Protester climbs Sheffield's Vernon Oak to prevent felling

[T_i_B]

Another example of the perils of the private finance initiative (PFI) from my home town of Sheffield. Sheffield became notorious over the years for the poor state of its roads, so Sheffield Council entered into a PFI contract with a company called Amey for them to take over road maintenance over a 25 year period.

Amey have decided to chop down as many of the trees lining Sheffield's pavement's as possible early on the contract to save their own costs, which has caused a huge amount of anger with local residents, leading to confrontations like this. Many of these trees are very old, and some were planted to honour the fallen in the fist world war. At every turn the council has backed Amey over the local residents to an absurd degree.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-41634518

A man has climbed a 150-year-old oak tree in Sheffield to prevent it from being felled.

Sheffield City Council put a notice on Vernon Road in Dore last week to announce that the Vernon Oak would be cut down this week.

Campaigners have since held a candlelit vigil under the tree. A protester, who has been in the tree since 07:00 BST, has a sleeping bag and said he is prepared to stay there "all week if necessary".

TV presenter Vernon Kay has also made a plea to save "Vernon", as the Sheffield tree is affectionately known by campaigners.

https://www.ft.com/content/e3641c8a-835e-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb3ff?mhq5j=e6

https://savesheffieldtrees.org.uk/the-streets-ahead-pfi-contract/

The Contract:

• runs for 25 years, ending in 2037.

• will cost taxpayers £2.2 billion over the contract’s lifetime

• was negotiated behind closed doors – there was no discussion of the contract in the Council Chamber and it did not go before the Scrutiny Board

• despite repeated requests to see the contract, the only version that the Council have released for public examination is unusually heavily redacted

• considering how ready the Council have been to defend the contract, it came as a shock when The Guardian revealed that the Council Leader, Julie Dore, and other senior Councillors had not seen even seen an unredacted contract.

[G_j]

1. That is terrible

Something is certainly afoul with your city council.

[T_i_B]

2. Fortunately I live just outside Sheffield

Which means I do have better local authorities. However, I am in Sheffield a lot for work, family and social reasons.

Sheffield Council have not been good for many years. They were bad when David Blunkett was running the council in the 1980's. However, the issue with PFI goes beyond one council and affects a greats deal of public sector investment. PFI is great for the contractors and terrible for everyone else.

[T_i_B]

3. Sheffield Council: Deceptive or Stunningly Incompetent?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sheffield-council-deceptive-or-stunningly-incompetent_us_5a046bcce4b055de8d096af9?utm_content=buffer60a62&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Throughout the saga of the Sheffield trees, much has remained murky, due in significant part to the vast, secret 25-year contract with multinational corporation Amey to maintain Sheffield’s roads, pavements, and trees. It is only in recent weeks that the full extent of the council’s likely duplicity has become apparent. And it’s shocking.

First, take the claim: “Felling is always a last resort.” That’s what the council and Amey have said throughout the Streets Ahead contract. Councillor Terry Fox, then Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, even declared on 28 December 2015 that Flexipave, one of the pre-paid solutions for saving mature street trees, had been used 143 times. Asked for more details, via a Freedom of Information Act request, the council first claimed that the information wasn’t available, then that records were irretrievably scattered across weather-stained notebooks and finally that they were under no obligation to provide this information. The Information Commissioner impressed upon the council the need to keep better records and told them they were obligated to comply with the request within 35 days, which they have now done. They have explained that they lack records of the 143 instances, and conceded that the claim was false. However, they have provided documentation of 29 instances of Flexipave. Unfortunately, some of these instances turned out not to be street trees, none was a mature tree, and some of them aren’t anything to do with the Streets Ahead contract. There have been, it seems, absolutely no instances of Flexipave being used to preserve existing street trees. On the very most charitable reading, this is a council in disarray, giving false answers to questions asked, and failing to keep records of the most basic sort. On a more plausible reading, the ‘143’ claim was a lie—as was the claim that felling is always a last resort.

The council, and Amey, have also lied about the safety of their working practices. In August, contractors felled a large tree directly into a resident’s garden, without permission or even warning. In response to written complaints, they maintained (falsely) that the resident had given permission and that the felling was perfectly safe. By late August the Health and Safety Executive had ruled otherwise, issuing Amey with a Notice of Contravention (indicating that they had broken the law). On 7 September, this was reported to the council. And yet, on 5 October the council issued a “Mythbuster” document, flagging as a “myth” the clearly true claim that Amey have not been complying with Health and Safety Regulations. Lying about safety is a very grave matter, and it’s hard to see this as anything else.

So is lying about the law. Since Mr Justice Males handed down the injunction on 15 August, the council has been distributing several different versions of the injunction, changing the wording in crucial ways so that it appears to apply to areas other than public highways. They have been threatening people with jail time for standing in public parks or on private property (with permission), or even for just walking by. The injunction dictates no such thing, as Justice Males clearly indicated in the most recent case. Again, there is what one might call a charitable explanation available. But the “charitable” explanation involves shocking incompetence from the council’s legal team— a failure to appreciate the importance of correctly stating the content of the injunction. Again, the less charitable explanation is deception. Justice Males’s occasion for this ruling was even more shocking: the council had tried to imprison an opposition councilor, Alison Teal, for breaking the injunction, hiring a QC for £70,000 of public money. Justice Males threw this case out on the basis of the council’s own evidence—because that evidence showed that she had been following the correct understanding of the injunction.

[T_i_B]

4. This is now getting ridiculous

Amey are now getting the local police force to come out in large numbers, with full riot gear when they are chopping trees down in Sheffield. A blatant waste of police resources and another black mark against South Yorkshire police.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/two-arrested-in-sheffield-tree-protest-as-police-in-riot-helmets-remove-campaigner-from-under-vehicle-1-9054716

Two men have been arrested as controversial tree-felling work supported by dozens of police officers and private security guards continued in Sheffield today - with one taken out from under a vehicle by police wearing riot helmets.

Felling crews supported by around 30 police officers and private security guards employed by Sheffield Council contractor Amey arrived at Kenwood Road in Nether Edge at lunchtime today with the intention of felling one of the more than 160 trees in the local area that are due for removal and replacement with saplings as part of a highways improvement contract.

Both men were arrested under section 303 of the Highways Act 1980, an offence which carries a maximum fine of £200.

Angry local residents said they were shocked at the level of police resources being used for the operation.Maxine Parkin said: "Real criminals are out committing crime and when you ring the police they don't come. It makes me feel angry to see this."