A new partnership to manage its street trees has been approved by Sheffield City Council, following protests last year about its tree felling programme.
The new strategy has been agreed by the council, Amey The Wildlife Trust, Sheffield Tree Action Groups, The Woodland Trust and tree valuation experts.
The new approach will ensure the city’s network of street trees are well maintained, with a new to ensure ‘ smarter and more considered’ decisions are made in the future.
The council has also published a ‘tree inventory’ report to help assess and manage its urban tree populations.
Cllr Mark Jones, the council’s cabinet member for environment, street scene at climate change, said: ‘We’ve not always got the approach to street trees right. However, through the hard work and dedication of the development group and many others we have created this new strategy, one which ensures we listen carefully to all viewpoints and will shape how we do things better.
‘Through this new way of working, we are committed to retaining trees wherever possible, planting additional trees, increasing canopy cover and building a more diverse and resilient street tree stock with varying species and age profiles.’
Liz Ballard, chair of the Sheffield Street Tree Strategy Development Group, added: ‘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.y
