Snowdrops are giving way to crocus and daffodils. Frogs are starting mating activity in the ponds. Birds are singing. Buds are visible on trees. We hope everyone has access to see and hear these welcome signs of spring being on its way. Nature is so important for everyone’s well-being. Which of course is why we all got involved in trying to save Sheffield’s street trees in the first place. And why many of us continue to be involved in all sorts of things to do with the natural world, whether actively protecting it, enhancing it or simply appreciating it.

News

Plaque unveiling event

Hopefully most tree campaigners will have become aware by now that the unveiling ceremony for the plaque recognising our campaign will be on

Friday 6th March starting at 12.30, on the Town Hall steps.

James Mitchinson, editor of the Yorkshire Post, who knows the whole story of the campaign will be speaking, and Rob McBride, international tree campaigner, will be unveiling the plaque. Press have been invited.

There will be a civic reception inside the Town Hall from 1-2pm so it’s a great chance to catch up with campaign friends, possibly for the first time in years.

Campaigners are going to organise for a QR code to be placed near the plaque giving access to more information. There will be a display of campaign memorabilia in the glass cabinet inside the Town Hall entrance for three months.

Our plaque will be placed on the wall under the Kinder Trespass one in recognition of the significance of both campaigns.

We can celebrate what we all achieved together. We saved thousands of trees from unnecessary felling at the time. We achieved better management of street trees in future through the establishment of the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership and its Strategy. We raised the profile of the importance of street trees for people and wildlife. Our campaign led directly to the It’s Our City campaign which achieved a different form of governance in how Sheffield City Council is run.

All of these things need continued vigilance in case of complacence or back-sliding.

Tree planting Project

It is exciting that STAG is involved in getting street trees planted in places that haven’t had them before. It is more complicated (and expensive) to get street trees planted than in parks etc. Especially on busy high streets. There are several elements that need to come together for success: funding, local community agreement and ‘buy-in’ and Amey agreement that proposed locations are feasible.

It is a major advantage that STAG has some funds available to support street tree planting in areas of socioeconomic deprivation and low tree canopy cover. We have made good progress building community contacts in Low Edges, Jordanthorpe and Burngreave (Spital Hill) with a view to getting local community agreement for a) planting trees in specific locations, b) making a 5% contribution to the cost c) watering for the first 3 summers.
Local environmental group Green City Action and residents who know about trees have produced a map of 19 potential specific planting locations around Spital Hill, with a further 17 lower priority locations to be considered if others are not deemed suitable by Amey.

Working with Greener Greenhill community environmental group we have found 8 specific potential locations in Jordanthorpe and Low Edges.

Currently it’s looking like there might be 3 trees into grass (cheaper) and the rest into tarmac. Once the above agreements have been gathered STAG will put in up to 27 potential planting locations by the end of March for approval by Amey..

Typically, the tree planting work will be invoiced by Amey after the work has been done, so in Spring 2027 in this case. The money assigned to this batch of trees must be ring-fenced in the STAG accounts so it is available when required.

Funding further tree planting

Given the potentially high number of planting locations identified we have discussed using some of the STAG General Fund, in addition to the Legal Fund, for tree planting. (see minutes of General Meeting on 7.2.26 link below)

A Members’ vote is needed to approve any spending from the STAG General Fund and the amount to retain for on-going STAG expenses. Please vote using the link sent on 23rd Feb. Votes to be received by 2nd March.

Sheffield Street Tree Partnership

The SSTP was set up as a direct result of the street tree campaign and has a Strategy to manage street trees better in future. STAG has 2 representative places on the Partnership.
The first SSTP Strategy was launched in 2021 and has been regarded as an exemplar around the country. It is now due for a refresh and is currently being discussed. The outcomes given in the 2021 document are being reconsidered and refined, aiming to have associated SMART targets.
Outcome 1: Our street trees are sustainably and carefully managed and maintained in accordance with best practice
Outcome 2: Our street trees are more resilient through the type and age of trees we plant and how we manage the current street tree stock
Outcome 3: Increase the value and benefits that flow from our street trees
Outcome 4: Contribute to a more equal distribution of urban forest across the city
Outcome 5: Increase street tree canopy cover.
Outcome 6: The wider community of all ages is involved in caring for and valuing street trees
The Partnership now operates through 4 working groups meeting monthly, with quarterly whole partnership meetings. The working groups are currently 1) Planting, biodiversity and engagement 2) Tree Wardens (currently without a chair) 3) Data and Reports 4) Management and third party claims.

A fifth group works outside the main partnership working to resolve ongoing issues with the streets from the Core Investment Period of the Streets Ahead Contract. Paul Selby is the co-chair of this group.

The SSTP is keen to get the message out about the value of street trees and the work of the Partnership. They are hoping to organise an event to celebrate urban trees this summer, possibly in the city centre and will welcome offers of help. Watch this space.

Latest Update on the remaining Core Investment Period threatened trees

by Paul Selby

Many of you 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.

The Council and Amey tend to work very slowly, but in successive small steps over the 5 years to December 2024, the majority of the 309 trees on the majority of the roads had already been saved.

