LOOKING BACK NOW, IT IS HARD TO PINPOINT THE MOMENT WHEN THINGS GOT TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL. It might have been when council contractors teamed up with police for an operation that Nick Clegg – then the MP for Sheffi eld Hallam, now president of global affairs at Facebook – later described as “something you’d expect to see in Putin’s Russia”. It might have been when the council received a letter from the environment minister, Michael Gove, demanding that it halt the scheme – and chose to ignore it. It might have been when South Yorkshire police had to pay out more than £2 4,000 ($29,000) for wrongful arrests that they had made to defend the council’s work. But by the time a public inquiry was commissioned in 2021, chaired by the former undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs at the UN, no one could dispute that something had gone horribly wrong in Sheffi eld.
It started with a reasonable proposition. Sheffi eld’s roads were in a bad state, and its pavements were wonky. To some locals, Sheffi eld had become known as “pothole city”. Residents wrote to their councillors to complain, and in 2012, after years of planning, the council launched a £1.2bn road improvement project called Streets Ahead. Its aim was to upgrade the city’s roads, pavements, street lights and bridges. The plan involved the mass removal of street trees, which were blamed for making pavements bumpy and cracking kerbstones.
The council did not anticipate any major objections. After all, the felled trees would be replaced with saplings. But in 2014, when residents realised the council was felling trees on an industrial scale, protests started to break out, which grew into a city-wide movement.
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin November 03, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin November 03, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
If kids get protected from online harm, how about the rest of us?
The Australian government has proposed a ban on social media for all citizens under 16.
'It's not drought - it's looting'
Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded - and one group is profiting from these extremes: the thirsty multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for water in bottles.
Life in the grey Zone
Neonatal care has advanced so far that babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived. But is this type of care always the right thing to do?
Out of tune? Band Aid under fire for Africa tropes as it turns 40
Forty years ago this month, a group of pop stars gathered at a west London studio to record a single that would raise millions, inspire further starry projects, and ultimately change charity fundraising in the UK.
Deaths shine spotlight on risks of drinking on party trail
Vang Vieng is an unlikely party hub. Surrounded by striking limestone mountains and caves in central Laos, it morphed from a small farming town to a hedonistic tourist destination in the early 2000s.
Different strokes My strange and emotional week with an AI pet
Moflin can develop a personality and build a rapport with its owner - and doesn't need food or exercise. But is it comforting or alienating?
Strike zone Waking up to the rising threat of lightning
When the Barbados National Archives, home to one of the world's most significant collections of documents from the transatlantic slave trade, reported in June that it had been struck by lightning, it received sympathy and offers of support locally and internationally.
Cheap pints and sticky carpets: the old-school pub is back
In the Palm Tree pub, east London, barman Alf is taking only cash at the rattling 1960s till.
Brain gain Can a radical tax scheme convince the country's brightest to stay?
In the autumn of 2018, I moved to Lisbon for a month-long course at the Universidade .de Lisboa.
Fear and sympathy in small town divided over asylum camp
A year after anti-immigration riots, a site for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to help new arrivals
