I enjoyed this article, but I'm sure you recognise that it is only part of the full account of the whole story. We need to know more about the contract with Amey's, how the council came to sign it and the role of a third party, yes the government.
I hope that in the near future you will be able to commission that story. Yes?
GIVING SOME BALANCE TO THE BIASED PIECE PUBLISHED BY SHEFFIELD TRIBUNE ON 5th November 2021 – ‘A disparate collection of bloody minded people’.
To clarify, the book, by Messrs Crump & Payne, documents the story of the development of the Non-violent direct action (NVDA) effort – excluding initiation and development of the city-wide tree campaign, of which NVDA became just one of many aspects of the city-wide campaign. Although NVDA was successful at preventing some trees from being felled, it was unsuccessful at stopping or reducing the planned programme for the mass felling of thousands of street trees. That was done and achieved by others and not by NVDA. However, the media coverage associated with the NVDA may have prompted the Secretary of State (Michael Gove) to take an interest. The Yorkshire Post met with Mr Gove and managed to convince him to investigate; ultimately, this led to Forestry Commission intervention, cessation of unnecessary felling, and a scaling back of the planned programme of mass felling. See:
Interestingly, as a group effort, Sheffield’s first tree group – Save Our Rustlings Trees (SORT) – began their more conventional effort in May 2015; an effort to resist and challenge policy and practice, and stave off the imminent felling of trees on Rustlings Road. Arguably, SORT efforts could be categorised as forms of ‘direct action’ – no violence involved. Had campaigners not first tried all the ‘proper’ channels to address wrongs and bring about positive change, the campaign would not have gained the support it did, nor would it have had support from so many quarters. And nor would the range of positive changes that have resulted happened. See:
STAG Facebook comment by the Co-Founder of the city-wide tree campaign – Dr Shetty:
To quote from page 51 of a SORT letter, dated 29th January 2016:
“Steve Robinson commented, at the inaugural meeting of the Highway Trees Advisory Forum, on 23rd July, 2015:
‘So, why the 6D’s then? … our underinvestment and underfunding left us with a number of DEAD, DYING AND DANGEROUS trees. Some of you would be surprised that there were 1,200 trees* that were within that category. So, AMEY IDENTIFIED THOSE TREES AND ADDRESSED THOSE FIRST.’
‘So, just to give you a summary of where we are today, THERE’S BEEN 2,563 HIGHWAY TREES REMOVED because they met one of the 6Ds and there was NO OTHER RECTIFICATION that we could carry out.’
Mr Robinson = SCC Head of Highway Maintenance.
See:
‘SHEFFIELD STREET TREE MASSACRE: BBC MISREPRESENTATION’:
Felling notices appeared on the Rustlings Road trees at the end of April 2015, according to Sheffield City Council (SCC). The notices informed that the trees would be felled in two weeks. Thanks to SORT, felling was postponed and 4 mature street trees that were earmarked for felling were retained, instead. SCC also committed to start work on a city-wide tree strategy, with a sub-strategy for street trees, and also set up Sheffield’s first Highway Trees Advisory Forum – a ‘bi-monthly’ event that ceased after two meetings, without any explanation or announcement from SCC or the ‘Streets Ahead’ team. The sham household felling survey and Independent Tree Panel were also set up by SCC, and SCC published the sham 5yr ‘strategy’ that they later used to successfully mislead and deceive a high court judge. See:
‘VERY IMPORTANT TREE NEWS’ (5yr Tree Management Strategy):
AN EXTRACT FROM THE FORESTRY COMMISSION’S ‘SHEFFIELD TREE FELLING INVESTIGATION REPORT’:
“THE FC WROTE TO SCC on 26 MARCH 2018 requesting any documentary evidence held to support the proposition of SCC that the felled trees had been assessed as causing the highway to fall into a state of disrepair and therefore that the exceptions to the felling licence regulations were being appropriately applied.”
“OUR BEST CURRENT ESTIMATE OF THE NUMBER OF TREES TO BE REPLACED over the full life of the contract, (including those already replaced), IS AROUND 10,000”
2)
‘Sheffield tree felling works paused for a second time’:
“Controversial tree felling works in Sheffield have been paused while workers focus on other parts of a £2.2 billion highways improvement contract.
A SHEFFIELD COUNCIL SPOKESWOMAN SAID NO WORKS WOULD BE CARRIED OUT TODAY as contractors Amey, who are carrying out the work as part of a 25-year private finance initiative contract, were focusing on other areas of the contract including pruning and tree maintenance.
THE HALT IS THE SECOND TIME WORKS HAVE BEEN PAUSED. Amey didn't carry out any tree felling for around four weeks following a disturbance between protesters and security staff on Meersbrook Park Road on January 22.
