Corbyn is urged to help tree campaign
More than 1,600 people have signed a petition calling for Jeremy Corbyn to intervene in the Sheffield tree-felling saga.
Campaigners are appealing for Mr Corbyn to “mediate” in the row over the felling of trees being carried out as part of a Private Finance Initiative.
MORE THAN 1,600 people have signed a petition calling for Jeremy Corbyn to intervene in the Sheffield tree-felling saga.
Campaigners are appealing for Mr Corbyn to “mediate” in the ongoing row over the felling of thousands of trees being carried out as part of a controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal overseen by Labour-led Sheffield Council.
Around 6,000 street trees are being removed and replaced with saplings as part of a £2.2bn highways improvement programme due to run for 25 years. Campaigners say many trees are being felled unnecessarily, with the increasingly bitter row recently seeing the council being granted injunctions to stop protesters standing directly underneath threatened trees inside safety barriers to prevent their removal.
But efforts to stop the felling programme have continued, with the Amey depot being blockaded last week to stop felling crews leaving. The petition, started by Sheffield resident David Kirkham, highlights the need for an intervention following a recent article in The Yorkshire Post which revealed the costs related to protests are due to be borne by PFI contractor Amey rather than Sheffield Council.
It came after the authority suggested the actions of protesters had left it facing “catastrophic financial consequences” under the PFI deal unless hundreds of trees were removed by the end of the year.
Mr Kirkham said that he believes it is time for Mr Corbyn to get involved with the issue, following on from Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s recent intervention in which he asked the council to cease the felling programme.
His petition states: “For the last few years there has been an escalating dispute between Labour controlled Sheffield City Council and thousands of tree campaigners. Almost daily the conflict has become more bitter and protracted.
“There have been arrests, litigation in the criminal and civil courts, and widespread national media coverage of the issue. Even Michael Gove wrote to SCC requesting that the felling programme, which has so far claimed about 5,000 trees, be stopped. Sheffield Council emphatically rejected this request.
“The Sheffield trees crisis has developed as a result of a £2.2bn PFI contract between SCC and Amey, a multinational service provider. A consequence of the resultant ‘Streets Ahead Programme’ is that many mature street trees have been felled unnecessarily. Feelings are running high on both sides and there has been little constructive dialogue between the parties.
“In order to abate this spiral of conflict, the two sides urgently need to sit down in order to examine their differences and consider possibilities. A respected and skilled person should, at the very least, be offered the opportunity to mediate this situation so that resolution might be sought.
“In this respect, in conversations and discussions across Sheffield, one name keeps cropping up: Jeremy Corbyn MP, the leader of the Labour Party. Mr Corbyn is widely seen, even by his detractors, as a person of integrity and political principle. He is a committed parliamentarian whilst also a supporter of active citizenship.
“With these qualities he might command the respect of both parties in this dispute. So I say to Jeremy Corbyn, help us: please mediate the Sheffield trees crisis.”
The national Labour party did not respond to a request for a comment from The Yorkshire Post.