BANAMAN

from what I can gather in a nut shell... 1. Sheffield City Council PFI contract gets under way with Amey 2. Local residents wanted to keep as many healthy trees as possible and have the paid for engineering solutions applied when practical 3. Amey cuts down healthy trees and does not apply engineering solutions to some that could have been saved. 4. Local residents speak with SCC / Amey 5. SCC get ITP to justify what SCC are saying 6. ITP what SCC catered for actually went against SCC... SCC left with egg on their face...! SCC choose to ignore the ITP for months. 7. SCC / Amey and the campaigners were at one point talking but SCC / Amey decided there was no reason for talking any more... 8. Campaigners pressed on with their campaign... and so the story came about... That list of 8 points does not reflect on the actual events and by reading those 8 points, anybody would now start to wonder why SCC are with holding the PFI contract details that the campaigners want to see. They want to see it as they believe it holds vital information. SCC have redacted heavily a lot of the information in the contract and stated it is commercially sensitive as to the reason why...! This now looks like even more so they may have something to hide...! Recently even the opposition of the council have asked to see the contract in full in order to be able to answer concerning questions from which can be obtained from the contract. If the opposition in the council can't see it, then why ? This is much deeper than what I am stating and there was always talks in the beginning... For more information and a more accurate account of events, I suggest you contact Sheffield City Council with your own questions and see if they will either answer them, or palm you off...! Alternatively, S.T.A.G. is the umbrella and classed as the steering group for all the sheffield groups trying to get answers to the questions from SCC / Amey. In all fairness, I have not even touched upon some of the deeper issues yet in order to make a public record of events due to the nature of multiples of campaigners, pro or against not speaking out enough. Also due to SCC / Amey the arbs and the groundwork's under the influence of.... Wait for it.... You must not speak to me about it...! Yes, I look a little biased for this very reason, I will just have to like it or lump it :-)

If anybody breaks the law, there are already consequences and actions to deal with them, however it appears that no laws have been broken yet in regards to the man out on a limb...

Sorry, I think you miss understand me, let me clarify for your perceptions... 1. They are not my campaigners 2. I can not predict that they will certainly get worse, I can only assume based on what I have seen to date 3. I do not condone injury or death as a means to an end and if any campaigner chooses to put themselves in a potential risky situation, that is their choice not mine, I do not tell people what to do in their campaigning, I am not campaigning, only reporting a public record of accounts or actions in any one day of my presence. If I see something unsafe, I feel obliged to state my concerns as anybody else would with a concern, but in no way have I ever protested in a way to stop any works being carried out...! 4. I must reiterate, I do not think putting one self in a position were it could potentially harm one self, however, I do believe that sometimes people make their own calculated risks based on what they believe is ok for them, nothing to do with me. 5. If people make decisions on a whim, that is their own accountability and I understand why people make the decisions they do when times get hard and desperate... this is equally challenging and frustrating to campaigners, Sheffield city Council / Amey and the arbs and ground workers. 6. I agree with you that the industry is dangerous enough on a good day, all the more reason why the arbs and ground workers need to be vigilant and stop all necessary equipment usage until the risks are eliminated... I say this from a health and safety point of view which I do believe you would also stop if this happened to yourself. It is the powers that be, that are leading the campaigners and the arbs to constantly play out what is now becoming a constant chess game to outwit each other... I don't know what opinion you may have about myself based on our conversation, but I believe we have a better understanding of each other than we did before we started talking... Talking and debating is the best option of practices in my book and sometimes when the talking breaks down, the scenario's nearly always get worse... In mine and your instance were we may agree to disagree on somethings, you will also find that I agree with some of the things you say.

