Agenda item

5.1

The Chief Executive submitted a report asking Strategy and Resources Committee to agree a suite of actions and a budget to respond the findings and recommendations of the Sheffield street trees Inquiry, published by Sir Mark Lowcock KCB on 6 March 2023.

The Inquiry report contains detailed findings, observations and 11 recommendations for the Council and their Streets Ahead contractor, Amey.

The Council published a statement on 6 March, welcoming the report, and a further statement on 7 March setting out an initial apology and the intention to implement all recommendations and learn lessons. On 15 March at the Strategy and Resources Committee, the Council made fuller apologies, accepted all the Inquiry’s conclusions and recommendations and asked the Chief Executive to bring a report to this Committee to respond to each of the recommendations. Apologies were repeated at the Extraordinary General Meeting on 10 May and a motion passed which included a request that a timescale for implementation be published no later than the end of June 2023

5.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Strategy and Resources Policy Committee:-

(a) agrees to set aside £200,000 from reserves to cover the remaining costs of the Inquiry and to facilitate the actions to meet its recommendations set out within this report;

(b) agrees the 36 actions (and their accountability and monitoring arrangements) recommended to implement the recommendations of the Sheffield street trees Inquiry, set out within this report and summarised in Annex A;

(c) notes the apologies from Amey and Sheffield Tree Action Groups (STAG);

(d) endorses the bespoke approach to supporting those who were found in breach of the injunctions and ordered by the Court to pay costs;

(e) agrees that there should not be a dispute related compensation scheme;

(f) agrees that improving the standard of roads outstanding from 2018 is a priority for the Council;

(g) notes that the Council has shared the Inquiry response and this report with its auditors and will comply willingly should the auditors choose to recommend further action; and

(h) notes that this report does not recommend commissioning additional reports or investigations into the street trees dispute beyond the work with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the liaison with the Local Government Ombudsman and the Council’s auditors.

5.3

Reasons for Decision

5.3.1

The recommendations will support the ongoing recovery and reconciliation following the dispute, help ensure strong management of the Streets Ahead contract for the next 14 years and support the aims of the Council’s Strategic Framework 2023/24. They will also enable the Council to meet its commitment to accept and have a plan to implement all the Inquiry’s recommendations no later than the end of June 2023.

5.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

5.4.1

The Council has already committed to accepting all the Inquiry’s recommendations and learning lessons. Full Council reiterated and endorsed this through the motion which was passed at the EGM on 10 May.

5.4.2

The actions within the report are the Chief Executive and her team’s advice for how best to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations. There is strong alignment between the actions and the 6-month review of governance, City Goals and the Strategic Framework for 2023/24. As such, the option of rejecting some, or all, of the actions, or recommissioning this work, is not advised and would delay implementation.

5.1

The Chief Executive submitted a report asking Strategy and Resources Committee to agree a suite of actions and a budget to respond the findings and recommendations of the Sheffield street trees Inquiry, published by Sir Mark Lowcock KCB on 6 March 2023.

The Inquiry report contains detailed findings, observations and 11 recommendations for the Council and their Streets Ahead contractor, Amey.

The Council published a statement on 6 March, welcoming the report, and a further statement on 7 March setting out an initial apology and the intention to implement all recommendations and learn lessons. On 15 March at the Strategy and Resources Committee, the Council made fuller apologies, accepted all the Inquiry’s conclusions and recommendations and asked the Chief Executive to bring a report to this Committee to respond to each of the recommendations. Apologies were repeated at the Extraordinary General Meeting on 10 May and a motion passed which included a request that a timescale for implementation be published no later than the end of June 2023.

The Leader of the Council, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group and the Leader of the Green Party group made statements on the matter.

The Leader of the Council stated that, the dispute that is definitively detailed in Sir Mark Lowcock’s report was a dark episode in Sheffield. 

Much has already changed in the Council in the five years since 2018 when a new approach was taken – but there is still much to do to learn the lessons of that period. The report before us demonstrates that. The 36 actions in this report directly address the recommendations and lessons set out by the Inquiry report. They are accompanied by a plan so that we can monitor progress to meet them and so that the public can hold us accountable for meeting them.

One of the recommendations that Sir Mark made was for the Council to issue a comprehensive and fulsome apology for the things we got wrong during the dispute. A draft apology is included in the report and as the Chief Executive has explained, subject to the agreement of this committee, it will be published tomorrow and made permanently available on the Council’s website.

I want to take this opportunity to state clearly and unreservedly that we are sorry for the actions that we took during the street trees dispute. 

The Council’s behaviours led to significant harms being caused and they meant that people lost trust and faith in us. We hope that this apology and our actions will begin the process of restoring trust and faith. But we know that apologies with action are meaningless. Words matter but words alone are not enough. 

It is only by changing the way that we work that lasting and sustained change will occur. Change that will mean a dispute of this magnitude with our residents can never happen again. To achieve that change, we will - and are - placing people at the heart of what we do.

