I've not yet received the copy of their Stakeholder Committee minutes I was promised some weeks ago. I was told that the names of participants would be redacted. Apart from an incredulous splutter, further comment will have to wait .................................
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It's deeply frustrating that local people especially those engaged in single interest groups fail to understand the importance of transparency as a vital democratic essential. Some groups seem so flattered to be asked by managers to form part of a focus or stakeholder group that they wallow in their new status and ignore the wider need for open public scrutiny.
Managers know this well. At early public engagement events for the Eastern Moors Partnership people were asked if they wanted to be involved with further consultative processes as 'stakeholders'. The managers then selected from respondents just those they were happy to engage with. This is profoundly undemocratic but they get away with it.
FoBM did put itself forward but its offer was rejected. When questions were asked about who was appointed as a stakeholder the answer came back that this information was secret. The arrogance of this is astounding. Now the stakeholder meetings have presumably sanctioned the killing of wild deer on the moors but we're not allowed to know who these stakeholders are. Is Sheffield and the Peak District so out of touch with prevailing opinion across the rest of the country that the managers think they can get away with this?
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