Local Politics

A Favourite Tree

With elections coming up this week, it's appropriate to put in my oar, although I won't come down definitely on one side.

One of the motivations for starting this blog was to have an opportunity to discuss Sheffield Council’s policy towards its green spaces. To some at the top of the council these places have become a liability and this has led to decisions to hive them off to outside organisations and save the money on maintenance so it can be spent on trendy projects elsewhere. This puts it very simply and of course it’s more complex than that and each individual example has aspects of its own. But essentially it’s about saving money. I oppose these disposals for various reasons and have raised the issues with the council in a number of ways. I find that councillors as a group, even when they claim to share one’s concerns, are a pretty feeble check on the powers at the top exercised by the Chief Executive and the council’s Directorate.

Some of the coming posts deal with this issue more directly, but I will not stop posting about the pleasures of Blacka.