STAG Steering Group meeting: 7th January 2020

Actions from Last meeting 

There has been a submission of a letter of interest to the lottery climate fund and there has not yet been a response. 
There is a petition for the trees on Abbeydale Road started by a resident but it is widely recognised that Amey and Sheffield Council do not want any more street trees as they will cost money to maintain and become a liability. 

Pro-Legal Work 

A working document has been started which contains the key challenges and gripes. We have 5 days per month of pro-bono legal assistance and it was recognised that this should be used effectively.  

Tree Investigations 

Nothing has happened and there is no indication as to when this will resume. 
The tree review has been published and Stanley Rd has solutions defined for all trees except the bottom one. 
Action – Mark Jones (SCC) to be formally asked as to when the investigations will be re-started. 

Abbeydale Park rise 
There has been no reply to an email sent to Mark Jones (SCC). The Dore and Totley group have had a meeting with Mark Jones.  Amey have indicated to the residents that there is a solution for all trees and they can all be retained. 

Philip Beecroft, Head of Highway Maintenance at Sheffield City Council, still clearly believes that phased felling is still necessary even though the trees are healthy and they are not actually causing any damage that cannot be repaired.  There are still 306 trees on the felling list.  

Street Tree Stategy 

There was a meeting on the 20^th Dec 2019 and there are three more meetings scheduled.  The document is reported to be going to the Council scrutiny committee; there is a deadline of the 17^th. 
There is a meeting on street tree sustainability and Liz Ballard (SRWT) has nominated a STAG member to assist. 

Tree disease Conference 

We have a meeting with Ian Rotherham in Jan 2020 and the format is moving towards being a symposium. We need to create a definitive list of people we need in the room to make it a success. We also need some papers. Action – There is some Forestry research that needs to be forwarded to Caroline.   

Any Other Business 

Paul B will share in the next week the details of a TRA. 

Tree Planting Update 900 whips need a good home. Russel to talk to Andrew at the cricket club and Darren Butt (Amey) for suitable sites.  STAG still has funds so will provide the supports. 

STAG Future 
We should plan an open meeting in Mid to Late Feb 2020 to discuss the future. We should plan for 50 people and Shelley will help. It should be a weekday evening and we could use the Union Street café or the Quaker meeting house.