Arrests after controversial tree felling in Sheffield
Two women aged 70 and 71 have been arrested after a stand-off over the controversial cutting-down of trees in a residential street in Sheffield.
Angry residents on Rustlings Road were woken by contractors with police protection who had arrived before dawn to chop down a number of trees using chainsaws.
There's been a long running campaign to save the trees for being felled.
Bo lives nearby - she says she's really angry:
"This whole city was built as an avenue city. I've just come back from a holiday in Spain - I've just been taking photos of the trees that line the walkways and create safe spaces and they've just wrecked it. I reckon that's a 400 year-old tree - it took them 20 minutes to knock it down.
"Sheffield City Council don't care - these are people's trees, these are people's houses, these are birds' houses. I'm furious. Absolutely furious."
Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg's called the operation "unjustifiable and underhand"
He said in a statement:
"Whether you think the trees need to come down or not, the way the Council have acted is inexcusable. Sheffield's Labour leaders have shown that they willing to go to any lengths in their tree felling mission against the wishes of the community, using disproportionate and underhand tactics to get their own way.
"Relationships between residents and the Council are already strained over this issue and this will only inflame tensions further."
There have been angry confrontations between residents and officials on Rustlings Road; 12 police officers were on the scene this morning to assist the council.
The council say their action is justified - Cllr Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for the Environment said:
"For more than a year we have worked tirelessly with Amey and the local community to find the right solution for Rustlings Road. We have written to every home, brought in a new survey process for the entire city and set up an Independent Tree Panel. Our approach has been assessed at the High Court on three occasions.
“We have made a final decision to increase the number of trees on Rustlings Road by almost 30%. We need to replace eight out of the 30 existing trees, but we will plant 17, which means the road is gaining an extra nine trees. We understand that this will be a difficult day for the tree campaigners, but this work is absolutely essential to ensure that Sheffield has healthy street trees for future generations.
“We carried out the work very early in the morning on the advice of the police to make sure it could be done safely. This isn’t usually needed but in this case it was considered the best option for the safety of the public, protestors and the workers.
“I understand there are strong emotions about this but have to stand by the decision to do this vital maintenance work. We’ve got 36,000 street trees in Sheffield and this programme means that in years to come we’ll have even more"