The Richness of RAGs

To experience fully the rich mix that is Blacka Moor one must attend a RAG meeting.

I had meant to post about the Reserve Advisory Group meeting (RAG) of 10th February but the bikers got in the way a bit (as I suppose they were meant to).

If you’re an SWT person RAG meetings are not what you look forward to. Does it show? Well yes it does. There’s always the worry that direct scrutiny might reveal something that should not be revealed – such as the managers not really knowing why something is being done or even what has been done and what will be done next; or on the other hand why certain things have not been done when the message had been explicit that they would be done. The people who know about these failings are those who really know the place and walk there regularly and they can be a thorn in the side because they actually see what goes on. So some effort must be applied to avoiding embarrassment.

So it’s helpful to have a diversion or a smokescreen that will enable time to be passed with a minimum of damage or embarrassment. One way of bringing this about is to arrange for a sizeable group to attend who’ve never been before, making continuity difficult or impossible and sometimes necessitating laborious explanations and distractions. The previous meeting in October was conspicuous for the sudden appearance of horse riders in a group who had never before attended over 9 years. This month it was six mountain bikers. Some might have thought they just happened to turn up but it is more complex. SWT had gone out of their way to invite them though this was not made clear at the meeting (I found a copy of a message sent to a biker encouraging attendance and saying that an agenda item put forward by me had been changed in favour of the bikers!). The same had obviously happened with the riders who arrived in force at the previous meeting. These sudden incursions can be defended by pointing out the rich diversity of users who must be accommodated. This is part of the way that SWT manages its meetings. Local regular users have a general interest in the site and lobby for no single interest but the wellbeing of the place as a whole can be marginalised by the sudden appearance of numbers of single interest people. Meanwhile the commitment that SWT made to advertise these ‘public’ meetings at entrances to the site, where the said regular general interest users would see them, is quietly dropped. Again no notices were posted for this meeting. If you advertise too much you don’t know who might come. When, years ago, notices were first put up on the moor encouraging public to attend they were large and clear. Over the years the commitment drifted - they sometimes didn’t appear and then did so but in much smaller print. Now they just don’t happen. So the attendance at meetings gets more and more managed and closer to being by invitation while claiming to be open to the public. I’m sure for example that when SWT reports to a council meeting it will restate its claim that the public are encouraged to attend. I have already suggested a 'by invitation' structure which also encourages public attendance something along the lines of Local Access Forums. I think that would be more transparent and honest. What we have now gives carte blanche to the managers to play games with a consultation – something that has been commented on before. Instead of a rich mix this is a turgid mess.