Tag: Lowcock Report

Letters to the press

Greens back open politics

16th January 2024

Green Councillors Alexi Dimond and Marieanne Elliot called for resignations in response to the tree inquiry.
Green Councillors Alexi Dimond and Marieanne Elliot called for resignations in response to the tree inquiry.
A recent letter to the Star stated that the Lowcock Report on the felling of 5,474 street trees “revealed the depths of the political corruption with the silence of Labour and Greens reflecting how widely the rot has set in.”

Far from the Greens being silent, the Lowcock Report only came about as it was a key negotiating point in May 2021 when the Greens entered the Council administration for the first time.

The report reveals only two councillors had publicly opposed the £2.2 billion outsourcing since it was first suggested in about 2007. They were the two Green Party councillors on the Council at that time.

During the campaign against the tree felling, Green Party councillors and activists took part in protests, risking arrest, injury and imprisonment.

Sheffield Green Party later supported the grassroots “It’s Our City” campaign, arising from the tree protests. This called for more accountability in the Council’s secretive Cabinet System which enabled just a few Labour Councillors to make all the decisions.

In May 2023 Green councillors forced an emergency meeting of Sheffield City Council to discuss and learn from the failure of strategic leadership exposed in the Lowcock Report.

The Council accepted the report’s recommendations and recognised that the committee system under No Overall Control requires a spirit of open, transparent and democratic ways of working. The council finally issued a public apology in response to the Lowcock report in June 2023.

Councillor Douglas Johnson
Sheffield Green Party

For more details on the Lowcock report and the street tree inquiry see our articles on the council actions after the Lowcock report, the ongoing ignorance and lack of apology from some councillors, and the need for honest and openness in council as the key lessons of this scandal.

Letters to the press

Sheffield Labour Party have learnt absolutely nothing from the Lowcock Report

15th April 2023

Graham Wroe and Natalie Bennett tree campaigning in Norfolk Park
Graham Wroe and Natalie Bennett tree campaigning in Norfolk Park

A letter to the Sheffield Star

I was horrified to see the letter from Cllr Peter Price (Sheffield Star 10/04/23 not yet online) which confirmed that the Sheffield Labour Party have learnt absolutely nothing from the Lowcock Report. 

He continues to blame trees for damaging the pavements when it has been shown that in the majority of cases, the terrible state of the pavement was not caused by the trees but by many layers of tarmac. When this excess tarmac was removed in the vast majority of cases it was then possible to resurface or modify the pavement without chopping the tree down. Other trees were targeted because they had slightly moved the kerb. 

Where trees were found to be damaging or discriminatory (making life difficult for wheelchair users/parents with pushchairs/mobility scooters etc)  the issues should have been addressed using one of the recommended 14 Engineering and Tree-Based Solutions.  These practical alternatives to tree removal are used as standard by Local Authorities in the UK and had already been paid for under the terms of the PFI contract. In Sheffield they were ignored whilst Sheffield  Labour Councillors routinely lied about them and healthy trees were needlessly destroyed.

Many of the beautiful healthy street trees throughout the city were chopped down because they were wrongly accused of being damaging or discriminatory by the Council. In Shiregreen this happened before the campaigners became aware of it. Peter Price remains completely unapologetic.

He praises Cllrs Fox and Lodge, continuing to ignore the ecocide they presided over and the £400,000 of Council Tax payer’s money wasted on legal proceedings against tree campaigners who have now been completely vindicated. Councillors Price, Fox and Lodge should resign their posts on the Council now. 

Graham Wroe

Manor Castle Green Party

The original letter from Cllr Price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find out about your election candidates here.

RuthMersereau-City TobyMallinson Hillsborough PeterGilbert-Ecclesall PaulTurpin-Gleadless Valley
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Letters to the press

The sad state of the Labour Party

8th April 2023

Dear Editor

G Shepherd makes some very good points about the sad state of the Labour Party. (Star letters 4th April)  I think they would be far more at home in the Green Party. 

We have been proud to support striking workers campaigning for a fair wage. 

We demand not only that the NHS is protected and safeguarded from privatisation, but that the Government funds it properly so we can once again be proud of our health service. 

We believe in freedom of speech and openness and certainly wouldn’t ban candidates from watching a film. I presume they were talking about “Oh Jeremy Corbyn:the big lie.”

Sheffield Greens have recently joined the Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and have no qualms about speaking out against the injustice the Palestinian people are facing.

G Shepherd does not mention the Lowcock Report on the tree dispute which showed how untrustworthy some of our Labour politicians are.   

G Shepherd would be most welcome to join us in the Green Party! 

Dylan Lewis-Creser

Green Party Candidate for Fulwood

 

G Shepherds letter is below. (it does not appear to be on the Star website)

Goodbye to Labour letter from G Shepherd

Find out about your election candidates here.

RuthMersereau-City TobyMallinson Hillsborough PeterGilbert-Ecclesall PaulTurpin-Gleadless Valley
AshRouth-Walkley AngelaArgenzio-Broomhill and Sharrow-Vale BevNennett-Nether Edge and Sharrow

Green call for Extraordinary General Meeting on Street Tree Scandal is granted by Lord Mayor

17th March 2023

Green Councillors Alexi Dimond and Marieanne Elliot call for resignations.
Green Councillors Alexi Dimond and Marieanne Elliot call for resignations.

A call by the 14-strong Green Group for an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the outcome of the Independent Inquiry into the Street Trees dispute conducted by Sir Mark Lowcock has been granted by Sheffield City Council. The request from the Green Group asked the meeting to:

“discuss the implications of the Street Tree Inquiry on the city, Sheffield City Council and councillors involved in the decision making at that time.”

Green Councillors made the call in the wake of the publication of the Lowcock report that revealed serious failings of strategic leadership of the Council.

The Inquiry was a key request secured in negotiations between the Greens and the Labour Party following the 2021 local elections when Labour lost their majority and the public voted for change in the governance referendum.

Councillor Douglas Johnson said,

“This issue can’t and shouldn’t be dodged. The Councillors responsible need to be held to account and answer for their actions. The lessons from the Lowcock report need to be implemented as part of the way the council does its business and relates to the people of this city. The street tree felling scandal made people lose faith with the Council and they need to see that the culture and leadership of the Council is changing to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.”

“This is something that is much more realistic now the council is in No Overall Control, where the parties are forced to work together.”

The Extraordinary General Meeting is expected to be held on the 10th of May, the week after the local elections and the week before the Council’s Annual General Meeting when the leader of the Council and the Chairs of the Council’s policy committee will be appointed.