Sheffield's Street Trees. Sorry's not good enough.

The "street tree saga" has been ongoing since 2012, when Sheffield City Council signed a £2.2bn contract with engineering firm Amey.

Part of this contract was the Streets Ahead programme, which included a secret target to replace 17,500 street trees.

Here is where it went wrong.

In 2006, the Council asked Elliott Consultancy to carry out a street tree survey.

They said 74% of Sheffield's street trees were mature or over mature, but just needed maintenance. Only 1000 trees were designated for felling.

Sheffield City Council misinterpreted this, and said that “a large proportion” of the mature and over-mature street trees were “now ready for replacement."

As Leader of the Council Terry Fox explains, it was a dark time for Sheffield.

Now, following the independent investigation into the tree felling by Sir Mark Lowcock, former Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Aid at the UN, campaigners are calling for resignations.

Most notably of Councillor Fox.

Councillor Fox has apologised for his actions during the street tree felling.

As has Co-Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee, Councillor Bryan Lodge.

Annette Taberner was a key figure in the tree campaign. She made it clear the apologies came too late.

Councillor's Fox and Lodge oversaw key moments during their time leading the Streets Ahead contract.

Councillor Lodge was in charge during the Rustlings Road incident, where Amey and South Yorkshire Police turned up at 5am to cut down trees without warning.

Then MP for Sheffield Hallam Nick Clegg, described the incident as something you would see in "Putin's Russia"

Two women in their 70s were arrested and the incident made national news.

One campaigner who gave her name as Les, said: "Terry Fox said he felt he had more to offer the city. Well I’m sorry we don’t want more lies, more deceit, more bludgeoning, more getting the police to beat us up.

"That is not what is on our agenda thank you very much Terry Fox.

"Go. Please. As soon as possible."

When asked about those campaigning years, she said: "The only great thing about it was it brought so many people together and it united us all so that we could fight together. 

"It was like Gladiator. It was like Ben Hur. It was a very sobering experience and unfortunately this report is still a sobering experience."

During the campaign, contractors erected fences around campaigners to keep them outside the safety zones, and keep them away from trees.

Former Green Party Councillor Alison Teal was part of the Council during the tree felling. She said: "All the terrible things we thought had happened and were happening had happened, so it was good to have that confirmed and yet also terrible, because it showed just how terrible they were.

"Their response has been business as usual. They think they can just keep going. If they recognised how much trust has been lost. If they understood that, they would have done the right thing and resigned.” 

Martin Pickles is a tree campaigner, and member of Sheffield Tree Action Groups (STAG) also calling on Councillor's Fox and Lodge to resign.

He said: "I’d like to live in hope and be optimistic that they would learn from their lesson, but given their initial response to the enquiry, I would have liked to have seen some resignations immediately."

It's not just campaigners calling for resignations. Current Councillors are too.

Leader of the Sheffield Lib Dems and Councillor for Ecclesall, Shaffaq Mohammed, knows first hand the hurt caused. He had concerned residents calling him during the Rustlings Road incident.

He and the rest of Sheffield Lib Dems are calling on Councillors Fox and Lodge to resign.