Plymouth boss apologies for tree fiasco

Report reveals council shortcomings

Plymouth City Council has apologised for its shortcomings over the Armada Way tree felling.

An independent learning review made 18 recommendations to ensure the council improves how it delivers major projects in the future.

The council has committed to an action plan to address the issues.

Local government experts “forensically” looked at the evidence, interviewing 35 people in the council and reviewing 110 submissions from members of the public.

They called the felling of 110 trees during night-time hours in March 2023 after a decision by the then Conservative council a “traumatic episode” in the council’s governance and said there are still “wounds to be healed” for people most directly impacted.

“It is important that the council finds a means to rebuild trust, internally and externally, if it is going to maximise the benefits to its citizens that its strong regeneration programme should bring to the city,” they said.

The costs of fighting legal action brought by campaigners, staff time, and employing contractors to deal with the fallout of the incident was £3.3 million but this was “the lower end of the likely costs” the report revealed.

Commissioned by the now Labour-run council, the review acknowledged factors that culminated in the decision to axe the trees, including a deadline for spending millions of pounds of government funding to revamp Armada Way.

The panel was satisfied that there was a consensus between Conservative and Labour that the scheme should go ahead.

But the limited time between when the “urgent decision” was taken by then leader Richard Bingley and the majority of trees being felled later that night meant there was “no opportunity for scrutiny, public debate or challenge at that time”.

The report highlights “a lack of grip and oversight from senior managers” and “recording of key decisions and judgements was lacking”.

It says that months before the incident there was a protest over tree removal but a “meaningful engagement” event in February 2023 was “too late and too short” .

Plymouth City Council and protestors ‘Save the Trees of Armada Way’ (Straw) were involved in five court orders and three high court hearings after Straw obtained an injunction to stop the work and later sought a judicial review claiming lack of transparency and consultation by the council.

A High Court judge later ruled that the legal challenge against the council  was academic, as the decision to fell the trees was overturned by the new Labour leader.

The report said: “When issues came to a head, senior politicians ducked and senior officers failed to anticipate the media frenzy and the impact of (anticipated) legal action.

“The court proceedings exposed the frailties in rigour and discipline, leading the judge to comment that the council’s conduct was ‘highly unsatisfactory’ and revealed ‘the lack of transparency in its procedures, in its inadequate compliance with its duty of candour to the court and raised issues about the credibility of some of its witnesses’.”

Speaking on Wednesday, the council’s chief executive Tracey Lee said there were areas the council “absolutely came up short” and she was sorry. The whole incident had had a major impact on staff, councillors and residents.

“I want to apologise to the people of this city – businesses, residents, and tourists – for the shortcoming identified in this report.

“We are determined that every part of our organisation does the best job it can do and when we are not consistent, we will strive to make improvements.

“This is not a report on whether the trees should have been chopped down or not but what we can learn from this.

“Let me be clear – Plymouth City Council is not anti-tree. We have now been recognised a Tree City of the World as thanks to a huge partnership effort, there are over 35,0000 new trees growing and established across the city.”

The council is now part way through a £30 million scaled-up Armada Way regeneration which has gone through a comprehensive consultation process, and is set to be completed next year.

Panel chief David Williams said communications could have been better before and after the tree felling.

He said the focus for the public was on the trees, but the scheme had been much more than that, combining a new urban drainage system with better cycle links and pedestrian routes.

He said whilst people were aware of that Plymouth wanted a tree-lined Armada Way and they had seen plans, it wasn’t clear that trees would be removed and replaced.

For various reasons such as trees being planted too close to shops or being too big or inappropriate in  an urban setting, many needed to be taken down or relocated and replaced, but that wasn’t conveyed.

“I think there was an assumption from the council that there was broad support for a wonderful vision and outcome,” he said.

He added: “This review was not about blame. It was about understanding how things unfolded, where opportunities were missed and how the council can move forward in a more inclusive and resilient way.

“We hope the findings support healing, strengthen trust, and help the council deliver its ambitions with the community alongside them.”

The council’s action plan includes:

A revised policy and training programme for public engagement and consultation
A new project management framework, to be rolled out across the organisation
Enhanced support and training to ensure stronger governance and decision-making processes
Improved support for staff wellbeing
A review of the council’s constitution, scrutiny arrangements, and governance training
The full report is available on the council’s website www.plymouth.gov.uk

Progress will be reported through the council’s audit and governance committee.