YP Letters: Council's failings over Sheffield tree affair are clear to see

YOU have received many letters highlighting that parts of Sheffield City Council’s PFI Streets Ahead contract are redacted and unavailable for the public and experts to see.

You have also received a number of letters commenting on the laws surrounding the arguable trespass of tree campaigners which is currently under review at High Court.

However, to an extent, these matters are red herrings. The parts of the contract that can be reviewed – by anyone – clearly show that SCC has a responsibility to deliver sustainable management of our street trees and to deliver standard good practice. It is this that they are clearly failing in – with lots of evidence already gathered by the public.

We don’t need to see yet more of the contract to realise this, prove it and evoke change.

We still don’t have a Tree and Woodlands Strategy promised two years ago. We still aren’t seeing evidence that SCC and their contractor Amey are applying any alternatives to felling. Chasing up redacted parts of the PFI contracts is vital and principled, as is challenging any Council’s draconian application of trespass laws under the guise of altruism. However, we need to keep our eye on the ball.

From: Harry Moore, Leeds Road, Ilkley.

HOW can the Labour council in Sheffield, on the one hand, fell oxygen-producing trees in the city by the thousand and on the other preside over one of the worst cities for air pollution?

I understand that these trees are alongside roads and yet the city has two trunk roads which are amongst the country’s top 10 worst for air pollution.

I could understand the situation if the trees voted Tory, but even children understand more of the role of these trees than this council does.

From: Nigel Boddy, Fife Road, Darlington.

REGARDING the uprooting of the trees of Sheffield, I wondered if the local authority had thought of pruning the trees?

Some trees struck down by Dutch Elm disease recovered. However diseased the tree, surely pruning would be an option in many cases, would it not? The cost would certainly be lower.

Then, if the tree stump recovered the city of Sheffield would enjoy mature trees again faster than planting new ones to replace them. There is, of course, no guarantee that newly-planted trees would not fall victim to disease.