In Bed Together

There’s been a scarcity of public discussion of the plan for Sheffield City Council to hand over a huge area of publicly owned land, Burbage etc., to those charitable behemoths RSPB and NT. It’s a bit hard having a public discussion if you know nothing about it. Sheffield City Council has responsibility for Burbage and should oversee it on behalf of the people of Sheffield and the wider public. Nobody can dispute that this land, by virtue of its size and position alone, must concern the public. Yet various officials paid by the public to manage and administer important assets are being allowed to decide for themselves what happens to it with the background of a lamentable lack of public debate. Eventually at some time in the future Sheffield’s Cabinet will make a final decision thus adding some thin veneer of accountable legitimacy but by then the case will have been effectively settled because no other option is being seriously put forward. Such is the nature of decision making in our city where Sheffield people are told they are ‘in the driving seat’. I’ve challenged this and await with interest to see if criticisms are taken to heart. My guess is that no notice will be taken or, probably worse, a half-hearted and corrupt consultation will be held with the same anticipated result at the cost of a few thousand pounds spent. Those pursuing this favoured course are pretty sure of themselves and all the signs are they do consider it a ‘done deal’. Documents obtained from a FOI request show clearly how they have prepared the ground. First whispers were heard five years ago and the lack of anything official since then speaks volumes about SCC’s commitment to transparency. It also tells much about the self confidence of the conservation lobby, sure of their access to public goodwill from an extensive and largely uncritical membership. (One councillor last week actually asked if he should declare an interest as a member of NT!) So NT RSPB and Wildlife Trusts are now able to share out the available public land in the country little worried that serious and concerted scrutiny will come their way nor any but a few eccentrics will talk about cartels and anti trust law. Deals are done well out of the way, ranks close in the face of problems and criticism, cosy relationships are struck and the phrase ‘in bed together’ at least in one case is literally true. In the last two years plans were being developed during which there was no publicity about what was being considered, no formal involvement of elected members and a reluctance to engage with the public of Sheffield. At the meeting of the SW Community Assembly on March 31st there was only a brief discussion and I’m now wondering if even that would have taken place had I not asked for a consultation in September last year after the Eastern Moors Consultation in August.

Sequence:

July 2009 NT and RSPB talked to officers and Parks and Countryside Director about ideas for taking over Sheffield Moors

October 2009 to Feb 2010 Plans worked out to deliver an interim letting of Sheffield Moors to NT while further discussion of arrangements for longer term lease was taking place. Various meetings – only one councillor involved a ‘consultee of choice’ and general friend of conservationists but no official council portfolio – Trevor Bagshaw Meanwhile plans went ahead for EMP (NT and RSPB) to take over the adjoining Eastern Moors.

August 2010 Identified ‘stakeholders’ were invited to a series of consultation events about the Eastern Moors. As an add on the Sheffield Moors were also awkwardly tacked on to this even though there had been no public discussion of the future of those moors or even any publicity relating to potential change of ownership. (There had been a fairly extensive process before PDNPA leased the Eastern Moors) I searched all around the area and found no posters in or around Sheffield. No official Sheffield representatives were at these consultation meetings.

September 2010 I asked the SW community Assembly to ensure there was a proper consultation about the future of the Sheffield Moors.

Between September 2010and March 2011 I tried to find out more about how any decision or recommendation was being formed and the involvement or lack of it of elected and accountable members of the council. The answers always led the same way – there’s nothing agreed yet and no proposal –we’ll let you know when there is something.

March 31st SW Community Assembly meeting – a presentation before the meeting by EMP and an inadequate Q&A session (not attended by all Cllrs) followed by a short discussion among cllrs, recommending further exploration of the EMP option.

Whether my intervention had any effect I don’t know – it was a call once again for a proper consultation before any decision. Clearly, apart from farmers, the people of Sheffield and surrounding areas and their elected representatives are a very small part of this process and they are considered a pushover by the conservation sector. Talk of Sheffield Moors Partnership was ongoing as it was presented to the August 2010 meetings even though no official and published launch had happened. Who are they, we thought? From the letter of December 2009 written by NT’s manager to the Sheffield officer it’s obvious that many major decisions had already been made, meetings have been held, a vision composed not without bloated phrasing and corny sentiment; fine details are being planned out with no suggestion that there could be issues of principle to tackle beforehand through serious dialogue with the public. And who chooses the supporters who comprise the 'broad church of engaged stakeholders'? The broad church mentioned has a pretty narrow doorway. No wonder the sour faces frustrated by the insistence at the 31st March meeting that the people of Sheffield are stakeholders!! That could cause congestion in the aisles.

The conservation sector may be not for profit but its approach in many ways mirrors big business and its obsession with growth. Conservation is fixated with empire building. Chiefs and directors love to make their mark by expanding their organizations and no better way than grabbing land. See how SWT struggle with Blacka, unable or unwilling to provide even one regular warden, yet still find the resources to buy Greno Woods.