Reversal in position comes after protests against council’s plans to cut down up to 17,500 trees

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Sheffield council has lost another ally in its plans to cut down up to 17,500 trees after union leaders in the city withdrew their support and urged councillors to rethink the project.

The Sheffield Trades Union Council (TUC) has unanimously passed a motion calling on the Sheffield Labour group to pursue “an immediate, mediated settlement to the felling of Sheffield street trees”. The deployment of dozens of police officers and security guards at tree-felling operations has caused “appalling negative publicity nationally for the city”, it added.

Two years ago TUC branch leaders co-signed a letter criticising tree campaigners for “an astonishing lack of perspective and navel-gazing”. Then, they suggested “opposition to the tree-felling has as much to do with the protection of house prices in the leafy suburbs as it does with environmental protection”.

The letter, to the Sheffield Star, suggested the council was proposing felling and replacing 5,000 trees in total. Yet previously secret documents recently revealed that up to 17,500 trees faced the chop under a controversial private finance initiative (PFI) contract with private outsourcing company Amey.

For the chop: the battle to save Sheffield’s trees Read more

The change in position from the unions follows a decision by Sheffield city council on Monday to “pause” tree felling. The council said it was halting tree-felling work temporarily due to “the actions of a handful of people unlawfully entering the safety zones where tree replacement work is being carried out”.

Earlier this month arrested protesters included a woman with a broken arm and a pink glittery recorder, a vicar with a tambourine and a woman who set off a rape alarm after complaining Amey was “raping the trees”. Michael Gove, the environment secretary, has described the tree-felling plans as “bonkers” and last week promised to stop Sheffield council from committing what he called “environmental vandalism” .

The TUC statement said the council should look to bring the highways maintenance work back in-house as soon as possible.

It said Amey’s actions had “both failed the council’s road improvement ambitions and undermined the reputation of Sheffield’s environmental credentials”.

Earlier this month Sheffield’s tree war made the New York Times and prompted the Sunday Times to drop the city from its annual survey of the best places to live in the UK.

Sheffield council, which insists the 17,500 figure in the contract is not a target and that about 10,000 would be replaced, has said work has been put on hold because of the “increasingly dangerous tactics” of protesters. The council cabinet member Jack Scott suggested it would cost the authority £300m to terminate its contract with Amey.