The Council that we want to be is one that looks outwards, invites scrutiny and works in partnership with the people of Sheffield. A Council that listens, consults and is open to feedback, ideas and suggestions. A Council that creates a culture where engagement is built in to everything we do. 

I know that the actions of the past mean some people may be sceptical that our words today will change things in the future. I understand that entirely. It is a significant task to rebuild trust, to change the culture of this organization and to move forward together. As the new Leader, I can assure you that my colleagues and I, both members and officers, are committed to making these changes. 

We will work with the residents of Sheffield to continue our work to be the best we can be.  We will listen and learn, we will try and maybe we will fail sometimes. Failing and making mistakes is a part of life, but refusing to listen and learn is a mistake we can never repeat.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group stated that this was an issue that he was very close to, having stood alongside and supported many of the speakers here today.  I was dismayed at the actions being taken by officers and Members at the time of the dispute. The challenge now is to put the words and statements into action, which is what we will now be judged on. In particular, how the officer and Member culture changes. 

Anybody Member involved from 2015 should consider if they should be part of that future.  This episode was a very divisive issue for the city which cannot happen again.  In future we must work in a unified way for the whole city.

A key takeaway from this is that the centre of the Council must let go, do less and trust others to take decisions.  This should include our Member colleagues and communities. We need to empower local communities by letting local people make local choices.

We must have review points to monitor progress on the journey of change.  A true test of how much we have changed will be if any political group was to have a majority on the Council.

The Leader of the Green Group stated this is an issue that has been affecting the residents of Sheffield for a very long time now and that his party had been heavily involved throughout. I welcome the Lowcock report, the Council’s response presented today and the detailed apology to the citizens of Sheffield.  I reflect on the council's handling of the issue, and the knowledge the Council had of the real harm caused to so many people of the city from the loss of these magnificent trees.

Residents expressed their concerns eloquently and in detail at an early stage of the tree felling campaign.  The Lowcock report agrees that those expressions should have been headed, along with many other voices expressing concerns at that time.  In 2021, when the inquiry was set up it was in the context of of the Council having already dramatically changed. In 2021 the people of Sheffield resoundingly voted for change in the way that council was governed and in May 2021 the ruling group lost its overall majority control of the council.  The Council found itself in a new situation where the parties had to work together. The Lowcock report has exposed truths that are uncomfortable to a lot of people but they're also absolutely the vital issues that demonstrated how the council got so many things so wrong for so long.

In the two years since then, compared with where we were 15 years ago, the Council has changed incomparably.  Recently we have had a near total change to the senior leadership of the council, both at political and officer level.  This has triggered a very welcome change in culture, which is important for all of us, in the way that we behave in this council.  That's not to say that things are perfect and or that things are even acceptable in every case.  There's a lot more to do as we've seen in the report.  However, the progress made leading up to today’s apology has reset the trajectory of the council’s future and that's something that the residents of Sheffield, who became involved in campaigns over many years should be able to take credit for.

The meeting then proceeded to detailed questions, comments and debate on the report presented.

5.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Strategy and Resources Policy Committee:-

(a) agrees to set aside £200,000 from reserves to cover the remaining costs of the Inquiry and to facilitate the actions to meet its recommendations set out within this report;

(b) agrees the 36 actions (and their accountability and monitoring arrangements) recommended to implement the recommendations of the Sheffield street trees Inquiry, set out within this report and summarised in Annex A;

(c) notes the apologies from Amey and Sheffield Tree Action Groups (STAG);

(d) endorses the bespoke approach to supporting those who were found in breach of the injunctions and ordered by the Court to pay costs;

(e) agrees that there should not be a dispute related compensation scheme;

(f) agrees that improving the standard of roads outstanding from 2018 is a priority for the Council;

(g) notes that the Council has shared the Inquiry response and this report with its auditors and will comply willingly should the auditors choose to recommend further action; and

(h) notes that this report does not recommend commissioning additional reports or investigations into the street trees dispute beyond the work with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the liaison with the Local Government Ombudsman and the Council’s auditors.

5.3

Reasons for Decision

5.3.1

The recommendations will support the ongoing recovery and reconciliation following the dispute, help ensure strong management of the Streets Ahead contract for the next 14 years and support the aims of the Council’s Strategic Framework 2023/24. They will also enable the Council to meet its commitment to accept and have a plan to implement all the Inquiry’s recommendations no later than the end of June 2023.

5.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

5.4.1

The Council has already committed to accepting all the Inquiry’s recommendations and learning lessons. Full Council reiterated and endorsed this through the motion which was passed at the EGM on 10 May.

5.4.2

The actions within the report are the Chief Executive and her team’s advice for how best to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations. There is strong alignment between the actions and the 6-month review of governance, City Goals and the Strategic Framework for 2023/24. As such, the option of rejecting some, or all, of the actions, or recommissioning this work, is not advised and would delay implementation.