Omen writes

Those readers who have been around in optics as long as I have will doubtless be forgiven by our younger colleagues for not jumping up and down with enthusiasm at the proposal from Paul Carroll, chairman of the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians, for yet another attempt to set up a pan-optical organisation.
Then, surprise, surprise, Trevor Warburton, outgoing chairman of the Association of Optometrists, backs this proposal at the Association's recent AGM. The question is why this should work when other attempts have failed.

In the early 1990s, a serious attempt was made to rationalise the number of representative bodies and to provide a common home for them, including the General Optical Council. This fell apart when the GOC and the College of Optometrists felt it inappropriate for them to share with organisations with protective and commercial interests. There followed two other forums with ever broadening membership which appeared to provide not much more than a talking shop.