New tree-planting recruits sought by Sheffield Council

Sheffield is "one of the most wooded cities in Europe", according to the council advert for the new posts

New tree-planting recruits are being sought by a city council which was previously involved in a long-running row over the felling of trees.

Sheffield City Council said it was looking for three community forestry project development officers.

The authority added it was committed to planting 10,000 trees across the city every year.

It was earlier embroiled in a dispute over a scheme that saw thousands of trees in Sheffield cut down.

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The row was over a £2.2bn, 25-year street improvement project starting in 2012 which saw trees felled by council contractors Amey.

The authority, which was planting new trees after removing existing ones, insisted the trees earmarked for felling were diseased, dying, dangerous or damaging.

Some of the felled trees were healthy but classed as dangerous or damaging.

But opponents of the scheme said alternative options should have been pursued to save those trees.

The long-running row in Sheffield dated from 2012 when tree-felling work started in the city

A compromise was reached between campaigners and the council in December 2018.

A report in 2020 by the local government ombudsman said the council had acted with a "lack of transparency, openness and, on occasion, honesty". The authority subsequently apologised.

The new part-time forestry project development officers will be paid between £26,511 and £30,451 to deliver a tree planting programme across the city, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The roles will include investigating and identifying suitable locations for new trees, delivering the projects and involving local communities in "one of the greenest and most wooded cities in Europe", the council said.