Modest Ambition

Things do sometimes get distorted when newspapers report them. So it could be that SWT's Chief Executive was not altogether responsible for the indigestible and convoluted sentence quoted in this article. As quoted it reads

We're looking to actively restore the forest to create an inspiring, climate change resilient and people friendly, wildlife and heritage rich centre for woodland and heathland-related things in the north (of) Sheffield for the people of Sheffield and Barnsley.

As it happens an informant with good inside knowledge tells me that what he actually said went somewhat further even than that, viz:

We're looking to actively restore the forest to create an inspiring, climate change resilient and people friendly, wildlife and heritage rich centre for woodland and heathland-related things in the north (of) Sheffield for the people of Sheffield and Barnsley and their husbands and wives (and partners) and their children and grandchildren where they can feel safe from unpredictable and worrying experiences and secure in the knowledge that someone at our HQ is busy at a desk writing a Management Plan, compiling a Risk Assessment Strategy and filling in a Grant Application form which will be instrumental in delivering happiness and wellbeing to the people (not forgetting our 15.3 managers) in perpetuity.

I wonder what happened to SWT's claim in relation to Blacka Moor and Loxley and Wadsley Common that women do not like walking in woodland because they don't know what might be lurking behind the trees? But of course ..... when you read further on you discover that they will be thinning the trees and also selling timber for industrial use. As the comment below the article points out wildlife trusts have become just another industry and they can't leave those chain saws idle when they're not being used to destroy birch and pine on Blacka.