How to Waste Public Money

My search for interesting waxcaps on the treeless grassland proved a failure. I may have been too late or then again the livestock may have dealt with the fungi as they dealt with the bog flowers. Regrettably the afternoon visit brought further evidence of brainless management from SWT. A piece of heavy machinery was making its way across the land and another vehicle and trailer was parked near the new wall.

Fencing it seems. Now I don't want fencing at all. Fencing is not necessary if you don't farm and farming should not be carried out on a nature reserve. Nevertheless when they started to replace the old ugly wire fence with a well crafted stone wall it looked better. The downside was that the cost for the wall was more than £12,000, again from the public purse. Some thought the wall was better than the fence even if we didn't want either. But now, incredible as it might seem we're actually getting both. 

There will be a fence inside, or over the top of the wall! Of course at further extra cost. The contractors out there today have been rolling up the old fence. And putting up new barbed wire to stand over the top of the new wall which is already more than tall enough to keep cattle in. Just who is holding these profligate people to account? And what are the ecological pros and cons? This afternoon's vehicle scarred and compacted the ground appallingly doing no service to flood protection plans for the area. And why are conservation people so obsessed with barbed wire?

As for holding them to account these are the very people who give public spending a shocking bad name. With cuts and shortages and austerity and no pay rises for the lowest paid workers, money can somehow be found for this totally unnecessary project, one which actually damages the natural environment. And it's all done after the managers have contrived to put themselves beyond public scrutiny and accountability. Are they so mindless that they don't know what they are doing?