[…]
Trees earmarked for felling are fenced or cordoned off and A COURT INJUNCTION IS IN PLACE MAKING IT ILLEGAL FOR PROTESTERS TO ENTER THE SAFETY ZONES. But a number of cordons have been breached, leading to a number of arrests.”
3)
One SCC/Amey tactic is to release a ‘good news’ press release to cover for and distract journalists from stories that might expose, undermine or discredit assertions made by SCC/Amey, or be otherwise deleterious to their image or efforts. For example:
'Case closed' against Sheffield tree campaigners accused of poisoning council staff:
I enjoyed this article, but I'm sure you recognise that it is only part of the full account of the whole story. We need to know more about the contract with Amey's, how the council came to sign it and the role of a third party, yes the government.
I hope that in the near future you will be able to commission that story. Yes?
Frank Abel
excellent piece
2.7)
Wednesday, 8th June 2016
‘VIDEO: Council chief speaks out on today's tree protest in Sheffield’:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200216200256/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/video-council-chief-speaks-out-todays-tree-protest-sheffield-61323
2.8)
Saturday, 18th June 2016
‘Appeal to stop tree felling scheme in Sheffield rejected by court’:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191119193314/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/appeal-stop-tree-felling-scheme-sheffield-rejected-court-61088
QUOTE:
“Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:
[…]
‘TO DATE, UNDER THE STREETS AHEAD CONTRACT WE HAVE REPLACED JUST OVER 3,800 STREET TREES’ ”
GIVING SOME BALANCE TO THE BIASED PIECE PUBLISHED BY SHEFFIELD TRIBUNE ON 5th November 2021 – ‘A disparate collection of bloody minded people’.
To clarify, the book, by Messrs Crump & Payne, documents the story of the development of the Non-violent direct action (NVDA) effort – excluding initiation and development of the city-wide tree campaign, of which NVDA became just one of many aspects of the city-wide campaign. Although NVDA was successful at preventing some trees from being felled, it was unsuccessful at stopping or reducing the planned programme for the mass felling of thousands of street trees. That was done and achieved by others and not by NVDA. However, the media coverage associated with the NVDA may have prompted the Secretary of State (Michael Gove) to take an interest. The Yorkshire Post met with Mr Gove and managed to convince him to investigate; ultimately, this led to Forestry Commission intervention, cessation of unnecessary felling, and a scaling back of the planned programme of mass felling. See:
‘IMPORTANT NEWS ARCHIVE’
(10th August 2017 to 19th October 2018):
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/sheffield-tree-campaign-back-in-the-national-news-in-the-guardian/#comment-2695
Interestingly, as a group effort, Sheffield’s first tree group – Save Our Rustlings Trees (SORT) – began their more conventional effort in May 2015; an effort to resist and challenge policy and practice, and stave off the imminent felling of trees on Rustlings Road. Arguably, SORT efforts could be categorised as forms of ‘direct action’ – no violence involved. Had campaigners not first tried all the ‘proper’ channels to address wrongs and bring about positive change, the campaign would not have gained the support it did, nor would it have had support from so many quarters. And nor would the range of positive changes that have resulted happened. See:
STAG Facebook comment by the Co-Founder of the city-wide tree campaign – Dr Shetty:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/392913244219104/permalink/1260371477473272/
20th November 2021 - ‘THE FRUITS OF A 7 YEAR STRUGGLE’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2021/11/12/a-wild-christmas/comment-page-1/#comment-6025
19th March 2022 - ‘TRUTH & RECONCILIATION’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2022/03/14/spring-is-in-the-air/comment-page-1/#comment-6247
‘THE SORT STRUGGLE FOR SHEFFIELD’S FIRST TREE STRATEGY: A NEWS ARCHIVE’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/our-wonderful-woods/comment-page-1/#comment-5696
To quote from page 51 of a SORT letter, dated 29th January 2016:
“Steve Robinson commented, at the inaugural meeting of the Highway Trees Advisory Forum, on 23rd July, 2015:
‘So, why the 6D’s then? … our underinvestment and underfunding left us with a number of DEAD, DYING AND DANGEROUS trees. Some of you would be surprised that there were 1,200 trees* that were within that category. So, AMEY IDENTIFIED THOSE TREES AND ADDRESSED THOSE FIRST.’
‘So, just to give you a summary of where we are today, THERE’S BEEN 2,563 HIGHWAY TREES REMOVED because they met one of the 6Ds and there was NO OTHER RECTIFICATION that we could carry out.’
Mr Robinson = SCC Head of Highway Maintenance.
