The best solution
So, after all that, the Moor remains in Bradford’s hands.
But selling off Silver Well Cottage to finance improvements? Why? It smacks of selling off the family silver. What happens next time, in a few years, when Bradford still hasn’t provided the money the moor requires?
Retaining ownership is fine, as long as they start increasing the amount of money spent on it. Most cultural institutions over the past ten years have produced audits reflecting their impact in terms of cash, and other instrumental effects (help with social inclusion, etc.), in order to make their case for increased grants.
Given the amount of tourist money the Moor brings into Bradford, the £10,000 per year provided by the Council was shameful. Given also the agenda around health, there are probably other funds and grants that can be applied for, without selling off local assets (and without re-introducing shooting without any consultation as happened last year).
Actually, talking of other funds, our research elves dug up this story from a couple of years back–how the moor and other areas had received £850,000 of extra support back in 2003. So where’s the moor’s share of this money gone? Also note Danny Jackson suggesting the new group then created–SCOSPA–was the vehicle to receive a lot more money from European and other sources. So was the local trust ever needed?