Timeline
- 2012
- Sheffield Council signs the 25-year £2.2 billion ‘Streets Ahead’ PFI contract with Amey plc. Although politicians denied this during the protests, it is later revealed that the contract specified that 200 trees must be felled each year – eventually a total of 17,500 (half the city’s trees).
- 2014
- Concern grows amongst Sheffield residents as healthy trees are felled across Sheffield.
- 2015
- SORT (‘Save Our Rustlings Trees’) is formed as the first of many local tree campaign groups. SORT’s petition – with >8,000 signatures against the felling of trees on Rustlings Rd – is presented to Sheffield Council in June.
- August 2015
- STAG is founded by Dave Dilner, as a coordinating umbrella organisation for the various tree-protection groups across Sheffield fighting the Council.
- November 2015
- SCC create the ‘Independent Tree Panel’ to advise on trees selected to be felled. Over 75% of the ITP’s recommendations that a tree should not be felled were ignored!
- January 2016
- Save Nether Edge Trees group presents a 5,000 signature petition to Sheffield Council, forcing a Council debate.
- February 2016
- Dave Dilner, Chairman of STAG, obtains a 3-month High Court injunction, temporarily stopping SCC from felling trees.
- June 2016
- After the injunction expires, SCC carry out the first ‘dawn raid felling’ by Amey, on Bannerdale Rd, and Police are involved for the first time.
- 5am, 17th November 2016
- ‘Dawn raid’ on Rustlings Rd involving SCC, Amey and the Police, with the aim of “Removing the [trees on Rustlings Rd] will remove a ‘symbol’ of the tree campaign”. Seven trees are felled.
- 2 protestors are arrested by Police under the ‘Trade Union and Labour Relations Act (1992)’, intended for use against flying pickets.
- Late 2016
- Membership of STAG surges, with around 10,000 members in the ‘STAG public Facebook group’.
- End of 2016
- Around 5000 trees have been felled, many entirely healthy and causing no problem.
- Arrests of protestors occur throughout the 2016-2018.
- 2017
- Protests continue and the reaction from SCC and Amey gets increasingly aggressive, including the employment of nightclub bouncers.
- Increasing involvement of the Police and their relationship with SCC and Amey is criticised.
- In June, protestors manage to prevent fellings at 329 out of the 472 attempts.
- August 2017
- Even though Amey had secretly offered to bear the cost of alternative solutions to avoid unnecessary tree felling, SCC takes out an injunction to stop the protests and delivers it personally to 15 named protestors.
- 15 January 2018
- SCC forces Amey to give the bouncers permission to use “reasonable force” to remove protestors.
- 22 January 2018
- On Meersbrook Rd, fearing that a protestor was being assaulted by bouncers inside security barriers, protestors (including some personally served with the injunction papers) push down barriers and break the injunction.
- In the weeks following, there was a pause in felling during which SCC employees secretly proposed strategies that might break the resolve of protestors, including to quickly ring-bark the trees selected for felling so that they would die – leaving protestors nothing to protect.
- 26th February 2018
- Felling restarts
- 26th March 2018
- Following wide-spread protests, in the face of an increasingly draconian reaction from the Council, Amey and wrongful arrests by the Police, tree felling is finally ‘paused’.
- 5,600 trees had been cut down.
- Late 2018
- Mediated talks between STAG and SCC take place, resulting an agreement to work together on finding a solution.
- July 2019
- The Forestry Commission publishes a report on the tree felling, criticising the actions of SCC and Amey, although falling short of being able to conclude the fellings were illegal.
- 2019
- 7 campaigners awarded a wrongful arrest payout of £24,300 along with a drop of criminal charges.
- 2020
- A ‘peace deal’ is signed by STAG representatives, the Council and other stakeholder organisations.
- Early 2021
- STAG, the umbrella group, transforms into an unincorporated association of members, with an elected committee.
- August 2021
- The Sheffield Street Tree Partnership Strategy signed jointly by representatives of SCC, Amey, the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust and STAG, for ensuring the continued maintenance of the street trees around the city.
- 6th March 2023
- Following his Inquiry into to the tree scandal, Sir Mark Lowcock’s report is published. One conclusion was “The Council’s behaviour amounted to a serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership.”.
