Fraud

Any last fragments of belief in the goodwill of those in the conservation industry would themselves have been shattered by the experience of trying to engage in their fraudulent ‘consultation process’ on Saturday.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to accept these people’s statements at face value and been let down. They are simply not trustworthy. An odd thing really. With a few exceptions they would be quite decent people to have as your next door neighbours but each day as they step into the office to adopt their roles as managers, their Cloak of Managerialism we may call it, they become devious and manipulative. Something like the local functionary who puts on a large yellow DayGlo jacket and walks along the street with a clipboard inflated with self importance. Only in the case of the managers it's several degrees worse.

Sheffield Moors Partnership’s consultation with the public on their Draft master Plan is a series of ‘Roadshows’ at various car parks. This is a pathetic idea for a start. But when they advertise these on their website implying that this is the opportunity for the great public voice to be heard and then just don’t turn up at the time and place notified then this is simply fraudulent.

One of these roadshow ‘events’ was supposed to be at Blacka Moor Car Park  on Saturday as mentioned in this post. It was supposed to last from 11 to 3. Turning up right in the middle of this period with a list of questions to put to them I found nobody there, no notices or apologies on A4 laminated sheets (they like these).

I walked around for a bit and then tried the only other car park quite a long way off at the other end of the site. Nobody there either, nor any notices. Perhaps their Cloak of Managerialism had transformed into a Cloak of Invisibility?

Should one be surprised? No. Their concept of consultation has nothing to do with enabling people to contribute. It’s about trying to find somebody out there who with a bit of luck can be made to agree that they are doing a grand job; and if they’ve practised their smiles and put on a jolly manner they will find someone eventually. The fact that the people they find will have no previous understanding of the background is an advantage. So the Roadshow concept is great for those who want to avoid answering questions in a public meeting. And it doesn’t really matter if you don’t turn up because your mind is on your own pre formed objective not on serving the wishes of the public.

And never lose sight of the fact that this fraudulent practice is paid for by you and me.