Advertisement
Opinion

Paul McNamee: Pay attention because the roots spread to us all

The Sheffield Tree felling protests come down to a bigger issue. While there are health benefits to having mature trees in a city, the issue is more about HOW we want the world around us to be.

I’m watching the Sheffield trees protest with growing fascination. It unites PFI contracts, council intransigence, questions over rights of local communities, and focused, polite moments of civil disobedience. It feels peculiarly British and is becoming one of the events of our time.

To recap, Sheffield City Council have set about felling thousands of trees from the city’s streets. They claim that the trees are “dangerous, dead, diseased, dying, damaging or discriminatory”. They believe these trees, amongst other things, are making roads and pavements unsafe. They say they are planting others to replace them.

What are streets for? A place to foster a sense of belonging, or patches of tarmac for shifting cars with ease

However, the protestors disagree. And they, as an organisation called STAG (Sheffield Tree Action Groups), are growing in influence. Many of the trees are healthy, they say. They insist there are better ways to deal with the issues. They think something stinks, namely the £2bn Streets Ahead project that has seen the tree removal outsourced to private contractors Amey.

Hostile takeover: Who is welcome in our public spaces?

Oaks and elms, some over 100 years old, are being chopped down with a rapacious restiveness. So far over 5,500 trees have been felled, while 1,000 more have been earmarked. The protesting continues, and the battle lines harden. Last week, there were 33 uniformed police officers and 20 other security staff present at the removal of one tree. Which feels rather heavy handed. The incident has seen the local newspaper, The Yorkshire Post, lead the call for a halt to the felling until a fully independent appraisal has been carried out.

It is easy to be a keyboard warrior, to sign petitions and share social media alerts. It is quite another to get outside to become involved in something

I like trees – who doesn’t! I’ve taken my children tree climbing – which, depending on your point of view, is either great craic or highly inappropriate parenting. Instinctively, I’m drawn to the protestors, especially as a number of them feel like they belong in an Alan Bennett single-hander, rather than on the frontline of a major fight. It is easy to be a keyboard warrior, to sign petitions and share social media alerts. It is quite another to get outside to become involved in something that you care deeply about. I love the sense of grassroots community togetherness in a common cause. This movement clearly energises a great number of people.

There may well be residents who back the trees removal. I don’t live in Sheffield and I don’t know how damaging some of the trees can be, for those with mobility issues amongst other things. If there are a set of people who look forward to the buzz of a chainsaw, they are less vocal.

Advertisement
Advertisement

What this really comes to down is a bigger issue. Because while there are health benefits to having mature trees in a city, the issue is more about how we want the world around us to be. It’s as much about aesthetics as it is about anything else. Trees look good. And being in a place that looks good can positively alter our moods. We are more likely to feel that sense of community, to want that area to do well, we’ll take pride in it and from this base much can grow. What are streets for? Are they a place to foster a sense of belonging, or simply patches of tarmac for shifting cars with the greatest ease?

Cutting down the Sheffield trees is about removing much more than branches and overhanging leaves. We should all pay attention because the roots spread to us all.

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
Trump harnessed the power of angry young men – thanks to a brotherhood of online 'gurus'
Sam Delaney

Trump harnessed the power of angry young men – thanks to a brotherhood of online 'gurus'

Enslaved Africans put the 'great' in Great Britain. We must give them long overdue remembrance
Enslaved Africans Memorial campaigner Oku Ekpenyon
Oku Ekpenyon

Enslaved Africans put the 'great' in Great Britain. We must give them long overdue remembrance

Number of people turning to food banks is shocking – but it's the tip of the hunger iceberg
woman packing food parcels in food bank
Sabine Goodwin

Number of people turning to food banks is shocking – but it's the tip of the hunger iceberg

I committed a cardinal sin at the Wexford Festival Opera
Claire Jackson

I committed a cardinal sin at the Wexford Festival Opera

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue