I’d heard vaguely of these protests in the past, but had no idea it was like this:
> The Sheffield tree felling protests were a series of protests and unrest happening between 2014 and 2018 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The protests began as a response to the mass felling of healthy street trees across Sheffield since 2012 as part of the controversial ‘Streets Ahead’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract signed by Sheffield City Council (SCC), Amey plc and the Department for Transport.
> …
> The £2.2 billion ‘Streets Ahead’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract was signed by Sheffield City Council (SCC), Amey plc and the Department for Transport. It was planned to be a 25 year contract between 20 August 2012 and 19 August 2037 for highway, pavement and street light renewal, and included the management of Sheffield’s highway trees.[1][2] SCC indicated that up to 10,000 trees would be felled and replaced[3] although wording in the PFI contract indicated a target of 17,500.[4] SCC initially denied that 17,500 was an actual target,[5] however, evidence from an SCC Cabinet Meeting found that in 2010[6] that SCC planned to remove and replant 17,500 trees as part of the PFI contract.
> At the start of the PFI contract, Acorn Environmental Management Group (AEMG) were sub-contracted by Amey to re-survey Sheffield’s highway trees. A 2012 survey by Acorn stated that around 1,000 trees (dead, dying, diseased, dangerous) would be felled along with raising 6,300 other pruning and maintenance jobs. Steve Robinson, SCC’s Head of Highway Maintenance, stated in an interview by The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation that half of the city’s 36,000 highway trees would be felled and replaced with saplings.[7][8]
Always good when a public service intentionally makes it difficult to access data through a mechanism put in place specifically to hold them to account
See the BBC’s Martin Bashir machinations
So they deliberately withheld information not because it was a legal requirement, but because they thought people would be upset with them if they saw wtf they were doing…
> The officer who started using it said they were trying to provide reassurance to colleagues because they were so concerned they even discussed “not putting things in writing”. They now wish they had not used the header and said the words chosen were “too strong”.
If you ever find someone in a professional setting who’s afraid to put _anything_ they’ve said in writing, they’re probably breaking a law.
There’s no reason any competent professional acting within the law should be concerned about writing things down.
4 comments
Holy fuck, what is going on in Sheffield?
I’d heard vaguely of these protests in the past, but had no idea it was like this:
> The Sheffield tree felling protests were a series of protests and unrest happening between 2014 and 2018 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The protests began as a response to the mass felling of healthy street trees across Sheffield since 2012 as part of the controversial ‘Streets Ahead’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract signed by Sheffield City Council (SCC), Amey plc and the Department for Transport.
> …
> The £2.2 billion ‘Streets Ahead’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract was signed by Sheffield City Council (SCC), Amey plc and the Department for Transport. It was planned to be a 25 year contract between 20 August 2012 and 19 August 2037 for highway, pavement and street light renewal, and included the management of Sheffield’s highway trees.[1][2] SCC indicated that up to 10,000 trees would be felled and replaced[3] although wording in the PFI contract indicated a target of 17,500.[4] SCC initially denied that 17,500 was an actual target,[5] however, evidence from an SCC Cabinet Meeting found that in 2010[6] that SCC planned to remove and replant 17,500 trees as part of the PFI contract.
> At the start of the PFI contract, Acorn Environmental Management Group (AEMG) were sub-contracted by Amey to re-survey Sheffield’s highway trees. A 2012 survey by Acorn stated that around 1,000 trees (dead, dying, diseased, dangerous) would be felled along with raising 6,300 other pruning and maintenance jobs. Steve Robinson, SCC’s Head of Highway Maintenance, stated in an interview by The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation that half of the city’s 36,000 highway trees would be felled and replaced with saplings.[7][8]
Always good when a public service intentionally makes it difficult to access data through a mechanism put in place specifically to hold them to account
See the BBC’s Martin Bashir machinations
So they deliberately withheld information not because it was a legal requirement, but because they thought people would be upset with them if they saw wtf they were doing…
> The officer who started using it said they were trying to provide reassurance to colleagues because they were so concerned they even discussed “not putting things in writing”. They now wish they had not used the header and said the words chosen were “too strong”.
If you ever find someone in a professional setting who’s afraid to put _anything_ they’ve said in writing, they’re probably breaking a law.
There’s no reason any competent professional acting within the law should be concerned about writing things down.