www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Nick: Do you have the address of Sheffield City Council and the name of the street that the elm tree is on? I am sure the Chief Executive would love to get a letter from me!!

No doubt you would get a reply (if a reply at all) to the effect that it has nothing to do with a non-Sheffield person. I have become heartily tired of this "it's up to locals to decide" attitude - as if no outsiders ever visit a place. Governments have encouraged this with various devolution projects. NHS for example (the N stands for national - look up the meaning of the word in any dictionary) is a confusing mess of area trusts and has become a post code lottery. As an example, a friend in Edinburgh had no trouble registering with an NHS dentist. I met a person here who has been on the NHS dental waiting list for seven years! I gave up and have gone private. Wife and I – it was little more than routine dental servicing – had a total bill in excess of £1,200.

So good luck Nick. Sheffield council should listen to non- Sheffield residents. After all, I am sure Sheffield welcomes outsiders’ money when they visit the city.

Jack

NickMorgan wrote:Paul,
Do you have the address of Sheffield City Council and the name of the street that the elm tree is on? I am sure the Chief Executive would love to get a letter from me!!

Hi Nick
The person to email is Councillor Brian Lodge at bryan.lodge@sheffield.gov.uk
Anyone else who wants to should also do so. Be warned that I've been writing to various councillors since the 24th December with minimal answers to my questions. Although the lies and mistruths they have put in their responses are being used in the court case, in my impending complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, my Freedom of Information Request, and likely complaint to the Information Commissioner.

Slowly but surely, the case against the council is building!

Paul

Hi everyone
I'm still in the process of organising the big national media event to highlight the plight of the elm tree and WLH colony. The date is the 28th July. I'll post more details, in case you want to attend, very soon.

In the meantime, you might want to see this excellent short video of 3 minutes, which was made to highlight the wider Sheffield Street Tree campaign
Paul

https://vimeo.com/172095787

Hi everyone
The campaign to protect the Elm tree and its White Letter Hairstreak colony continues.

I've put in various Freedom of Information requests and had some answers which prove the council has "misspoken" in the media. We've also had an independent engineer write a report looking into alternative solutions to felling. In public the council are quoting £50,000 to £100,000. The independent expert estimates around £1500 to £3000. So I'm in the process of putting together a dossier of evidence which can be used in a press release prior to the big media event I'm planning....

As mentioned before, the date is Thursday 28th July, between 10.30am and 3.30pm.

I've hired an open top bus to park beneath the elm tree, so that members of the public can get closer to the top of the tree, and see the WLH fluttering in the canopy. The Woodland Trust has kindly agreed to fund the event, and will be in attendance on the day. Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire Branch, the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, and The Conservation Foundation (Great British Elm Experiment) will also attend the day and support the event. We intend to invite the national and local media, and are aiming for around 1000 members of the public to turn up during the day. Fingers crossed, one of the UKs leading elm experts will also turn up.

Any UK Butterflies members who read this post is more than welcome to attend on the day. The bus will be parked on the junction of Chelsea Road and Union Road in Sheffield, postcode S11 9EN.

Fingers crossed for good weather!
Paul

Paul

How deserve a gong for all this hard work. Good luck. I have a feeling you are going to win.

Jack

Jack Harrison wrote:Paul

How deserve a gong for all this hard work. Good luck. I have a feeling you are going to win.

Jack

Thanks Jack!

Well after five months of planning and around 150 hours of my own personal time put into it, the big Open Top Bus Event to save the Sheffield Elm Tree and White Letter Hairstreak butterfly colony is tomorrow.

Rain is forecast sadly, but I'm thinking around 1000 people might turn up, as we've done lots of publicity.

Not sure if it will be in the national press, but it should be in all the local newspapers and radio. The Local BBC News seem to be interested too, fingers crossed.

My take on Friday's weather for Sheffield sadly agrees with the forecast of rain. It does seem as if it will be heavy, merely nuisance value. If anything, afternoon will be the best part of the day.

Hope I'm wrong.

Incidentally, here in my part of the world, there has been an example of the power of planners although in this case it doesn't affect butterflies. At Findhorn, despite huge opposition, a row of ghastly "Wendy Houses" (aka Beach Huts) is being erected. But they don't seem to have taken account of storm-surge tides or winter gales. Still, before they disappear as so much pastel coloured driftwood, you can still buy one for 25 grand.

Jack

Well that was an interesting day!

