Lotusflower Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 In an ideal world of endless money then yes, with the current budgets once you accept things needs replacing why not replace them all at once when you are already working on the road, there is no doubt that this is the most efficient way of doing it. This efficiency will also help to reduce the levels of pollution on the street as well as reducing the disturbance for those actually living on the street. Re my bold above. "No doubt" in your mind perhaps. There are financial variables here that you, like many others, are conveniently overlooking. Trees with medium and large size crowns are the very trees that provide millions of pounds worth of ecosystem services each year, as evidenced by the Forestry Commission's assessment of these services in Edinburgh, Torbay and London using i-tree software, as well as a raft of similar research abroad. As air pollution levels in Sheffield continue to rise from industrial emissions and increasing use of cars childhood respiratory diseases are amongst the highest in the country. Sheffield records in excess of 500 premature deaths annually from this pollution and costs the local economy £160 million pounds a year. According to DEFRA, these pollutants cause heart and breathing problems, particularly amongst the elderly...and this costs the NHS £9.1 - £21.4 BILLION per year. Do you still argue that council policy is cost effective? Cutting trees down such as you describe will INCREASE pollution not reduce it. That is inverted logic on a grand scale and is completely unsupportable evidentially! Please feel at liberty to point out where I have got that wrong and I will apologise unreservedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat545 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Sorry cant be with you but you have my support. Democracy must be seen to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esoneulb Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Hi, In cities around the country damage to pavements is remedied in ways that do not involve the removal of trees. There is a raft of sensitive engineering solutions which are used...but not in this city. The state of the pavements in widespread areas across this city has had as much to do with years of council neglect to address the problem as it has to do with trees. How many pavements do you see in bad states of repair where no trees exist! The council has a duty to maintain areas around the base of trees and elsewhere so perhaps you might feel less "confounded" if you were to direct your comments directly to them. You are truly unbelievable! I have a cherry tree outside my house and I give it a quick trim when required, this way it does not cause an obstruction and looks neat and tidy, it takes me all of five minutes. As for directing my comments on here, forgive me but I thought this was a message board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusflower Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 You are truly unbelievable! I have a cherry tree outside my house and I give it a quick trim when required, this way it does not cause an obstruction and looks neat and tidy, it takes me all of five minutes. As for directing my comments on here, forgive me but I thought this was a message board! Re my bold. Flattery will get you nowhere! Your worthy efforts in trimming your bush are to be commended but that does not detract from what I said of the council's responsibility to maintain roadside trees. I did not say you were not allowed to comment on here by the way...read it again. And I do forgive you...it's all part of the rich and varied service we Swamis are more than delighted to provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon1 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Re my bold. Flattery will get you nowhere! Your worthy efforts in trimming your bush are to be commended but that does not detract from what I said of the council's responsibility to maintain roadside trees. I did not say you were not allowed to comment on here by the way...read it again. And I do forgive you...it's all part of the rich and varied service we Swamis are more than delighted to provide. You are bloody hilarious old friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the fonz Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Re my bold above. "No doubt" in your mind perhaps. There are financial variables here that you, like many others, are conveniently overlooking. Trees with medium and large size crowns are the very trees that provide millions of pounds worth of ecosystem services each year, as evidenced by the Forestry Commission's assessment of these services in Edinburgh, Torbay and London using i-tree software, as well as a raft of similar research abroad. As air pollution levels in Sheffield continue to rise from industrial emissions and increasing use of cars childhood respiratory diseases are amongst the highest in the country. Sheffield records in excess of 500 premature deaths annually from this pollution and costs the local economy £160 million pounds a year. According to DEFRA, these pollutants cause heart and breathing problems, particularly amongst the elderly...and this costs the NHS £9.1 - £21.4 BILLION per year. Do you still argue that council policy is cost effective? Cutting trees down such as you describe will INCREASE pollution not reduce it. That is inverted logic on a grand scale and is completely unsupportable evidentially! Please feel at liberty to point out where I have got that wrong and I will apologise unreservedly. Once you accept the trees need cutting down, doing it one at a time creates more pollution that doing them all at once, im sorry but isnt that obvious? Your facts and figures are interesting and correct, but i wonder have you ever actually carried out any cost benefit analysis, its not just as simple as saying trees reduce pollution. Trees come with associated costs, maintenance, street cleaning, risk and liabilities, you need to take all these factors into account when looking at cost effectiveness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindfulness Posted September 16, 2015 Author Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) Trees come with associated costs, maintenance, street cleaning, risk and liabilities, you need to take all these factors into account when looking at cost effectiveness Indeed you do. And when it IS done, the ecosystem, ecological and economic benefits that the trees provide CONSISTENTLY outweigh the costs, over the life time of the tree. SCC need to be paying for i-tree analyses from the 2.2 billion allocated in the PFI contract with Amey, so that appropriate valuations can be placed on our street tree resource, an important part of the Urban Forest and also Sheffield's Green Infrastructure. ---------- Post added 16-09-2015 at 23:59 ---------- The Star today: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-tree-campaigners-set-up-park-camp-as-controversy-grows-1-7462987 Edited September 16, 2015 by Mindfulness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1978 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Now on page 11 and still running! There are probably over 2 million trees in Sheffield. A high proprtion of our street trees are in poor condition, having grown larger than those who planted them expected. Over the last few decades many such trees were removed without replacement, possibly a third in my area. If we paid for replacements we got them. Under Streets Ahead removed trees will be replaced without direct charge to residents. From our window we could see 3 or 4 distant golf course fairways 30 years ago. Now all are totally obscured by the trees planted around them. The net annual growth of those 2 million trees must massively outweigh the losses to be experienced by the felling of some street trees. The new trees will soon grow. We didn't like it when the flowering cherry outside our house was removed (without any warning either) about 10-12 years ago. It's taken some time, but the little replacement is coming along well, and looks better suited to it's position. It's a greater shame that the rest of the trees removed on our road weren't replaced, and seems they won't be now. Residents may even have forgotten where they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdbx Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 (edited) As air pollution levels in Sheffield continue to rise from industrial emissions and increasing use of cars childhood respiratory diseases are amongst the highest in the country. Sheffield records in excess of 500 premature deaths annually from this pollution and costs the local economy £160 million pounds a year. According to DEFRA, these pollutants cause heart and breathing problems, particularly amongst the elderly...and this costs the NHS £9.1 - £21.4 BILLION per year. And what "Industrial Emissions" are prevalent in S11 that require a full canopy? Its only really along the M1 corridor that its a major issue. Perhaps a concerted effort to persuade the gas guzzlers in that area of town would be more beneficial in the long run if your worried? links http://www.sheffieldeastend.org.uk/SheffTelApr2015.pdf http://www.sheffieldeastend.org.uk/ https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/environment/air-quality.html look at 2012 Assessment http://www.care4air.org/area/sheffield/ The removal of a few trees is nothing to the changes that we could make in our transport and domestic choices!. Edited September 17, 2015 by xdbx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordonb Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Does anyone know how many claims have been made against the council for injuries sustained by people "Falling over" the roots or pavements damaged by trees Also what does Amey do with the timber when they have cut it down? Does it get sold on to wood yards or the like, or does it get chopped up and sold for use by people with wood burners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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