Awareness Raising

Some more information about the Sheffield Moors Partnership has now come to light.
A consultation of a kind will be held next year albeit not the kind which will satisfy those who think consultations should be meaningful with opportunities to discuss and consider seriously the important issues. They’ve been working away, as consultation designers do, trying to come up with a process which will deliver just what they want while claiming that it is what the public wants thus simulating a kind of legitimacy in the eyes of busy councillors. Once that is achieved they will be able to canter ahead into a rosy sunset relaxed in the knowledge that numerous management jobs will be secured for many years through agri-environment schemes and other funding opportunities.

They have been lobbying some of the local groups in the hope that they get a pre agreement to support their scheme convinced that most people will have very little inclination to question what they are up to. They don’t call this lobbying but rather ‘awareness raising’. There will be an item on the agenda of the South West Community Assembly public meeting this Thursday but they’ve been careful to prepare the ground by meeting with the councillors and officers of the Community Assembly in private twice beforehand and once earlier in the year.

An interesting point of vocabulary: if lobbying becomes ‘awareness raising’ what do you call propaganda? Answer: Education

The papers obtained about the SMP plans can be accessed here.
Their alternatives for the coming consultation are here. Which they've decided on we have yet to learn. You can be sure none starts with a blank sheet.