Burbage So Far

The only official news out in the open about the determination of the NT/RSPB partnership to annexe what has started to be called the Sheffield Moors is the minutes of the SW Community Assembly meeting at Tapton School in March. I believe that the minutes of that meeting and the resolution were tweaked afterwards to show a more positive welcome for the Sheffield Moors Partnership than the discussions indicated - not an unusual happening. It goes in a pretty meaningless way to say that

".....further exploratory discussions with key stakeholders, including the people of Sheffield, to consider the benefits and feasibility of potentially extending the Eastern Moors Partnership model to the Council’s Burbage, Houndkirk and Hathersage Moors, be welcomed"

I don't know how you can welcome something that hasn't happened but nothing here is specific. I just know it needs watching.

Since then there have been some events which I've been able to glean information about. An ex-officer (another one) of Sheffield Council from Parks Dept-Nick Sellwood - has been recruited by NT to oversee the project within NT and he has appointed a project officer. A group of Sheffield Moors Partnership people unknown have attended an 'awayday' run by a group called Clearer Thinking - not to be confused with transparency, unless my FoI request brings some detailed information. Someone else from Parks and Countryside - possibly a David Cooper - attended. Paul Billington who is the Director of Sheffield's department that includes parks says that nothing is yet a 'done deal' but nobody's taking any more bets. All depends on Cabinet which I'm sure will be lobbied. Councillors will normally follow the lead indicated in the recommendations within the report and past experience suggests that decisions are in effect decided beforehand between directors officers and the resposible cabinet member - in this case Leigh Brammall assisted by Garry Weatherall.

Apparently these SMP people are coming up with some sort of Master Plan which sounds like conservation people who consider themselves masters of the universe. How much Natural England have been involved I don't know. I have so many questions about all this that I need to buy a new hard drive. I have FoI requests in on, 1) contacts with SMP involving council officers and awaydays details; 2) similar for Natural England; and 3) still awaiting request on RPA payments for Blacka Moor.