Fargate Redevelopment

[hackey lad]

18 minutes ago, SheffieldForum said:

Actually, no.

 

There had been a preference for years to mow verges to within an inch of their lives. It took considerable lobbying from Sheffield & Rotherham Wildife Trust and others to get them to trial a nature-friendly approach and then adopt it.

 

Theres still significant pressure for them to continue mowing throughout the year from people who don’t understand that overly manicured grass has little to no benefit for people, nature and biodiversity (people like you who complain it ‘looks like a jungle’) so the wildlife and nature organisations constantly have to keep up the lobbying to stop it reverting back to the horrible old ways it’s no benefit to anyone other than ‘it looks like the mowed grass of the affluent gardens from yesteryear that people thought they had to copy for decades to shallowly look better off than they are to their peers’).

I understand the biodiversity thing but as you seem to know everything, can you explain why grass verges in front of peoples homes are left and large green areas ( not sports fields or play areas ) away from homes, are mown ?

[hackey lad]

1 minute ago, hackey lad said:

I understand the biodiversity thing but as you seem to know everything, can you explain why grass verges in front of peoples homes are left and large green areas ( not sports fields or play areas ) away from homes, are mown ?

For instance the corner of Donetsk Way and Moss Way.  No homes nearby and on two main roads.

[hackey lad]

26 minutes ago, SheffieldForum said:

Actually, no.

 

There had been a preference for years to mow verges to within an inch of their lives. It took considerable lobbying from Sheffield & Rotherham Wildife Trust and others to get them to trial a nature-friendly approach and then adopt it.

 

Theres still significant pressure for them to continue mowing throughout the year from people who don’t understand that overly manicured grass has little to no benefit for people, nature and biodiversity (people like you who complain it ‘looks like a jungle’) so the wildlife and nature organisations constantly have to keep up the lobbying to stop it reverting back to the horrible old ways it’s no benefit to anyone other than ‘it looks like the mowed grass of the affluent gardens from yesteryear that people thought they had to copy for decades to shallowly look better off than they are to their peers’).

Those last few lines are ridiculous 

[hackey lad]

15 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

The police decide for themselves whether to arrest people or not.

 

If you think people were wrongfully arrested, that’s a police matter, nothing to do with the council.

 

Its fine to disagree with the council’s policy on tree maintenance and hold them accountable for getting it wrong, but don’t blame them for things they don’t control.

Apologist 

[Delbow]

40 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

I understand the biodiversity thing but as you seem to know everything, can you explain why grass verges in front of peoples homes are left and large green areas ( not sports fields or play areas ) away from homes, are mown ?

 

The bolded bit comes across as someone who feels they ought to know more. Sometimes it is hard to guess what the Councils motive for mowing some areas and not others is, but I'm glad that they are overall doing less mowing, the neat freaks have been trampling nature for too long and it's time the balance was shifted back.

[hackey lad]

4 minutes ago, Delbow said:

 

The bolded bit comes across as someone who feels they ought to know more. Sometimes it is hard to guess what the Councils motive for mowing some areas and not others is, but I'm glad that they are overall doing less mowing, the neat freaks have been trampling nature for too long and it's time the balance was shifted back.

I agree with you on some parts of that . 

[SheffieldForum]

2 hours ago, hackey lad said:

I understand the biodiversity thing but as you seem to know everything, can you explain why grass verges in front of peoples homes are left and large green areas ( not sports fields or play areas ) away from homes, are mown ?

 

2 hours ago, hackey lad said:

For instance the corner of Donetsk Way and Moss Way.  No homes nearby and on two main roads.

It could be one of any number of reasons.

 

Might be sight lines for traffic, or just that they’ve cut it for meadow management, or it could be part of the network that isn’t on the natural verges list, or that it is managed by someone else, or that it is cut for drainage reasons… they are really responsive and accommodating if you fancied dropping them an email or call to find out for any specific locations. 👍

 

1 hour ago, hackey lad said:

Those last few lines are ridiculous 

You’re automatic cynicism and immediate leaps to council-bashing can be ridiculous at times. It would be nice if you tried to understand and accept that there are nuances to things, and that not everything the council do is bad (or even their fault at times).

[hackey lad]

3 minutes ago, SheffieldForum said:

 

It could be one of any number of reasons.

 

Might be sight lines for traffic, or just that they’ve cut it for meadow management, or it could be part of the network that isn’t on the natural verges list, or that it is managed by someone else, or that it is cut for drainage reasons… they are really responsive and accommodating if you fancied dropping them an email or call to find out for any specific locations. 👍

 

You’re automatic cynicism and immediate leaps to council-bashing can be ridiculous at times. It would be nice if you tried to understand and accept that there are nuances to things, and that not everything the council do is bad (or even their fault at times).

I was really on about the showing off to the neighbours bit . 
It is easy to be cynical about this council but in the essence of fairness , I like the grey to green they’ve done down West Bar to Lady’s Bridge.  

[redruby]

2 hours ago, Planner1 said:

The police decide for themselves whether to arrest people or not.

 

If you think people were wrongfully arrested, that’s a police matter, nothing to do with the council.

 

Its fine to disagree with the council’s policy on tree maintenance and hold them accountable for getting it wrong, but don’t blame them for things they don’t control.

It would never have escalated to the point of police getting involved if the council hadn’t acted in the way they did with regards to ‘tree maintenance’ as you put it (but I’m not sure ‘maintenance’ is the most appropriate word in the circumstances.

 

[dave_the_m]

3 hours ago, Planner1 said:

Its fine to disagree with the council’s policy on tree maintenance and hold them accountable for getting it wrong, but don’t blame them for things they don’t control.

Although the decision to arrest is ultimately the police's, note that:

1)  In the Rustlings Road fiasco, the council deliberately mislead the police into thinking that the trees urgently needed felling for safety reasons, justifying the pre-dawn raid and the arrests of people blocking the felling.

2) The other arrests in the early days of the NVDA protests were proceeded by the council and police liaising to discuss what legislation they could use to arrest protesters who were preventing felling by standing under trees. They eventually jointly agreed on a particular anti-trade-union law. Several protesters (including councillor Alison Teal) were arrested by the police under that act, and were eventually paid compensation by the police, since that act requires intimidation and violence, none of which happened during those arrests.

So  although the police did the actual arresting, the council were heavily involved in encouraging it.