For example, the other day you may have seen a campaigner clutching on to the limb of a felled tree, his reasoning for doing this was to slow down the arbs from clearing up which in turn it was alleged held up the arbs and ground crew about 5 hours. I can't confirm how long the time was in actual fact, but this was an example of things getting worse for Sheffield City Council / Amey. When I reason with myself and think about these kind of measures by any individual, history has shown that things like this can and probably will happen more often as it has shown to have a desired effect in slowing down the next tree felling. My personal opinion on that situation is very straight forward... I think the campaigner did what he believed to be his only choice at that time, yes he entered a working site area but I do not know if the machine was switched on or not at the time of his entry in to that work area. As a campaigner, he felt that was his only choice at that time...! What then happened later might not have been the best choice of action. If the machine was turned on already, then for health and safety reasons should the machine be turned off immediately? I believe it should be turned off due to health and safety concerns! Should the arbs have tried to remove him from the branch? I believe for health and safety reasons, they will have to use reasonable actions which are conceived to not cause injury or else the campaigner should have been left alone to campaign his point. Should the SIA trained operatives have gone in to remove the campaigner? I believe that it was their job to remove the campaigner as that is what they are paid to do! If the campaigner had have done anything to break the law, as the police was at the scene, should the police have arrested him? I believe that the police should arrest anybody breaking the law! Would the arbs have put the branch into the chipper while the campaigner was still holding onto it? No they wouldn't, of course they wouldn't, no doubts in my mind they would not! Hopefully this will allow you to see my rational way of thinking. Since that was an example of things getting worse now, I think it is very reasonable, that things will get worse if Sheffield City Council / Amey don't open their doors and talk to everybody concerned in this matter...! If my statement here looks biased, let it be known, I am merely saying it as it is based on seeing it as it happens...!

And for this very reason, we can reflect on what we did in the past and meet up and set the record straight...! This will then help to put past experiences into better context. The same thing can be said for Sheffield City Council / Amey, all they need to do is engage with the campaigners and not claim that they have done and that it gets them nowhere... This in my opinion looks to me like Sheffield City Council / Amey have closed the door on the campaigners and this is why the arbs and ground workers are struggling with what is presented to them on a daily basis... All because Sheffield City Council / Amey won't talk anymore...! Well I must say that Sheffield City Council / Amey appear to have a very big dilemma in their hands which from their actions in the past, don't look very good for their futures...! I come to this conclusion based on my interactions with Sheffield City Council / Amey and the campaigners and until something changes with Sheffield City Council / Amey for whatever that reason might be, then this problem may only end up getting worse...!

Your reasoning is a fair analysis and can contribute to the decisions we make as individuals as we encounter certain situations in life... The heat of the moment can make any individual say or do something that they might well do say or do differently, but at the same time, each individual as for as I am concerned, can always rectify a problem that may have been caused intentionally or not by the way of dealing with the future and learn from what we say or do...! For the record, in some of my videos, the arbs depicted, we now have a better understanding of each other and it was only yesterday that we were pleasantly talking about the problems in the past and the problems they still have to endure, but unless they state this on the record, my hands are tied and I will accept that I am perceived to be biased...!

I think you have got a great belief that I would present in the way you state it, If there are more people like you willing to speak on the record, even with a blurred out face, I am sure this will go a long way in helping to get this point across from your's and quite possibly other peoples points of views. However, I understand for what ever reason you might not want to state on camera, but if you ever did, I would be more than happy to get this in the public domain as it is your news, not mine!

Your view is good, however this is what most of the campaigners are not hearing from Sheffield City Council / Amey and in my opinion, if a tree is healthy and it is not causing any problems, it would be rational to ask why that tree has to be removed. 1 because it is good for the environment to stay and 2 because it is beautiful & 3 it has a problem that could be fixed by an engineering solution that has been accounted for already. It appears to be on the street that Sheffield City Council / Amey are removing healthy trees that are not causing problems and from what I have heard from the campaigners, they are questioning why the engineering solutions are not being implemented for healthy trees that can be rectified where the problems are... Also, the engineering solutions are prepaid for within the PFI contract...! This is another item that is not being accounted for within the PFI contract and the campaigners are frustrated with both Sheffield City Council / Amey for not using the engineering solutions in cases were healthy street trees have been removed already...! Acorn the subcontractor are the ones taking the full force of the campaigners due to the senior managements not allegedly debating the campaign with reasoned minds. It is also alleged that the Independent Tree Report that Sheffield City Council implemented in order to justify their actions, actually went against Sheffield City Council and then they ignored it till months afterwards in the hope it will just go away...! This is another item that the campaigners are frustrated about...! Sheffield City Council have had their chances to put their point forward, Amey PLC have also had the opportunity to put their points forward and Acorn including the arbs have had their chance to put their point forward... The problem why none of them have, is because all involved have been instructed not to talk about the ongoing PFI contract and ground works with me...! This also explains a lot why my video's look biased, it's a combination of shut up and just do your work and individual arbs getting frustrated at the ongoing problems that they have to encounter on a daily basis... All it takes is rational thinking and a good frame of mine in order to do your best and do the job that you believe you have to do, wether it's controversial, argumentative or not. Hopefully this information will help understand my own dilemma about looking biased as all the information I present, is based on all the information I receive, all it takes is everybody's points of views if they can and are allowed to state them without fear of loosing their jobs. I value your opinion K, it takes people like yourself to make a difference wether you agree with me or not :-)

