Sheffield city council has issued a lengthy open apology for misleading the public, the media and the courts in a bitter dispute over its “flawed” programme to fell 17,500 street trees – many of which it now accepts were healthy.
Tom Hunt, the council’s new Labour leader, said he accepted some people would “never forgive” the local authority for the mistakes it made during the long-running saga, which led to elderly residents being arrested in dawn raids and one councillor facing prison.
The council accepted the findings of an independent inquiry, which earlier this year found “serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership” in its mishandling of the dispute.
The apology, which was co-signed by Kate Josephs, the chief executive of the council, began with an apology to campaigners, which it acknowledged was “a long time coming”.
It said: “We are sorry that they were misrepresented as unrepresentative and primarily concerned with their own streets. This inaccurate characterisation sowed discord within communities. A lot of people care about our street trees and gave their time and energy to try to protect them for the benefit of the whole city.”
The council accepts it repeatedly gave out misleading information about the 25-year contract it signed with the outsourcing firm Amey.
“We are sorry for developing and adopting a flawed plan and including the aim to replace half of the city’s street trees,” said Hunt and Josephs. “We would like in particular to apologise for repeatedly saying in the media, and in correspondence, that there was no target for the tree replacement programme, that felling was always a last resort and that any change to the tree replacement programme would result in catastrophic costs. It is clear that this was not the case.”
The pair said the plan involved “the removal of healthy trees which should still be standing today”.
They wrote: “These healthy trees were important to residents and gave communities and the city benefits which were overlooked. Residents should not have had to fight their council to retain and value healthy trees, particularly not those with special significance such as memorial, rare or veteran trees. We recognise that we got so much of this wrong and we apologise unreservedly.”
The statement offered a special apology to Alison Teal, a former Green councillor. In 2017, the council took her to court for allegedly breaking an injunction that was enforced to stop protesters from protecting the trees from chainsaws. She was ultimately found not guilty.
“Seeking punishment through the courts of an elected opposition politician, who was clear that she intended to comply with the law, sits badly with democratic tradition,” the letter said.
Teal said the apology was something “I never imagined I’d read”. She tweeted: “It outlines the blindness of hubris and the unjust inclination of those with too much power to abuse it. A perfect case study for others to learn from.”
The council accepts that it misled two high court judges via the council’s five-year tree management strategy, which it knew was flawed. “Misleading the courts is a serious matter and we will write to them to apologise,” Hunt and Josephs said.
