Developing a Partnership Street Tree Strategy for Sheffield

Agreement has now been reached between Sheffield Tree Action Groups (STAG), Sheffield City Council and Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust to develop a Partnership Street Tree Strategy for Sheffield.

A number of meetings have been held between SCC, STAG and the Trust to agree the scope of the Strategy work. This has now been finalised and the work to develop the Strategy itself is now underway.

To keep people updated on progress towards the Strategy, the Trust will be uploading to this web page the agendas, notes, presentations and other supporting documents that are discussed at the Strategy Steering Group meetings. As the strategy text is drafted we will also start to share this here as well.

Meeting 1: Tuesday 20th August 2019

Welcome and Introductions
Scope of work: Already agreed by Sheffield Tree Actions Group (STAG), Sheffield City Council (SCC) and Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust (SRWT)
Steering Group Terms of Reference: Agreed and Adopted
Theme 1:
Vision, Aims and Targets
Shaping a shared vision – our initial work but more work to do.

Agreeing a baseline
Options and preferred approaches to Valuing and Measuring.

• View meeting 1 notes

Meeting 2: Tuesday 7th October 2019

Welcome and Introductions

Theme 1: Vision, Aims & Targets

We discussed the draft vision and aims and how we might measure the aims of the strategy. For example, how we can measure the amenity value, air pollution reduction or carbon stored in street trees.

Theme 2: Decision-Making

Tree removal – There was a presentation on the approach used by Leeds City Council, who also shared their ‘Tree Guidelines’ booklet.  The current approach used in Sheffield was also discussed and a way forward proposed.

Tree replacement – STAG’s presented their feedback on the decision making process and Views on the list of tree species used for new planting.  After some discussion, a way to take this forward was agreed.

Next steps

The next meeting will focus on Community Involvement.

View meeting 2 notes

Meeting 3: Friday 8th November 2019

Welcome and apologies

Theme 1: Vision & Aims 

We reviewed the progress made and actions taken since the last meeting.

Theme 2: Decision-Making

We reviewed the progress made and actions taken since the last meeting.

Theme 3: Community Involvement

We looked at examples of how community involvement has worked elsewhere, firstly with a presentation and photographs from Jo Coles, followed by  Community Involvement in Planting Additional Trees, a presentation from Paul Selby on how two London councils approached community involvement around street trees. After some discussion we agreed a way forward.

Drafting the strategy

We discussed the content, format and timeline for producing and publishing the Sheffield Partnership Tree Strategy. You can see the notes here and the first draft of the document here.

Next steps

The next meeting will focus on Drafting the Strategy, Targets (i-tree eco) and Resourcing

View Meeting 3 notes

Meeting 4: Friday 29th November 2019

Welcome and apologies

Theme 1: Vision & Aims

James Watson from Treeconomics presented the Sheffield Street Trees i-tree report commissioned by the group. We discussed cost estimations, appropriate planting and maintenance and potential pests and diseases. We agreed on some amends which will be incorporated into the final report.

Drafting the strategy

We reviewed the progress on the sections currently being drafted and agreed the next sections to draft. A proposal was put forward for an approach to community funding of trees, a key outcome that STAG want as part of the strategy which you can read here. A draft of considerations for choosing and planting tree species can be seen here.

Next steps

The next meeting will focus on Drafting the Strategy, Timeline, Certification, and Related Issues

View Meeting 4 notes

Meeting 5: Friday 20th December 2019

Welcome and apologies

Theme 2: Decision-Making

We drafted a new process for selecting street tree species in Sheffield, discussing how to equalise tree cover across the city, diversifying the species used where appropriate and using specific species to combat different types of pollution such as ozone and carbon

See DRAFT tree selection process

Drafting the strategy

We reviewed the progress on the sections currently being drafted and agreed the next sections to draft. Proposals were put forward on Community Partnership and Tree wardens.

Meeting 5 notes

Meeting 6: Friday 24th January 2020

Welcome and apologies

Theme 2: Decision-Making

We decided on a timeline for the Strategy, PR & launch dates, and discussed the launch event. We also had a discussion on the scope and scale of the consultation.

Drafting the strategy

We reviewed the progress on the sections currently being drafted and agreed the next sections to draft.

Meeting 6 notes

Meeting 7: Friday 6th March