Sheffield City Council publishes tree felling apology letter

About 5,600 trees were removed and replaced between 2013 and 2018

Sheffield City Council has published a four-page letter apologising for its handling of the street trees dispute.

Thousands of trees were felled as part of a £2.2bn street improvement project, sparking public anger and protests.

An independent review of the council's behaviour said there had been a "failure of strategic leadership".

In the letter, council leaders said they were working to "learn from the past and never repeat those same mistakes again".

The lengthy document, signed by recently elected council leader Tom Hunt and chief executive Kate Josephs, addresses the various failings highlighted in Sir Mark Lowcock's report.

In it, the authority acknowledges its "poor" behaviour towards campaigners and residents and its lack of transparency during the dispute.

It also admitted misleading the public and courts and failing to listen to warnings offered by council staff, unions and local business leaders.

Leaders said that action taken by the authority during the dispute had "damaged Sheffield's reputation in a way that casts a long shadow" and said numerous healthy trees which had been cut down should "still be standing today".

The letter states: "The mistakes the Council made were set out very clearly by Sir Mark Lowcock, they should not have happened, and we apologise for them unreservedly.

"We have committed to taking the action needed to ensure we learn from the past and never repeat those same mistakes again."

The letter added that the council intended to address all the inquiry's recommendations.

The letter ends with the authors saying: "We look forward to working with the residents of Sheffield going forwards, so we can 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."