September, autumn is setting in, and I’m driving from Devon to Nether Edge in Sheffield to learn about one of the most outstanding environmental stories of our time. The Sheffield Street Tree Festival is a perfect reason and excuse to…
September, autumn is setting in, and I’m driving from Devon to Nether Edge in Sheffield to learn about one of the most outstanding environmental stories of our time. The Sheffield Street Tree Festival is a perfect reason and excuse to…
Mass felling of healthy street-trees in Sheffield has led to public uproar and a realisation that privatising tree maintenance removes the community’s influence. With cities like Sheffield suffering from under-funding for many decades (1), it is unsurprising that many local…
Detailed proposals to replace exactly 17,500 of Sheffield’s 36,000 street trees were drawn up six years ago, a newly-published document the city’s council had previously said was lost has revealed. Sheffield Council said it had “stumbled upon” a series of…
Sheffield Town Hall has provided the impetus for a new, inspiring activist campaign. It echoes past successes including the Kinder Trespass movement and even the Suffrage Society. But with the groundswell to stop the cutting down of city trees, the…
After arresting middle-aged women for blowing plastic instruments and a vicar for assault with tambourine, Sheffield’s draconian policies are reaching a new low: next time private contractor Amey comes to fell a healthy tree, residents wishing to access their own…
Sheffield Council’s application to send an anti tree-felling protester to jail for contempt of court has been dismissed by a judge – with his ruling highlighting the chaotic scenes which unfolded between security guards and campaigners on a normally quiet…
Sheffield Council has paid £700,000 in compensation to its highways maintenance contractor Amey for work delays caused by its decision to set up an independent panel to advise on its controversial tree-felling strategy – whose expert recommendations to save trees…
Sheffield Council has won a critical legal battle against anti-tree felling protesters – but the political stakes in the saga have been raised once again. Chris Burn reports. As Mr Justice Males convicted a retired primary school teacher, a university…
More than 110,000 trees have been chopped down in three years by councils across the UK — equivalent to a sixth of the size of Sherwood Forest. A Sunday Times investigation, using freedom of information (FoI) requests, has revealed that…
Sheffield Council has refused to reveal another key part of its official policy for the controversial felling of thousands of street trees – on the grounds that secrecy is necessary to protect staff and the public from attacks by protesters…
The recent Sheffield City Council elections were a powerful repudiation of council’s tree-felling policies and use of police in the service of multinational corporation Amey: Green Councillor Alison Teal, who the council has repeatedly and erroneously attempted to jail, increased…
Sheffield Council’s secret contract for the controversial felling of thousands of street trees focuses on minimising maintenance costs while containing no mention of removals only happening as a “last resort” as the authority has repeatedly claimed in the past, The…
Labour-led Sheffield City Council stands accused of carrying out covert surveillance operations against residents and campaigners, during the ongoing dispute over the chopping down of trees in the city. Information passed to The Canary details allegations against the council. These…
Many, many voters in Sheffield are angry about the vast, unaccountable PFI contract between Sheffield City Council and Amey. Their reasons vary. It may be the shocking contractual requirement to fell half the city’s street trees (17,500 trees), even if…
I heard a story this week of an old man and a cherry tree. The man was near the end of his life and could no longer go outside. He had visitors and he could watch television, but what anchored…
Mass arrests, poisoned-tea plots and the unravelling of a secret £2.2bn PFI contract. Colin Drury delves into the inside story of the battle to save 20,000 trees being felled in a single city Jenny Hockey still shivers when she remembers the…
Rivelin Valley Road proved to be a decoy “felling” this morning. There were 5 stony faced Security Staff standing around for a while backed up to a wall and two, somewhat smug looking, Acorn employees sitting in their van parked…