Calls for Council Leader and Finance Chair to step down following damning street-tree inquiry report
The publication of the Street Tree inquiry by Sir Mark Lowcock has laid bare the complete and utter failure of senior Labour councillors throughout the implementation of the Streets Ahead contract.
The Streets Ahead contract came into being in the mid 2000s due to decades of lack of investment by the council in our city’s roads, leading to the title “pot-hole city”. The PFI contract with Amey was signed by the Labour-led council on the 12th August 2012.
Once the resurfacing work commenced, it became very clear that the council and Amey were paying very little attention or regard to the concerns of local residents on streets where healthy trees were being felled in large numbers.
This came to a head on Rustlings Road, Ecclesall (2015) when local residents, supported by local Lib Dem City Councillors for the Ecclesall ward, mounted a large and well organised campaign against the felling of 8 healthy street trees. This led to a 16,000 name petition and a debate at Full Council. Further campaigns started to emerge all over the city including Nether Edge, Millhouses, Meersbrook, Abbeydale Park Rise in Dore, and the Western Road War memorial Trees in Crookes. These local campaigns organised themselves under the banner of the Sheffield Tree Action Group (STAG).
The protests got more and more heated as the council pushed harder and harder to continue with the felling. As the report states, the Council’s behaviour “was the fuel that drove the protests”.
The then Cabinet Member, now Council Leader, Councillor Terry Fox did set up the Independent Tree Panel (ITP) to facilitate dialogue between campaigners and the council. However, as Sir Mark Lowcock discovered during the inquiry, the ITP was misled over what could be done at Amey’s cost under the contract – as were the public and later the courts – and misleading the courts is a serious matter.
From 2016, the Council rejected many of the recommendations the Independent Tree Panel made in good faith to save trees. Setting up an independent panel, misleading it and then ignoring substantial numbers of its recommendations was destructive of public trust and confidence.
Councillor Bryan Lodge oversaw the infamous ‘Dawn Raid’ on Rustlings Road – the first time Police were used against peaceful protesters.
The inquiry states that the Council’s behaviour amounted to a serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership. Responsibility for that ultimately rests with the political leadership, in particular the relevant Cabinet member and the Council Leader: they were responsible for setting the direction and tone.
Responding to the publication of the report, Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Sheffield Lib Dem Leader and City Councillor for Ecclesall ward which covers Rustlings Road said:
“This report is absolutely damning of the behaviour and conduct of senior Labour Party politicians that have governed this city. In particular, the current leadership of the council.
“Misleading the public and the courts by putting out false information and bullying protesters became the norm at Sheffield City Council. This is ultimately a failure of culture and should not be accepted by the residents of Sheffield. Those responsible need to go.
“Questions now hang over the future of Council Leader Terry Fox and senior Labour Councillor Bryan Lodge after Sir Mark’s damning report into Sheffield’s street tree debacle. Do they command the public confidence to change direction and bring the city together? In my view, the findings of the report are so serious that I feel not only do they need to step down from their leadership roles in the council, but also need to consider whether they are suitable to continue in their roles as City Councillors.
“When we are elected, we all sign a Code of Conduct and an oath to the people of Sheffield. I believe that this report indicates that they have broken that oath.”