Your passion for what you believe in is exactly what I want to record because it is those heart felt passions that make a difference... I am also interested in arbs heart felt passions and when they feel the need to express themselves, I am always an option who will give an equal amount of time towards for their own cause, because this is what my idea of being neutral is all about... However, I am not responsible for individual arbs accounts in their actions, everybody is accountable for their own and for all arbs who do not believe me, I will just have to settle for the hope that you can see past the problems that some arbs may have brought upon themselves and I do believe there are arbs out there who do and who will speak their mind one day in order to stand up for what they passionately believe in as well... One day, everybody will unite and then power will be restored...!

I don't agree with any boss who just yells at anyone to just get the tree down, and I know exactly what you mean. I say to the bosses who are like that, get your self out on the frontline and see what it is for the pressures and frustrations you are putting your employee's under...

I wasn't sure, always best to ask :-) with reference to trying to be impartial, if you notice by video 3, the arbs and ground workers weren't talking to me and even one of them was shown a hand not to speak... then on video 4 I was minding my own business when out of the blue the arbs stopped working and decided to ask me to move my car which was not in anybodies way, the fact about the road being closed and open for access should never have come in to it... but the arbs I guess just didn't understand I was filming for my own reasons to get what is called cutaways... these are used in video to cut to when information about a certain topic is being referred to. As the video goes on to show, I was concerned about them asking me why I should move my car... I ended up posting the video including may voice in it because that was what it was and that was how it unfolded...! Yes the arbs and myself got off to a bead start but if that shows me to be biased, then thats the way it will have to be until somebody decides to speak up for the arbs or even the arbs themselves... Fiat least you can see from other videos that I try and get peoples points of views across, but the arbs have already been advised not to speak to me from a very early start and I will always leave my door open for any arb to have their say... I have heard from arbs off camera that they have had to put up with bad language and snide remarks and in recent weeks allegations of a car trying to run an art down, but unfortunately I can't state this for them, they will have to speak it themselves as I was not their when these allegations took place... So for now, looks like I will have to accept that arbs don't want to talk and until that changes, I am going to have to look biased...! I even got one are stating to me on camera that he thought I was going to attack him...! I included that statement of the arbs in a video upload because I do not know where on earth he got that opinion from and if he wants to say that to me on camera knowing full well I am recording what he says, this just shows me what I am dealing with and as for as I am concerned I am uploading a public record of events from which this happened in public...! At the end of the day, all I can say is this... if no arbs want to speak to me on the record, then I can not look any other way but biased and I am the kind of person who holds no grudges and will just carry on regardless...! I say all of this with love and understanding for all fellow human beings as we are all equal and are all responsible for our own actions whether they are good or bad :-)

I totally agree with what you say about any company taking the contract, I am not sure what you mean by the bit you say "I cut it, I get paid" If that is a reference to myself, I don't mind stating for public record, nobody pays me to make these videos, I make them as a public record of events as and when they happen. If anybody has any relevant questions to anything seen in any of the videos, I do not mind answering them if they are reasonable.

I understand how you have come to this viewpoint, hopefully somebody will share their views, if not, I will have no choice but be portrayed as somebody with a biased point of view... My offer was always on the table in the beginning but if I was not being honest, I wouldn't have put the videos up as they presented themselves on the day as a public record of events... Unfortunately people depicted in the videos you might have watched, are actually responsible for their own actions, just like myself. But thank you any way, your view based on what you perceive, I respect.

Thanks Gary, do you have a link to the report you are referring to?

My door is always open and I hope others will take this opportunity to help get the message across from an Arboriculturists point of view... I do believe I have given fair opportunity and will always allow that opportunity to exist to put the record straight. Thank you for your point, I understand fully why you have said this :-)