Sheffield City Council: Tree report 'cover-up' likened to Hillsborough disaster

Councillor Douglas Johnson, who represents the City ward, made the comments in a tweet over the weekend after the Lowcock Inquiry revealed the council had considered killing thousands of healthy trees as part of its road improvement and maintenance programme.

In a tweet sharing a news article on the report’s findings, Coun Johnson wrote: “Just like the cover-up after the Hillsborough disaster, the Sheffield “ring-barking” episode reveals the mindset of a small group of senior bosses intent on 'defeat' of the public. Both astonishing and disgraceful.”

The suggestion to kill healthy trees was made in an email sent to Coun Brian Lodge, who was head of the programme. It suggested resorting to “ring-barking”, which is a method used to kill a healthy tree by removing the bark around the tree trunk, in order to “defeat” protesters.

In the wake of the report being published, Coun Terry Fox, the leader of the council, said no one would be resigning. The Lowcock Inquiry found Sheffield City Council had misled the public and there had been “serious and sustained failures in leadership” during the saga, which saw around 5,600 trees removed and replaced between 2013 and 2018.

The Hillsborough disaster occurred at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989. The crush caused the deaths of 97 people and there was a cover up afterwards.

The second coroners inquest into the disaster ruled the victims were unlawfully killed amid a number of police errors and supporters were not to blame.