‘Councillor has made task much more onerous’
I WATCHED in bemusement last week as Councillor Porter announced two new Leek community orchards to a meeting of the Town Council.
Perhaps the only people more astonished than me were the Mayor, deputy mayor and councillors of all parties, none of whom had been informed of what was happening in their town.
We learned that Haregate and Brough Park were to be the sites of the new orchards, following on from the overnight appearance of new saplings in the West End of the town two weeks ago.
It is indeed good to see new trees being planted, but just what happened to the community part of community orchard?
Everyone knows that to be truly successful, a project such as this must engage local people from the start. Children will learn, young people are less likely to view the trees as alien objects invading spaces they view as their own. Everyone can care for and share in the growth of a new community asset.
Similar imperial tree planting efforts in Leek have met with failure before, beset by vandalism and neglect. Buxton now has thriving community orchards but only after false starts due to initial lack of community engagement.
Lockdown and the urgency of the planting schedule are the official reasons for the new stealth forests. But Covid has not changed the cycle of the seasons; trees have a long lifetime and if you were running out of time this year (if so, why?) surely better to wait another year if it means a better chance the trees will survive and thrive in the long term. A promise that an external management company will keep an extra eye on the young trees is no substitute for community involvement.
Similarly the phone network and email are still working in Leek. What was to stop Cllr Porter contacting local councillors whose wards the trees materialised in?
Or even his partners at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust who seem blindsided by the new stealth orchards? Amazingly, the orchard sites appear nowhere on the Leek Map of green opportunities produced just a couple of months ago.
It would be genuinely good to be able to congratulate Cllr Porter on an achievement. His love of nature is deep and long held. His commitment to the difficult task of addressing climate change in the district is evident.
But his seeming inability to understand that co-operation and engagement should be more than endlessly repeated words have turned those who seek to work with him into reluctant opponents. In achieving this result Councillor Porter has made his task much, much more onerous than it need be.
Mark Johnson