Tree Examinations & Streets for People : Sun 18th June 23
A few shorter pieces this Sunday morning + brief news & What's On Out There.
Morning. A post with shorter pieces today, for baby related reasons, sorry. I have the What’s On Out There section, along with news items, and if you’d like a longer read, links including an archive story I’ve temporarily opened up for free trial subscribers.
We’re now at over 75 paid subscribers, thanks all of you! I’m very happy for folk to try out this publication for free, but the only way it will be sustainable is for enough of the several thousand of you who call in every week choose to sign up as full members for £4 a month (or £3.67 if you pay annually).
Full subscribers also get a special post or two a month, and have access to all of the archive, all the time. There’s the subscribe button below.
Our long feature this week, inspired by the new Whirlow Brook Park tree trail, will be with you on Monday, all being well. As a prelude, I remembered a visit I made to Edale a few years ago to chat to a veteran countryside ranger from the National Trust.
The charity was launching an appeal for a huge tree planting programme in the wake of ash dieback, and was asking staff to nominate a favourite tree, and why. Ranger Myles Brazil picked a simple old Horse Chestnut, near the Trust’s office in the Edale Valley. We walked around the trunk, and saw how the tree had combined with the nearby dry stone wall, and how an impatient farmer years ago had inadvertently taken a slice out of it with a tractor or a piece of machinery.
“As trees grow older, they veteranise, which means things go wrong with them, a bit like people. But it’s not a bad thing, because holes and dead wood create habitats for insects, birds and bats,” he said. “Sweet chestnuts have been here since the Romans who ate their chestnuts. Birds, squirrels, mice and badgers eat them too.”
He then gave me some tree appreciation advice, that was a little surprising from a practical countryside professional.
“I say to people they should sit under a tree they like for 20-30 minutes and just stay quiet,” he said. “You’ll then see all the birds and insects that live there coming in, and even get to know how that tree sounds, especially if there’s a breeze.”
I later remember hearing a radio piece including sounds recorded of different trees in a variety of weather conditions. They’re all unique, if you take time to notice.
Brief News
Firstly, this week the council made permanent the opening up of a small section of Division Street to make it safer and nicer for people on foot or on bikes.
A couple of years ago, in Covid times, designer Sam Wakeling spoke to me alongside a set of pictures he’d mocked up, just before the change to that small stretch of city centre retail. He wanted to illustrate how we maybe shouldn’t panic if shopping streets became full of people walking and cycling.
“Usually, the cars are big and obvious and parked there in front of you, so it’s easy to focus on them. But business comes from people.”
The council report on the Division Street change concluded that more people were pro than against, and cited a response from a bar nearby, who’d requested the whole street should be pedestrianised
“They are part of a global chain of bars and state they have consistently found those in open pedestrian focused areas perform better then others.”
The Living Streets charity says the ‘pedestrian pound’ is grossly underestimated by businesses.
“When streets are regenerated to boost walking there is a corresponding increase in footfall and sales by up to 30 per cent. Research shows that shoppers on foot can spend up to six times more than those who arrive by car,” said Jenny Wiles of Living Streets, a former adviser to the Sheffield City Region on active travel.
Sam said his pictures are about priorities, not bans. People who need cars or vans, to make deliveries, or because they have disabilities, will find using their vehicles easier because there’s less congestion.
“These ideas are actually very popular,” Sam said to me. “Now it’s about decision makers being bold and getting on with it.”
In further news, more 20mph zones are set to arrive in Westfield and Herdings, and the changes to favour walkers at Broomhill are also now permanent.
Council leader Tom Hunt has promised a chat, and one of the things I’ll be asking is whether the council is really, finally, bold enough to start building modern ways to get around, across the whole city.
Secondly, there’s surprise there have been no more big moor fires, like the Burbage fire I covered a few weeks ago, but I hear countryside rangers and volunteers are still finding leftovers of firepits, bonfires and barbecues here and there. Do spread the word to those who still hold burning desires: it’s sandwich and salad season.
Finally, confirmation from last Sunday’s edition that Nicola Marshall will arrive as Active Travel Programme Director for South Yorkshire early in August. Nicola is formerly of Cycling UK and is now heading here from the Sweat Betty Foundation.
“Really looking forward to working alongside the brilliant Ed Clancy OBE and Mayor Oliver Coppard to make walking and cycling the natural choice for everyone in the region,” she posted on Linkedin.
“Cannot wait to get my first e-bike and visit the in-laws in Doncaster as well as exploring Barnsley, Rotherham and my home town of Sheffield. And get a kiddie trailer so my toddler doesn't think his car-seat is the only way to see the world...” She says she’s wating to hear our advice, so feel free to comment below.
And something that might help Nicola in her aims: the Transport Action Network have launched an appeal to raise money for a legal challenge to the government’s cuts in the walking, wheeling and cycling budget. They’ve already reached their initial £15,000 target and are aiming for £40,000.
Further Reading
With the summer Round Sheffield Run with us next weekend, I’ve re-opened to trial subscribers this post on the winter version, and how running helped a Sheffield man struggling with his mental health to cope with a new year.
You might also enjoy my latest piece for the Sheffield Tribune, a longer look at how Green Estate are helping Europe, as well as Sheffield, face the future from their base on the Manor.
Round Sheffield Fun
A week ago, almost 2,000 people set out into a damp January dawn to run across twelve miles of slippery hillsides. Many of them chose to run like hell up, down and along the eleven timed sections of the Round Sheffield Run, and then pause and stroll and chat to complete strangers for the ten ‘recovery’ gaps in between.
What’s On Out There (from Sunday 18th June 2023)
A few selected events for this week, and please let me know in the comments below if you have any events coming up - I can’t include your event unless you tell me about it!
All week - Migration Matters festival. All kinds of stuff relating to folk from all over the world and The Outdoor City, including The Tree of Objects and Long Distance Swimmer on Sunday (today!)
Sun 18th - Norfolk Park open gardens event, all day
Sun 18th - Peaks of Colour Right to Roam Walkshop at Rivelin from 11 am
Sun 18th - Friends of Manor Fields Park history walk 11am
Sun 18th - Practical conservation projects with Sheffield Conservation Volunteers (9.30 start)
Sun 18th - Steel City Trail 10 run at Bradway - 9.30 start.
Sun 18th - Mass Cycle Ride, starts Tudor Square 2pm
Mon 19th - Volunteer Whirlow Brook Park workday from 9.30am
Mon 19th - Fri 23rd - Daily health walks in parks and green spaces from Step Out Sheffield, 10 am start
Mon 19th - SRWT volunteer work day at Carr House meadows
Mon 19th - Sheffield Cycle Tours guided bike ride from city centre (£12-15)
Tues 20th - Walled Garden, Hillsborough Park volunteer work day
Tues 20th - South Yorks Climate Alliance annual meeting in Sheffield
Tues 20th - Walk and Talk family stroll at Hillsborough Park
Weds 21st - Exploring Longshaw walk (£5 adults / £3 kids)
Weds 21st - Outdoor toddler group at Highfield Adventure Playground
Fri 23rd - Volunteer SRWT Work Day: Greno Woods
Sat 24th - Sun 25th - Round Sheffield Run - cheer them on all over south west Sheffield
Thanks for reading. Please forward this Sunday’s edition to anyone you think might like it.
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Nicola should go to A Different Gear for her E-bike. They are friendly and helpful.
Really hope that the new Council administration will be able and willing to persuade local businesses elsewhere of the benefits of active travel schemes like the Division Street one, and think creatively about the challenges of the Ecclesall Road and Abbeydale Road shopping areas. There is such a tsunami of opposition to reducing car use in those areas at the moment