In 1999 the then Director of Sheffield Wildlife Trust and its Head of Conservation (who shortly succeeded as the new director) were hungry for land that the trust could manage. They were asking Sheffield City Council to hand over to the trust sites in a number of areas. At a stroke this would dramatically change the profile of Sheffield Wildlife Trust (SWT) from a small organisation to a major player in the new growth industry of conservation/biodiversity.
These letters make this clear.
The
first is from SWT's Head of Conservation and Education to the council's Head of Parks.
The
second is to the city's Ecology Officer who seems to be in on the strategem.
This is followed up after a month with
a letter from the Director of SWT to another officer in Parks Department.
At first things did not seem to be going the way of the trust when senior officers did not see fit to recommend the two largest sites, Blacka Moor and Wyming Brook for disposal to SWT. While SWT may have had allies among other officers, those at the top did not believe that the trust could handle such complex sites. The advice was in
a paper to the council's Leisure Committee.
Somehow the decision did not follow the advice in the paper presented to committee, and SWT finished up with everything they wanted.
It is our intention to find out more about how this came about and further details will follow.