Street Tree Planting
We are making good progress with the exciting project to fund street trees in low canopy/high deprivation areas of Sheffield using the STAG legal fund. We are confident of being able to order the trees by the deadline of 31st March 2026 for planting in the winter of 26/27.
We have had a very positive meeting with Green City Action, an environmental charity based in Burngreave, along with a Council Community Forester who also knows Burngreave well. They are keen to plant street trees on Spital Hill, have some locations in mind and will be liaising with the community. We explained the funding model of STAG paying the majority of the cost of the tree planting with the remaining small percentage to be paid by the community. This is to increase their sense of ownership and likelihood of watering/looking after the trees. We will meet again to discuss potential locations in more detail.
We will also be meeting with the community environmental group Greener Greenhill in early January to discuss potential planting locations in the Low Edges, Batemoor or Jordanthorpe areas. The funding model will be the same.
Plaque
As part of the response to the Lowcock Inquiry into the street tree dispute, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Sheffield City Council in June 2023 agreed that there should be a plaque in the Town Hall entrance to mark the significance of our street tree campaign. A group of campaigners have been meeting for over a year with a Council officer and independent co-chairs to agree the text and design of the plaque. Lydia Monks was chosen as the designer by a competitive process. She is a well-known illustrator based in Sheffield and was part of the street tree campaign.
The plaque was officially agreed at a Council meeting on the 10th of December and the aim is to install it in the entrance of the Town Hall under the Kinder Trespass plaque.
Keep an eye out for news of the official unveiling possibly in March 2026.
Website: www.sheffieldtreeactiongroup.org
As there have been long term technical difficulties with updating the old STAG website, the new Committee has created and launched a new website, at no cost to STAG.
All news and updates, on the tree planting project for example, will be posted on the new website. It also contains documents like minutes of STAG meetings, to make these easier to find for members. The form for becoming a member of STAG can be found at www.sheffieldtreeactiongroup.org/join
To celebrate National Tree Week we posted pictures and information about 8 particularly notable trees from the campaign. You can see all these National Tree Week posts on the new website:
www.sheffieldtreeactiongroup.org/category/ntw2025
The plan is to create links from the new website to the valuable information in the old website.
Sheffield Street Tree Partnership (SSTP)
sheffieldstreettreepartnership.org
This partnership was set up in 2019 as a response to the street tree dispute with representatives from Sheffield City Council, Amey, the Woodland Trust, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Sheffield Tree Action Group and the volunteer Street Tree Wardens.
A Street Tree Partnership Strategy for Sheffield was developed that “values street trees for the benefits they bring to people, the city and the wider environment…. As a group we wanted to produce something positive and visionary – for the city to collectively view street trees as an asset, helping us to improve air quality, reduce flood risk, support wildlife and store carbon.”
This strategy is currently being reviewed for the next 5 years.
It is important for tree campaigners to be on the SSTP as we are the only community representatives amongst professionals of various sorts and can bring a different perspective.
STAG representatives on the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership
A proposal to regularise choice of STAG reps on SSTP has been circulated to all members and, as it involves a constitutional change, needs a full member vote. The proposal is to have one STAG rep elected by the Membership and one chosen by (but not necessarily from) the Committee. A vote on this proposal will take place to ensure that the change can be effected for upcoming STAG annual elections and the AGM.
Core Investment Period (CIP) trees
Paul Selby is co-chair of the working group looking at the remaining roads from the CIP of the Streets Ahead contract that have not been resurfaced. Many will remember that, when the street tree crisis ended in 2019, there were still 309 threatened trees that the Council and Amey still wanted to fell. Paul reports that the Council and Amey tend to work very slowly. Over the 5 years to December 2024, the majority of the 309 trees on the majority of the roads had already been saved. However, at this time last year, there were still 18 roads that the Council and Amey hadn’t resurfaced, where trees were still threatened.
The Council then decided to set up a Working Group that would seek to resolve all the issues with trees on these roads. The Working Group would include Councillors from the Wards each road was in, Amey and Council officials, independent Highways engineers from Mott Macdonald, street tree campaigners (Paul Selby and Christine King), and Sheffield Street Tree Partnership Group Chairperson, Nathan Edwards.
Collaborative meetings have been held to discuss two roads so far namely Banner Cross Road and Dunkeld Road, with Mott Macdonald producing independent ideas to save trees, while at the same time reducing lost parking, reducing the extreme large build outs, and being much more pragmatic. The Council will soon be announcing the redesigned solutions for those two roads, and aiming to move to resurface those roads in the next six months.
The CIP Working Group has now moved onto considering 11 roads in the Nether Edge Ward until the Spring.
STAG organisational issues
The handover protocol we developed a few months ago is now being refined to ease the handover of STAG committee responsibilities and STAG assets from one elected committee to the next.
At the recent General Meeting Ruth took the opportunity to highlight two examples of issues being looked at in constitutional review.
Firstly, thinking is ongoing about the STAG ‘working model’ embedded in the existing constitution and its suitability and practicability for STAG as it is now (rather than as it was during the active tree campaign).
We will also be clarifying STAG’S legal status as a de facto ‘charitable’ organisation. This will not involve registration but understanding our actual status (as charitable) does potentially bring benefits e.g. improved access to guidance and potential funding opportunities.
Ruth is still happy to collate relevant input and comments from members and supporters on constitutional issues, and all proposed constitutional changes emerging will, of course, be voted on by STAG members.
Recent meetings
- SSTP Away Day 4/11/25
- External Consultation to review SCC Community Tree Planting Strategy 21/11/25
- SSTP Update on Darnall/Attercliffe/City Centre Active Travel plan 28/11/25
- STAG General Meeting 11/12/25 Minutes will be published on the website in due course.
Dates for your diary
- STAG Committee meeting Tuesday 6/1/26 venue tbc
Please contact us if you are interested in attending as an observer - STAG General meeting (all welcome) Saturday 7th February
Accessible venue tbc
With best wishes for a very Happy Christmas and an excellent 2026 from the Committee of Sheffield Tree Action Group (STAG)