See:
‘SHEFFIELD STREET TREE MASSACRE: BBC MISREPRESENTATION’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/sheffield-street-trees-now-in-the-major-german-language-newspaper-too/comment-page-1/#comment-2259
‘REVISED LINKS’ (audio evidence):
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/merry-christmas-to-all-our-tree-fellas/#comment-3257
Felling notices appeared on the Rustlings Road trees at the end of April 2015, according to Sheffield City Council (SCC). The notices informed that the trees would be felled in two weeks. Thanks to SORT, felling was postponed and 4 mature street trees that were earmarked for felling were retained, instead. SCC also committed to start work on a city-wide tree strategy, with a sub-strategy for street trees, and also set up Sheffield’s first Highway Trees Advisory Forum – a ‘bi-monthly’ event that ceased after two meetings, without any explanation or announcement from SCC or the ‘Streets Ahead’ team. The sham household felling survey and Independent Tree Panel were also set up by SCC, and SCC published the sham 5yr ‘strategy’ that they later used to successfully mislead and deceive a high court judge. See:
‘VERY IMPORTANT TREE NEWS’ (5yr Tree Management Strategy):
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2018/12/01/a-review-of-some-publications-from-the-past/comment-page-1/#comment-2828
Sheffield Tree Action Groups (STAG) Facebook comment:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/392913244219104/posts/2069690356541376/?comment_id=2069838939859851&reply_comment_id=2070133509830394
11th June 2021 - ‘WHY THE MASS TREE CULL REALLY ENDED’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2021/05/01/notes-from-a-wildlife-garden-2/comment-page-1/#comment-5642
For news of the pre-dawn raid on Rustlings Road, see:
‘ANNIVERSARY – THE RUSTLINGS ROAD MASSACRE’:
https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/like-thieves-in-the-night-they-came-to-cut-down-the-trees/comment-page-1/#comment-3886
AN EXTRACT FROM THE FORESTRY COMMISSION’S ‘SHEFFIELD TREE FELLING INVESTIGATION REPORT’:
“THE FC WROTE TO SCC on 26 MARCH 2018 requesting any documentary evidence held to support the proposition of SCC that the felled trees had been assessed as causing the highway to fall into a state of disrepair and therefore that the exceptions to the felling licence regulations were being appropriately applied.”
The report is accessible via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alleged-illegal-tree-felling-investigation-report-sheffields-streets-ahead-programme
OTHER NEWS ITEMS FROM MONDAY, 26th MARCH 2018:
1)
‘Incredibly proud of our green credentials’
(a letter by Councillor Bryan Lodge – the SCC Cabinet Member responsible):
https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/incredibly-proud-our-green-credentials-436939
https://web.archive.org/web/20200812144751/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/incredibly-proud-our-green-credentials-436939
QUOTE:
“OUR BEST CURRENT ESTIMATE OF THE NUMBER OF TREES TO BE REPLACED over the full life of the contract, (including those already replaced), IS AROUND 10,000”
2)
‘Sheffield tree felling works paused for a second time’:
https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-tree-felling-works-paused-for-a-second-time-1-9083206
https://web.archive.org/web/20200228223031/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-tree-felling-works-paused-second-time-311805
QUOTE:
“Controversial tree felling works in Sheffield have been paused while workers focus on other parts of a £2.2 billion highways improvement contract.
A SHEFFIELD COUNCIL SPOKESWOMAN SAID NO WORKS WOULD BE CARRIED OUT TODAY as contractors Amey, who are carrying out the work as part of a 25-year private finance initiative contract, were focusing on other areas of the contract including pruning and tree maintenance.
THE HALT IS THE SECOND TIME WORKS HAVE BEEN PAUSED. Amey didn't carry out any tree felling for around four weeks following a disturbance between protesters and security staff on Meersbrook Park Road on January 22.
[…]
Trees earmarked for felling are fenced or cordoned off and A COURT INJUNCTION IS IN PLACE MAKING IT ILLEGAL FOR PROTESTERS TO ENTER THE SAFETY ZONES. But a number of cordons have been breached, leading to a number of arrests.”
3)
One SCC/Amey tactic is to release a ‘good news’ press release to cover for and distract journalists from stories that might expose, undermine or discredit assertions made by SCC/Amey, or be otherwise deleterious to their image or efforts. For example:
'Case closed' against Sheffield tree campaigners accused of poisoning council staff:
https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/case-closed-against-sheffield-tree-campaigners-accused-of-poisoning-council-staff-1-9085750
https://web.archive.org/web/20191130163719/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/case-closed-against-sheffield-tree-campaigners-accused-poisoning-council-staff-436867
4)
‘Don’t be frightened - this is just a fairy story’
(a letter by Alan Robshaw of Sheffield’s first tree group – Save Our Rustlings Trees):
https://web.archive.org/web/20191127021501/https://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/letters-how-would-mediator-be-chosen-311672