Mark Fisher's comments about the documents coming from the Sheffield Moors Partnership Action Planning session in July were spot on. The language used by the local conservation office holders betrays their whole attitude. By their words we know them. He singles out the constant use of words like 'wild' to describe what is the very reverse of wild.
The wild and open nature
Wilderness of landscape
A cherished, wild land landscape
The moors will remain a wild and natural landscape
The Sheffield Moors will be recognised as a diverse and wild landscape
The wild and open nature of the site
wild character and felling [sic] of wilderness
An index to assess landscape character and “wildness”
a diverse network of access routes (from well maintained to wild)
It's all utterly phoney and utterly self serving. If they don't know these words are inappropriate they should not be in their jobs.
It goes back to the days when products first started to appear on supermarket shelves saying 'Natural'. The ones that were least natural were the ones that shouted the word in biggest letters.
In the Eastern Moors Partnership's Draft Management Plan there is similar profligacy. They set out to press buttons by using words that score credit points rather than doing the hard slog and the homework of analysing and communicating a message that is meaningful and worthwhile. If you've not got the material and policy right then this is what you do. You paper over the cracks with extravagant vocabulary each word of which lights a red bulb.
Instead of a cool and reasoning approach it's full of second rate sales hype. Scorecard:
amazing 6
stunning 2 (in two lines)
sustainable 6
accessible 4
connectivity 4
inspiring 4
wild/wilderness 5
wellbeing 2
rich 4
exemplar 3
distinctive 1 (must try harder)
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