Biodiversity impact assessments for the 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sheffield City Council,

I am writing to request any documentary evidence to demonstrate how Sheffield City Council has complied with its legal duty Under section 40 (1) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 in relation to the decision to allow felling of thousands of mature street trees within the 2012-17 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy as part of the Streets Ahead contract.

"Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
40 Duty to conserve biodiversity

(1) Every public authority must, in exercising its functions, have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity. "

I note with concern that there is no mention of this act in the list of British Standards and Legislation that this strategy was intended to comply with in the strategy document, nor has it been mentioned in either of the associated court cases.

To date the only mention of biodiversity that I have found in any of the relevant documents is a one line mention that indicates a very superficial level of understanding of the biodiversity implications of these works.

"Increase biodiversity through species selection and protection of habitats. "

In particular I am requesting the following in relation to the removal of thousands of mature street trees and replacement with saplings under the 2012-17 5 year tree management strategy of the Streets Ahead contract.

1 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover of sheffield as a whole (eg I-tree canopy assessment or similar).

2 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover of affected areas of sheffield, eg ward level assessments or similar (eg I-tree canopy assessment or similar).

3 Any assessments that have been made of any loss of coherent tree corridors that were created by the existing mature street tree canopies.

4 Any assessment of the biodiversity impacts associated with any loss of canopy cover or coherent tree corridors identified in points 1-3.

5 Any assessments that have been carried out of the biodiversity impact of the loss of particularly notable trees such as the Chelsea Elm, or Vernon Oak.

6 Any assessment of the biodiversity, ecological and amenity value associated with the mature street trees that are being removed under this contract, such as CAVAT, I-Trees Eco or similar.

7 Any cost / benefit assessments carried out that compared the biodiversity / ecological / amenity values associated with each tree with the costs associated with retaining the tree (if such assessments have been carried out then a sample of each will suffice).

Any other documents that are you believe to demonstrate Sheffield City Council's compliance with section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Andrews

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI / 1053
 
Dear Gavin Andrews,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Biodiversity
impact assessments for the 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy
which we received on 15/10/2017.
 
This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request, and will be
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act.  The reference number for
your request can be found above.
 
The Freedom of Information Act states that we must respond to you within
20 working days, therefore, you should expect to hear a response from us
by 10/11/2017.
 
In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact us on the number
below.
 
Thank you.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
? Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: Gavin Andrews [[2]mailto:[FOI #438781 email]]
Sent: 15 October 2017 22:23
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Biodiversity impact assessments
for the 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy
 
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
I am writing to request any documentary evidence to demonstrate how
Sheffield City Council has complied with its legal duty Under section 40
(1) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 in relation
to the decision to allow felling of thousands of mature street trees
within the 2012-17 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy as part of
the Streets Ahead contract.
 
"Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
40 Duty to conserve biodiversity
 
(1) Every public authority must, in exercising its functions, have regard,
so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to
the purpose of conserving biodiversity. "
 
I note with concern that there is no mention of this act in the list of
British Standards and Legislation that this strategy was intended to
comply with in the strategy document, nor has it been mentioned in either
of the associated court cases.
 
To date the only mention of biodiversity that I have found in any of the
relevant documents is a one line mention that indicates a very superficial
level of understanding of the biodiversity implications of these works.
 
"Increase biodiversity through species selection and protection of
habitats. "
 
In particular I am requesting the following in relation to the removal of
thousands of mature street trees and replacement with saplings under the
2012-17 5 year tree management strategy of the Streets Ahead contract.
 
1 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover
of sheffield as a whole (eg I-tree canopy assessment or similar).
 
2 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover
of affected areas of sheffield, eg ward level assessments or similar (eg
I-tree canopy assessment or similar).
 
3 Any assessments that have been made of any loss of coherent  tree
corridors that were created by the existing mature street tree canopies.
 
4 Any assessment of the biodiversity impacts associated with any loss of
canopy cover or coherent tree corridors identified in points 1-3.
 
5 Any assessments that have been carried out of the biodiversity impact of
the loss of particularly notable trees such as the Chelsea Elm, or Vernon
Oak.
 
6 Any assessment of the biodiversity, ecological and amenity value
associated with the mature street trees that are being removed under this
contract, such as CAVAT,  I-Trees Eco or similar.
 
7 Any cost / benefit assessments carried out that compared the
biodiversity / ecological / amenity values associated with each tree with
the costs associated with retaining the tree (if such assessments have
been carried out then a sample of each will suffice).
 
Any other documents that are you believe to demonstrate Sheffield City
Council's compliance with section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural
Communities Act 2006.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Gavin Andrews
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #438781 email]
 
Is [4][Sheffield City Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Sheffield City Council? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
 
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[6]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
 
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 
 

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI / 1053
 
Dear Gavin Andrews,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Biodiversity
impact assessments for the 2012-17 Five Year Tree Management Strategy
which we received on 15/10/2017.
 
Please find below, Sheffield City Council’s response to your request:
 
1 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover
of Sheffield as a whole (e.g. I-tree canopy assessment or similar).
We do not hold this information
 
2 Any assessment that has been made of the impact on the tree canopy cover
of affected areas of Sheffield, e.g. ward level assessments or similar
(e.g. I-tree canopy assessment or similar).
We do not hold this information
 
3 Any assessments that have been made of any loss of coherent  tree
corridors that were created by the existing mature street tree canopies.
We do not hold this information
 
4 Any assessment of the biodiversity impacts associated with any loss of
canopy cover or coherent tree corridors identified in points 1-3.
We do not hold this information
 
5 Any assessments that have been carried out of the biodiversity impact of
the loss of particularly notable trees such as the Chelsea Elm, or Vernon
Oak.
We do not hold this information
 
6 Any assessment of the biodiversity, ecological and amenity value
associated with the mature street trees that are being removed under this
contract, such as CAVAT,  I-Trees Eco or similar.
Full ecological assessments are undertaken for all street trees and all
highway works in general. We have a total of 105 documents relating to
environmental and ecological assessments for all work zones however, these
are too large to email to
you even if we were to compress them through WinZip. These documents can
be made available for you to view at our Olive Grove Depot. If you would
like to view these documents please contact us to arrange a mutually
convenient time.
 
Size and categorisation assessments in accordance with the relevant
British Standard are undertaken for all highway trees however these are
not in a searchable format. Given that Sheffield has over 7000 streets and
36,000 highway trees this volume of documentation spanning a 5 year period
cannot be compiled within the 18 hour time limit for an FOIA enquiry. In
this case to locate, retrieve and extract the requested information would
likely well exceed the cost limit for dealing with FOI requests under
[1]Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. For ease of reference,
the cost limit (18hours or £450) is specified in the [2]Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004 (SI 2004 No. 3244).
 
CAVAT assessments are not undertaken for Highway trees, so we do not hold
this information.
 
7 Any cost / benefit assessments carried out that compared the
biodiversity / ecological / amenity values associated with each tree with
the costs associated with retaining the tree (if such assessments have
been carried out then a sample of each will suffice).
We do not hold this information
 
Any other documents that are you believe to demonstrate Sheffield City
Council's compliance with section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural
Communities Act 2006.
The latest revision of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan is currently
under document review. Once this review is completed, the document will be
published.
 
If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
 
If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed.  You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[3][Sheffield City Council request email].
 
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone 0303 123
1113, or for further details see their website [4]www.ico.org.uk
 
Kind Regards,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [5]FOI @sheffield.gov.uk
? Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
_____________________________________________

show quoted sections