STAG Committee Meeting 25/11/25

Present: Helen McIlroy, Paul Selby, Mark James, Alison Teal, Isabel Oleary, Ruth

Hubbard, Woll Newall

Observers: None

Apologies: NA

Minutes: Minutes of the 27/10/25 Committee meeting were approved

Matters arising

Meeting with Kate Josephs: Not happened yet. ACTION – Alison to re-read suggested agenda items and take forward the committee request to meet Kate Josephs
The Woodland Trust: Helen contacted them, but no info received ACTION – Helen to follow up
Voting System: Woll has added the enhancements to the new system, including a document with detailed instructions on creating and sending out a new vote form. Isabel tested the instructions, and enhanced process, and confirmed it’s easy for a relatively non-tech-savvy cttee member to create and run a vote using the new system.
Previous vote follow-up: Isabel has contacted the 13 members (whose votes were set aside because the Cttee advised those running the vote it was best to err on the side of caution and discount votes that didn’t fit the very exact specification described in the voting instructions, so that there could be no reasonable doubt over the result).
Tree Planting Working Group: Isabel sent out the call for volunteers
Public Facebook: Advice from various places has been collated. Investigations ongoing on a step-by-step approach to fulfill the Cttee’s legal responsibilities to ensure STAG assets are secured.
Interactive website: Helen has raised the idea with the Plaque Group and discussions are ongoing.

Tree Planting

Contact has been started with, and interest from, a few community groups in Greenhill and Burngreave. Green City Action has links to other community groups.
Location exploration has started.
An initial contact has been made for connecting with community groups in Parsons Cross.
Planting in verges is easier to arrange than into existing tarmac.
A ‘menu’ of large tree species will be created for the community groups to select from.
ACTION – Paul to send list of species to Isabel.
ACTION – Isabel to create a visual ‘menu’ with photos.

STAG Public Facebook Group

Although many suggestions and offers have been made by the Committee, ‘the admins’ (those claiming ownership of the STAG Public FB Group) have not agreed to meet.
The new Committee is legally bound to attempt to gain access to all STAG assets, or else it will be open to claims of negligence.
As it was a surprise that the previous Committee had not prepared to properly hand on all STAG assets, and the new Committee was also dependent-on some of ‘the admins’ to handover other vital STAG assets apart from the FB Group, the Committee has so far tried an ad-hoc, soft approach, which has not worked.
The Committee now needs to take a more formal, step-by-step approach following the advice it has received, to ensure that all the necessary steps are explored. This will include formally writing to the previous Committee as a whole, and individually to the various people involved.
ACTION – Paul and Ruth to document the required steps and follow through with the agreement of the Cttee.

Old STAG Website

The old STAG website at savesheffieldtrees.org (a valuable and detailed historical archive of the tree protests) is listed as a STAG asset that was handed over by the STAG Steering Group to the first STAG Elected Committee in 2021, but the current situation appears to be a bit unclear.
Apparently there is some technical problem, which hasn’t been solvable in the past, that may prevent it from being maintained for the long term.
The previous Committee has not responded clearly to any of the new Committee’s requests for information on the status of the website, who may have access to it, or handing over access to it.
The Committee has now separately made contact with someone not on the previous Committee who does know more details about how to access it, and the legacy that Mary Marshall arranged for continued maintenance of the site.
ACTION – Paul and Woll to meet them to clarify the status of the old STAG website and work out how we can help/work together to ensure it remains accessible as a valuable historical record of the tree campaign for the long term.

Interactive Website for the Plaque

ACTION – Alison to liaise, clarify and document the requirements for an interactive website that can explain the symbolism of elements in the plaque design (eg geckos) to the general public. This can then be shown to SCC to explain better the concept in STAG’s talks with SCC.

