Sheffield Tree Action Group

  • Carly Mountain
  • 8th December 2015

 Save Sheffield Trees

Over the next 2 years, well over 50% of street trees with medium & large crowns could be felled by AMEY, with Council consent as part of their Streets Ahead (SA) Programme. This will have serious negative effects on health & well-being, pollution & flood prevention in Sheffield. The scheduled works do not accord with the International Principles and criteria for sustainable urban forestry, as detailed in the UK Forestry Standard: the Governments’ approach to sustainable forestry.

 

Due to lack of public consultation often, the first time people hear about the Streets Ahead (SA) programme is when felling notices are attached to trees. As a result, this campaign has grown in stages, as felling notices have appeared in more areas of Sheffield. We protest strongly against the cutting down of thousands of trees lining the streets of Sheffield – often said to be one of the greenest cities in Europe.

 

A programme of this magnitude requires adequate planning, evidence based assessments and cost:benefit analyses. This would form a part of a Tree Strategy. Currently SA are operating without a tree strategy. And they only have one set of engineering instructions for all streets whether they have trees on them or not!

 

The Council argue that they are replacing trees 1:1. High failure, lollipop saplings, with a lifespan of 40-80 years, are not a gift to future generations. Neither is harvesting the trees of Sheffield to profit a private company. What IS a gift to future generations, is the sustainable management of the green infrastructure already in place and flourishing. All it needs is a will for tree retention.

 

Internationally renowned artist Jo Peel, herself a concerned Sheffield resident, kindly donated a piece of artwork for the tree campaign. Bidbi’s Fair-trade high quality bags were the perfect option for our tote bag design. We had a limited edition run of 200 bags printed. Now just over 2 weeks later we are 90% sold out! One bag even made it’s way to Toddla T and upcoming Grime Artist, Coco, whose video for the Save Sheffield Trees campaign went viral online.

www.facebook.com/toddlat/videos/10153859458009388

We would like to thank BIDBI for their fantastic and efficient service they have been great! For more about the tree campaign please visit www.savesheffieldtrees.org.uk