Partnership working strategy for city’s street trees is unveiled15 July, 2020 18 June, 2024 A new shared vision for the care and management of Sheffield’s street trees will be published this week alongside an online survey which asks for views from individuals and organisations to help shape a final strategy by spring 2021. The working strategy, which outlines a positive and exemplary approach to the future management of the city’s street trees, comes following months of partnership working between representatives from Sheffield City Council, Amey, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Sheffield Tree Action Groups, The Woodland Trust and tree valuation experts. The working strategy recognises the essential contribution that street trees provide for health and wellbeing, air quality and other ecological and environmental benefits, as well as outlining new ways of working to ensure the city’s network of street trees is well maintained and sustained for the future. Six outcomes, which will collectively help shape and develop the future approach to street trees, are outlined in the working strategy; putting into practice long-term and tangible plans to allow for smarter and more considered decisions. These are: Sustainably and carefully managing our street trees in accordance with best practice. Increasing the value and benefits that flow from our street trees. Contributing to a more equal distribution of urban forest across the city to promote health & wellbeing. Increasing street tree canopy cover. Ensuring our street trees are more resilient through the type and age of trees we plant and also how we manage the current street tree stock. Involving the wider community in caring for and valuing street trees. As a supplement to Sheffield City Council’s existing Trees and Woodlands Strategy (2018-2033) the working strategy outlines a clear proposal to promote and enhance Sheffield’s street tree stock whilst identifying the unique challenges of caring for trees growing in a highway environment. As part of their work, the development group commissioned baseline data for Sheffield’s street trees which included the production of a report by Treeconomics, based on an inventory of Sheffield’s street trees and drawing on over 35,000 records from the ‘Streets Ahead’ database. The report values the ecosystem benefits of street trees using i-Tree Eco, a state-of-the-art open source software system used worldwide to assess and manage urban tree populations and is thought to be the first of its kind for street trees. The information will result in the council and its partners being able to better manage the city’s street trees by using more accurate, timely and complete sets of data. The ‘Sheffield Street Tree Inventory Report’ can be viewed here. Liz Ballard, Chair of the Sheffield Street Tree Strategy Development Group said: “We set out to develop an exemplary Partnership Street Tree Strategy for Sheffield that values street trees for the benefits they bring to people, the city and the wider environment. And we believe this working strategy is just that. “As a group we wanted to produce something positive and visionary – for the city to collectively view street trees as an asset, helping us to improve air quality, reduce flood risk, support wildlife and store carbon, and to promote the wellbeing of our cities citizens. “This strategy aims to learn from the past in order to deliver our vision for the future of Sheffield’s street trees.” Councillor Mark Jones, Cabinet member for Environment, Street Scene and Climate Change at Sheffield City Council said: “We live in a city famous for its greenery, something many of us are rightly proud of. We have almost five million trees covering our streets, parks and woodlands. That’s approximately eight trees for each p