Constitutional Review

The Constitution has been found to be lacking in a large number of areas. It would be irresponsible to leave it as it is. As a very small org, it shouldn’t be overly complicated but must be fit for purpose.
For the smooth running of STAG the Constitution needs to be reviewed.
A working group to review the STAG Constitution will be set up, led by Ruth. A call for volunteers will be made, and those known to be interested will be contacted directly.
A new Constitution would need to be ratified by members.
ACTION – All to QA Ruth’s proposed letter to members by the end of Friday 28th Nov.

SSTP Update

The SSTP is setting up a meeting soon on its proposed tree planting in Darnall.
The SSTP has a new website.
The volunteer tree warden organiser has had to resign due to illness. There is no replacement organiser yet. It seems clear that the tree warden scheme needs to be resourced more, and more tree wardens recruited from across the city.
Paul has written an update on the CIP roads, which should also be sent to STAG members.
Isabel went to a Tree Planting (in parks) Strategy webinar. The attendees seemed to be mainly from large ‘nature’ organisations, rather than from community groups.

Preparation for the online General Meeting on 11th December 7-8:30

ACTION – Ruth to write a paragraph explaining the SSTP Representatives proposal in the next 3 days.
ACTION – Alison to send out the agenda to members by the 1st December at the latest.

Agenda:

1. Constitutional review overview – Ruth

2. Tree planting project update (main item) – Isabel

3. SSTP Representative’s report – Helen

4. Proposal on members voting for the STAG representatives on the SSTP – Ruth

5. Progress update on the handover from the previous Ctee – Woll

6. Acceptance of minutes from previous meetings – Mark

7. Updates from members – Alison

8. Update on plaque – Alison

9. Update on CIP roads – Paul

Member vote on any proposals after the meeting

Planning for AGM in March 2026

A lot of arrangements will need thinking about/preparing beforehand.
Some items will need to happen in the Spring general meeting so they are completed before the AGM.
We could ask members if they would like a speaker at the AGM and who they suggest.

Co-option of new Cttee members

The Committee will ask some individuals to be co-opted onto the Committee for the remaining 3 months until the AGM.
ACTION – Ruth to draft a letter to send to potential co-optees.
ACTION – All to send the letter to potential co-optees that they know of.

Next Newsletter

Contents: CIP update, Meetings, Plaque update, Tree Planting update

AOB

Complaints from the public about irresponsible Facebook posts from non-Committee members when representing STAG

Complaints have been received about individuals posting inappropriate things while representing STAG by posting via the STAG ‘Sheffield Tree Action Group News’ Facebook Page account.
There are 3 individuals who currently have posting rights, 1 of whom is a Committee member. The other 2 (who have had posting rights for some years) are not on the current STAG Committee, but are from the group of people who claim ownership of the STAG Public Facebook Group.
As these 2 others are not on the STAG Committee they really shouldn’t have the ability to post officially in the name of STAG. However, as part of the soft approach the Committee has been taking, in a responsible attempt to get all STAG assets properly handed over, it was decided to not do anything that might unnecessarily raise the temperature, and not remove their posting rights via the News Page account.
However, one of these 2 non-Committee members has made a number of inappropriate, and sometimes political, posts and interactions in the name of STAG, when logged on as the STAG News Page; eg: arguing about USA-immigration on a USA-based Facebook group; advocating for the USA Democratic Party; discussing Russian interference in the US elections and the Epstein files/Trump; recently arguing on a Teeside-based Facebook group about ‘English flags’ and interactions related to football and golf.
These inappropriate posts in the name of STAG, have resulted in complaints to STAG from other Facebook users, wider members and supporters.
The Committee first privately brought this to the attention of the person involved in August 2025, but that same person has again been rashly posting inappropriate things more recently, despite the polite attempt to request this stop.
To prevent any further complaints that will further bring STAG into disrepute, regrettably the Committee decided that the only option is to turn off the ability for the person involved to be able to post in the name of STAG.

Trustee

It has been difficult to recruit a trustee because of the toxicity and situation with the incomplete handover.
ACTION – Alison to follow up and contact the previously suggested potential trustee.

STAG: Sheffield Tree Action Group