By December 2024, there were still 18 roads that the Council and Amey hadn’t resurfaced, where trees were still threatened. Namely:

• Banner Cross Road
• Dunkeld Road
• Thornsett Road
• Crescent Road
• Kenbourne Road
• St Ronan’s Road
• Woodstock Road
• Sandford Grove Road
• Steade Road
• Ladysmith Avenue
• Edgebrook Road
• Chippinghouse Road
• Sheldon Road
• Springhill Road
• Hunter House Road
• Ecclesall Road
• Oxford Street
• Cliffefield Road

The Council announced at that point that they were setting up a Working Group that would seek to resolve all the issues with trees on these roads. Specifically, 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 (ie myself and Christine King), and Sheffield Street Tree Partnership Group Chairperson, Nathan Edwards.

As ever, this group took a long time to establish, and the first introduction meeting didn’t occur until April 2025.

There were then three proper meetings between May and July, talking specifically about the two Ecclesall Ward roads, namely Banner Cross Road and Dunkeld Road. These three meetings were very collaborative. Mott Macdonald produced independent ideas which continued to save trees, while at the same time reducing lost parking, reducing the extreme large build outs, and were much more pragmatic. As a consequence, the Council announced the redesigned solutions for those two roads, to residents on those roads in mid-December, with the aim of moving to resurface those roads in the next six months.

The latest from this week is that residents gave some generally positive feedback on those new designs, and subject to a few minor final tweaks, those designs should be signed off very soon, and given to Amey to deliver. This will be great news.

The Working Group moved on to roads in the Nether Edge Ward in November 2025, and we’ve now had five meetings, so far covering 9 of the 11 roads.

Of the 9 roads discussed so far, the following 6 roads were pretty easy discussions, leading to consensus proposed designs which saved all trees. These 6 roads were: Crescent Road, Kenbourne Road, Steade Road, Ladysmith Avenue, Edgebrook Road, and Chippinghouse Road.

Thornsett Road was also a relatively easy discussion. There are two sick trees which will be felled perhaps 2 or 3 years earlier than they needed to be for safety reasons, but this will save the need for unnecessary build outs that would have compromised traffic flow. Having personally monitored the progress of the illness of these two trees for a number of years now, I am very content at this sensible compromise. Those two proposed fellings are currently being consulted on publicly, as is the Council’s legal duty to do so.

At some point in the next 3ish months, I expect the Council to engage with residents on these 7 roads about the proposed designs. I anticipate that street tree loving residents on these roads will be very happy, and this should lead to resurfacing at some point before April 2027.

Sheldon Road and Woodstock Road, as I anticipated would be the case, were lengthier discussions. Both roads have a number of diseased Sycamore trees, specifically with rapidly advancing Sooty Bark Disease. Amey believe these trees have 20 more years to safely live, I believe it is less than 5 years. The Council have therefore agreed to commission an independent survey in May 2026, and following these survey results, both roads will be discussed again to agree on final designs. I’m pretty confident of a sensible outcome, but I do think it will need some explaining to street tree campaigners, by myself, to ensure everyone is content with the outcome.

The two roads still to be discussed in the Nether Edge and Sharrow Ward, likely in the next fortnight, are St Ronan’s Road and Sandford Grove Road.

Once the Nether Edge roads have been completely discussed, the final 5 CIP roads in the other Wards will be moved onto.

I will keep you updated as things progress. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to let me know.

Update on STAG Constitution change

Work developing constitutional change proposals continues iteratively, and apace. All members should now have received an email on 21.2.26 with potential draft text on the purpose of STAG.
Comments and feedback are invited by 6th March by responding to the email of 21.2.26

Thanks also to the STAG member (Julian) who volunteered to be part of thinking about, and working up, proposals.

At the General Meeting on 6th Feb Ruth presented update slides and an overview of the direction of travel, rationale and approach underway. She’s posted a full note on this (longer than will be summarised in the minutes) in the STAG Members Facebook Group – please ask if you would like to see this but do not have access to Facebook.

Constitutional change proposals when worked up will, of course, be circulated (in advance of the AGM) and formally subject to to an all-member vote.

AGM and Elections

We hope members have already noted that the STAG AGM will be on the evening of 20th April. All welcome.

A call for nominations will be out soon and committee members would very much like to encourage people to put themselves forward for the committee. This year has seen record-keeping back on track, a significant tree planting project progressing liaising with lots of stakeholders, this regular newsletter and a new website, and we also hope there will be a better constitutional framework in place (subject to member vote). Whilst there remains at least one key issue unresolved, this does all put STAG potentially in a much better position for thinking forward. Do feel free to contact any current committee member if you might be thinking about doing your stint on the committee but want to know more.

Recent meetings

Sat 7th Feb A STAG General Meeting was held on in person at Sharrow Old school community centre. The minutes can be found here:
www.sheffieldtreeactiongroup.org/draft-minutes-of-stag-general-meeting-7th-february-2026-2-4-15pm/

Presentations from the meeting can be found here:
drive.google.com/file/d/1kPaZXLXyrip5MtO8tyEAQ-bFT6GUKHxs/view?usp=sharing

Mon 16th Feb STAG committee meeting was held in person.
Mon 23rd February Sheffield Street Tree Partnership meeting was attended by Helen McIlroy and Isabel O’Leary as STAG representatives .

Dates for your diary

Plaque unveiling Friday 6th March at 12.30 pm Town Hall steps then inside
STAG AGM Monday 20th April 7-9pm Online and in person at The Old Junior School, Sharrow, S7 1DB