Council tree felling...

[HeHasRisen]

1 hour ago, harvey19 said:

The voters in Sheffield should take them to task by not voting for them in the future.

Most voters don't give a toss. 

[RollingJ]

8 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Most voters don't give a toss. 

Sadly.

[Anna B]

16 hours ago, harvey19 said:

The voters in Sheffield should take them to task by not voting for them in the future.

I agree. But where is the alternative?

All candidates have to be pre-approved by the party themselves, and they will only approve someone who is not going to rock the boat or make changes, so you always get more of the same. It's just another problem with our electoral system.

 

I'd like to see independents standing in every area, and would encourage people to vote for them.

 

Take an interest in politics people. It's important.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Anna B

[harvey19]

15 minutes ago, Anna B said:

I agree. But where is the alternative?

All candidates have to be pre-approved by the party themselves, and they will only approve someone who is not going to rock the boat or make changes, so you always get more of the same. It's just another problem with our electoral system.

 

I'd like to see independents standing in every area, and would encourage people to vote for them.

 

Take an interest in politics people. It's important.

I have read of people who stood as independent MPs and have found it hard  by not having the resources of a major party to call on.

I would imagine it is the same for councillors.

[Anna B]

1 hour ago, harvey19 said:

I have read of people who stood as independent MPs and have found it hard  by not having the resources of a major party to call on.

I would imagine it is the same for councillors.

Yes, there are certainly problems. That's why we have so few independents at both local and national level. They really need money or well funded sponsorship, and lots of publicity, so not easy.

 

The politicians have it all sewn up to suit them which is why it's so hard to achieve change.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Anna B

[Staunton]

Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 21 June 2023 (1:51:25 - 1:57:31)

Presenter; Nick Robinson

 

 

Robinson: We're Sorry. We got it wrong. What we told the public, the media, even the courts, was not true. Yesterday Sheffield City Council issued a lengthy and extraordinary apology for its highly controversial programme to fell seventeen and a half thousand street trees, many of which the council now accepts were healthy. An independent report published earlier this week concluded that the dispute had done significant harm. We're joined by the leader of the Sheffield City Council, Labour's Tom Hunt, and also by Rebecca Hammond, who's a member of the committee of the Sheffield Tree Action Group. Morning to you both (both: 'Good morning'). Tom Hunt, first of all, as the new leader of Sheffield City Council, why did you decide it was right to apologise, and what, for those listening beyond the city, are you actually apologising for?

 

Hunt: We have published the apology because we are truly sorry for the actions of Sheffield City Council during the street tree dispute. We know that there were significant failings and they caused significant harms to people in the city. As you've mentioned, that caused the loss of healthy street trees. But it also meant that there were a number of individuals, campaigners, who suffered individual harms. People were wrongly taken to court, there were harms to the people of Sheffield, [who?] have lost their faith in the council, and so our public apology is to the people of Sheffield for our actions throughout this whole street tree dispute.

 

Robinson: Underpinning it though, Tom, was the fact that the council simply didn't tell the truth, did they? When it was alleged that there was a programme to replace an arbitrary seventeen and a half thousand trees over twenty five years the council kept saying no no, no, there's no target at all, and there was one.

 

Hunt: That's right, and when people were rightly pointing out that we were getting things wrong and raising concerns, instead of listening and engaging with them the council doubled down and sought to escalate rather than de-escalate and change course.

 

Robinson: Have you as a new leader analysed why this happened? Let's just assume that most of the people involved in public life are doing it for the right reasons, this was a mistake by officials as well as by councillors, how did they come to set a programme that wouldn't have got public support I suspect, and then when there was a dispute about it to lie about it?

 

Hunt: As a resident during those years, I wasn't a councillor then, I had the same questions. We all wanted to know how things had got so bad, and that is why in 2021 the council commissioned Sir Mark Lowcock to complete a full public enquiry into the street tree dispute. His report, as you've mentioned, was published earlier in the year, and this week the council is implementing every single one of those recommendations. We did that so that we could understand just what went wrong, so that now my job is to right those wrongs so that a dispute of this magnitude can never happen again.

 

Robinson: Well let's turn to Rebecca now of the Sheffield Tree Action Group. Having fought this for years how did it feel to hear those words?

 

Hammond: It's been a long time coming, but it is very much appreciated. Sir Mark Lowcock's report, which was published in March, did make us feel vindicated, everything that we thought was actually correct, all the things that we thought had been going on it turned out had been going on, and this apology this week is, like I say, very much appreciated. I think now the question for us is whether the council is capable of making the massive cultural change that is necessary to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.

Robinson: What about your own group because as it were you didn't start it, but your own group, the Sheffield Tree Action Group, had to apologise for its treatment of public officials.

 

Hammond: Yeah, so within a couple of days of Sir Mark Lowcock's report he did highlight that at times the behaviour of campaigners had not always been as it could have been, and we did make an apology for that, particularly bearing, we were particularly mindful of, for example, the more junior council employees who got caught up in the débâcle because of decisions made by their seniors.

 

Robinson: And we've only a little bit of time left so, Rebecca, if you would, and then Tom: what do you reflect is the wider national story about this, about how to get these relationships right between councils and those that they serve? Rebecca first.

 

Hammond: So, the apology makes a specific reference to a culture unreceptive to external views, discouraging of internal dissent, and prone to group-think. And I think that's really important for all councils across the country to bear in mind. You know, this happened to be about street trees, but it could have been about anything. You know, we've recently heard about the situation in Woking which has just got itself into an absolute financial mess, probably because of a lack of reception to internal challenge to 'is this the right thing to be doing?'

 

Robinson: Tom Hunt, is openness the lesson that you learned?

 

Hunt: Openness is absolutely the lesson that we learned. Openness, transparency and accountability are the watchwords by which we will now be proceeding at Sheffield City Council. The council is there to serve the people of Sheffield. That means we must always listen, we must learn, yes we may get things wrong but we can never then just plough on. We must understand where things go wrong if they do, and then but always, always be on the side of people and implement a culture of engagement that runs throughout the council.

 

Robinson: And a final word to you Rebecca Hammond, trees matter.

 

Hammond: Absolutely yes. Street trees are there wherever people are, and they have benefits for peoples' health and wellbeing, even if you don't live on that street, but people travel along those streets every day, so they are hugely important for everyone.

 

Robinson: Rebecca Hammond of Sheffield Tree Action Group, Tom Hunt, new Labour leader of Sheffield City Council, thanks for joining us.

[RollingJ]

@Staunton - thanks. Now we just have to wait and see if Hunts' words are translated to actions.

[Man in Crete]

The fact remains that council officers were ultimately responsible for this problem and some of them should have had their employment terminated. Still they persist with schemes to suit their personnel views and it’s about time they were taken to task

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, Man in Crete said:

The fact remains that council officers were ultimately responsible for this problem and some of them should have had their employment terminated. Still they persist with schemes to suit their personnel views and it’s about time they were taken to task

Very true, and sadly, despite that commendable 'message' from Tom Hunt, I think we will have to wait and see - his comments are going to put a lot of noses out of joint, and I predict a lot of in-fighting and disruption.

[RollingJ]

I think post #2573 above is a clear indication that SCC are not to be trusted.  Mr. Hunt is very careful to only refer to the 'tree' incident, but you can't tell me this is the only time they have bent the truth/been economical with it.