Being Charitable

It's a struggle to find something charitable to say about Sheffield City Council's relations with Sheffield Wildlife Trust. But we must try even if we're doomed to fail.

So while I'm racking my brain take some time to read through the progress of this Freedom of Information request. The context is thus: Sheffield City Council (SCC) was entrusted with Blacka Moor when Alderman Graves gifted the land to the public in 1933. SCC became the charitable trustees. In the past this role was taken fairly seriously it seems with regular meetings and opportunities to discuss management. On the decision being made in 2001 to hand Blacka over to SWT assurances were given that the council would continue to monitor and scrutinise the progress of management under the lease.

The suspicion that this was not happening gave way to conviction. The best guess was that there was a kind of managerial cosiness across the two organisations SWT and SCC's Parks and Countryside. That's what led to the Freedom of Information request. You can read it by following this link.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/trustees_of_charitable_land#outgoing-345647

This arrived yesterday and it needs looking at further, but three things can be said straight away.

1 There was an initial reluctance to respond leading to a request for an internal review.

2 That the letter from the Head of Parks concedes they've not been doing a proper job. That at least is creditable as far as it goes. (that's my being charitable)

3 That transparency over recent years has been judged to be essential in public bodies but it's not a priority in SCC.