Generational

It’s as clear as a thing could be that SMP have no intention of getting involved in a meaningful consultation. They have now held their feedback session and despite vague assurances made in February that consultation of some kind would follow this we are now in no doubt that they will go ahead and produce their so-called master plan based on their own preferred interpretation of the comments made. We all know that the master plan will then have little chance of being thrown out because the political figures who make the final decision are scared of being shown up as out of their depth in an area they have only a sketchy understanding of. The managers know this well-it's part of what makes them tick.

My regular call for proper debate of the important issues will not be taken up. The only thing that will do is a serious and focused and independently chaired discussion. Even the request for a discussion board was turned down as ‘too expensive’, which is nonsense. In trying to show they are responding they’ve now put themselves up on Facebook. This is fatuous. Facebook may be fine as cliquey facility for college chums but it’s not the place for debate of serious issues between grown-ups.

Is this a declaration of generational warfare?

For what it's worth SMP's facebook page is here:

http://www.facebook.com/SheffieldMoorsPartnership#!/SheffieldMoorsPartnership