Many of us have been outraged by Sheffield Council’s plans for the city’s street trees, and appalled by it’s handling of the resultant protests.

The council currently operates using a ‘Strong Leader Model’. This means that many important decisions are made behind close doors, by just the council leader and the nine members of the cabinet, with the remaining councillors have no input. This effectively means that it is highly likely that your elected representative, and by extension you, have no voice on many important issues, including those affecting our environment.

Today the ‘It’s Our City’ campaign group have launched the ‘Sheffield Peoples Petition’. If just 5% of Sheffield residents sign, it will trigger a referendum on how our city council is run, and possibly force the council to adopt a more democratic governance model. One based on greater accountability and transparency.

“We, the undersigned, being local government electors for the area of Sheffield City Council, to whom this petition is addressed, seek a referendum on whether the council should be run in a different way by one or more committees made up of elected councillors.” – It’s Our City

I urge all Sheffield residents to sign the petition. This is an great opportunity to change and influence the way our city is run, in a way that goes way beyond the issue of street trees.

Please visit the petition at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sheffield-peoples-petition.