Tree campaigners’ challenge to council
Council challenged on tree target
SHEFFIELD: Tree campaigners have challenged the city’s council to prove they have formally agreed to change a contractual target to remove 17,500 trees in the city and replace them with saplings.
TREE CAMPAIGNERS in Sheffield have challenged the city’s council to prove they have formally agreed to change a contractual target to remove 17,500 trees in the city and replace them with saplings.
Since details of the target to fell almost half of the city’s 36,000 street trees came to light earlier this month after the council was ordered by the Information Commissioner to publish it, the authority has repeatedly insisted the figure is not a fixed policy and it estimates about 10,000 trees will be felled.
But in an open letter to Sheffield Council cabinet member Bryan Lodge, tree campaigner Paul Brooke said the wording of the Streets Ahead contract with contractor Amey makes clear that the 17,500 target will be changed only if “authority approval has been obtained for deviation from this policy”.
He said records proving this target has now been changed should be published “as they will
The explanation bears no resemblance to the contract. Paul Brooke, Sheffield tree campaigner.
either provide you with clear evidence to substantiate your current claims or they will help you identify the extent to which you are currently misleading the public, colleagues and Sheffield MPs”.
It follows three city MPs – Louise Haigh, Paul Blomfield and Jared O’Mara – calling for the tree-felling programme to be put on hold last week following the publication of the target and ongoing concerns about dozens of police officers and private security guards being sent to support felling operations in response to ongoing protests.
On Friday, Mr Lodge sent a letter to Sheffield MPs in which he said he understood the 17,500 figure was “very alarming” but that the situation was different to how it appeared.
He said: “I want to assure you, and everyone in Sheffield, that this is not a target or fixed number that Amey must replace – it simply gives the council the option to replace this number within the agreed contract price and without any extra cost to the council or taxpayers.
“As we expected, certain tree protesters (and elements of the media) have locked on to the 17,500 and overlooked the crucial point that this is an allowance not a target. In response, we have rightly and resolutely stuck to the current figure of 6,000 and our best estimate of 10,000, as we have always maintained.”
Mr Brooke’s response said Mr Lodge’s explanation “bears no resemblance” to the wording of the contract, which reads: “The Service Provider [Amey] shall replace Highway Trees in accordance with the Annual Tree Management Programme at a rate of not less than 200 per year so that 17,500 Highways Trees are replaced by the end of the Term, such replacement to be in accordance with the Highway Tree Replacement Policy, unless Authority [Sheffield Council] Approval has been obtained for deviation from this policy.”
Mr Brooke wrote to Mr Lodge: “In your letter you have stated for the record that this wording simply allows for the council to replace 17,500 trees without further cost but that it is not a requirement or target that Amey must meet.
“This explanation bears no resemblance to the words in the contract. For your statement to be correct it follows that Sheffield City Council have paid for the replacement of 17,500 trees but that you may not either plan or need to do that.”