Newly released email reveals Sheffield Council had 'financial interest' in the felling of 5,400 street trees

In the email, which has now been released through a freedom of information (FOI) request, the officer said the information that Amey would get a ‘whopper’ of pay deductions if they did not cut down and replace trees would be ‘protester gold’ and that they needed to spin it into a positive.

He said: "This PR will still say that there is a deduction (unknown amount) for Amey for every tree under 17500 that they don't replace - which is protestor gold - they'll say Amey are indiscriminately felling to avoid a whopping great deduction in year 25 - so they may not be getting paid per tree, but they are reducing their deduction per tree, so it is in their financial interest."

He estimated it would cost Amey - who were contracted to improve the conditions of Sheffield's streets over 25 years - £2,000 for every tree they failed to fell and calculated the bill at the end of the contract at £15 million.

The email was sent in March 2018, just before the council released previously secret details of the £2.2 billion Streets Ahead contract.

In the released parts of the contract, it showed a performance requirement that Amey replace trees ‘at a rate of not less than 200 per year so that 17,500 highway trees are replaced’ by the end of the contract - which the council denied was a target.

Paul Brooke, of Sheffield Tree Action Group, said: "For some time now the council has said that replacing 17,500 trees is not a target even though it sounds exactly like one. We have accepted their assurances that they no longer plan to fell that many trees and that things have changed.

"What this email proves is that there is a system for deducting payments to Amey if they don’t fell the right number of trees. The council is still keeping the wording of that bit secret and we urge them to disclose it for the sake of transparency. After all, they stated in the High Court that there was no financial incentive or penalty and no target for the removal of trees."

Tree felling was stopped last year due to conflict between protesters and the council but since then, there has been mediated talks and work has continued.

The Forestry Commission shared a 15-month investigation into the tree felling which found 600 trees may have been felled illegally.

A spokesman for Sheffield Council said: “Since March 2018, the council has made significant and positive progress in finding a way forward for its street tree programme, following collaborative working between residents, campaigners and members of STAG. Many areas of common ground were reached between the council and STAG in December 2018, as outlined in a Joint Position Statement, following compromise and commitment from all parties.

“In the past year, Amey has worked closely with members of campaign groups to look at alternative engineering solutions, and this has already enabled a significant number of the trees, identified for replacement during the Core Investment Period, to be retained.

“Over recent years, our approach to managing the city’s urban forest has been the subject of different strongly held views about what is in the best interests of the city. There has been challenging situations, where suggestions on different approaches were made and many were, in turn, dismissed. Whilst we know that replacing trees in Sheffield has always been an emotive topic, decisions have always been taken considering the unique challenges and influencing factors impacting on trees that grow in a highway environment.

“As part of our new approach and as a result of additional funding from Amey and the council agreeing to give temporary relief on some highway specifications, allowing for alternative and shorter-term solutions to be applied, where previously only longer term options were considered, we are confident that many more trees can now remain in situ for the foreseeable future. All decisions on tree replacements will be taken by the council and be guided by the new way of working.

“The Streets Ahead programme sets out a long-term and sustainable vision for the city’s street trees, which includes managing and replenishing the stock until 2037. We fully recognise that a change in approach was crucial for moving forwards and, by working in a more conducive and collaborative way, and considering more temporary solutions, we are now making promising headway for the benefit of Sheffield communities.

“Looking ahead, following months of constructive working between the council, Amey, campaigners and Sheffield Rotherham Wildlife Trust, the first draft of a new Street Tree Strategy for the city will be available before the end of the year and will define a joint and considered approach to managing the city’s street trees for years to come. We are determined to continue working with all interested parties in an open and transparent way and consider all options that enable us to retain as many trees as possible.

“We have also had a workshop with STAG to identify lessons learned on street tree inspections and put together an action plan to make sure this learning makes a real difference to how we work going forwards.”

You can view the FOI here.