A total of around 230 people attended the event. The weather was okay for the first two thirds of the day, and allowed the WLH to be seen a grand total of four times. Most importantly, we received huge press coverage.

Firstly we had five minutes on BBC Radio Sheffield in the morning. You can find it at the following weblink. My segment is at 40 minutes 25 seconds in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040hwgw

Secondly, BBC Local News had us as the top story on the lunchtime TV news. The feature can be found at the following link, if you scroll down the page to the video at the update made at 4:32pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-engla ... e-36898971

There is a chance I'll be interviewed by Patrick Barkham for the national Guardian newspaper too.

Who knows whether the media pressure will make a difference to the council's thoughts about felling the tree. But nobody can say that we've not tried!

Well after five months of planning and around 150 hours of my own personal time put into it, the big Open Top Bus Event to save the Sheffield Elm Tree and White Letter Hairstreak butterfly colony is tomorrow.

Ah, I read that on Thursday and assumed that 'tomorrow' mean Friday. I am probably not alone in not really noticing the time-stamp when a post is made.
Glad it went OK.

Jack

Well done Paul for putting forward a persuasive and articulate argument for retaining the elm tree during that interview. It cannot be easy to do this when facing a professional broadcaster. The press often portray butterfly enthusiasts or nature lovers in general in the same light as train spotters--- well meaning but misguided anoraks. Hopefully your interview will persuade people of the over-riding conservation need.

Regards,

Jenks

...in the same light as train spotters

Or even worse plane spotters.

A few years ago at the Cambridge Gliding Club, at the end of a race, gliders were coming in low and fast - quite a spectacle.
But the 'anorak' was not persuaded to take any interest whatsoever. He merely wanted to wander round the edge of the airfield and in the hangar noting registration numbers and letters.

Mind you, I suppose he would have been able to tell me what happened to my beloved '450' that I owned some 35 years ago.

Jack

I've been following this for some while and I take my hat off to you Paul. You have put in a great deal of time and effort in what seems like an uphill struggle. I have listened to the interview and agree that you handled it incredibly well but in my opinion the broadcaster could have been a little more sympathetic. However, it is great that you got press coverage and I guess they have to be seen to be 'independent'. I wish you well and truly hope you achieve a successful outcome.

Excellent calm and logical interview Paul. Can't say the same about the interviewer who said at the end to look for" little black specks" in a thoroughly dismissive and condescending manner.

Jack

Pauline wrote:I've been following this for some while and I take my hat off to you Paul. You have put in a great deal of time and effort in what seems like an uphill struggle.

Agree 100%. My complete respect for this.

I sincerely hope you are successful.

I too admire the way you have gone about mounting a defence of this colony. I thought you did extremely well in the interview. Fingers crossed it will have the desired result.

Thanks everyone. The rumours are that we'll know one way or another in the next two weeks. Fingers crossed

This just popped up on my facebook wall

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2016-1 ... g-protest/

Absolutely Bugboy,
The events of November 17th 2016 will live long in Sheffield residents memories. As you know from this whole thread, I've personally been campaigning primarily to save the rare elm tree and its colony of WLH butterflies. However, the wider campaign is all about trying to prevent Sheffield Council from felling 50% of our 36,000 street trees.

The Rustlings Road trees are some of the most famous, because it was this roads residents that first made a big fuss, way back in 2014.

After 18 months of fruitless efforts from residents to get the Council to properly engage with them, we were all horrified on Thursday morning to find that 16 police began hammering at residents doors at 4.30am in the morning, asking them to move their cars or they would be towed. At 5am the chainsaws began and felled 8 trees, 6 of which could have been saved, as evidenced by the Councils own appointed independent experts.

In the process of shocked and scared residents who were angry at being disturbed in the dead of night, 3 people were arrested, two aged over 70. The arrests were made using anti trade union legislation, even though the residents were not trade unionists.

The events have reverberated nationwide and worldwide, and energised previously neutral residents to join the campaign.

However we're fighting a losing battle. The police, the private contractor, and Sheffield Council are working hand in hand to fell the remaining 13,000 trees (5000 have already been felled) they need to before March 2018, when the terms of the contract dictate they need to.

Sad times we live in.
Paul

Disgraceful. It sounds akin to a terror raid.

I read that the local MP, none other than Nick Clegg, wasn't too happy either. If elected politicians can't seem to do anything about it, what chance does Joe Public have?

Perhaps naming and shaming those responsible for the decision on social media might introduce an interesting twist. Be good to see how these faceless pen pushers react to mass opprobrium.