revitalisation Project is CAMRA’s response to a beer and pub industry which has changed hugely since the organisation was founded in 1971.

The advent of craft beer and a resurgence of interest in beer in recent years, plus renewed threats to pubs, has challenged CAMRA to review whether it is best positioned to represent its members in the future.

Options include becoming a consumer organisation for all beer drinkers, for all pub-goers regardless of what they drink, or even for all alcohol drinkers, regardless of where they choose to drink it.

Those interested in making their views known should visit camra.org.uk/revitalisation to complete the survey and register to attend a local meeting.