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| Austerity latest: now the axe falls on Britain’s trees | Austerity latest: now the axe falls on Britain’s trees |
| (1 day later) | |
| Trees and books. Politicians say they love them both. Unfortunately, rather fewer of our representatives in government are willing to champion them with cash. | |
| Last week Birmingham city council was revealed to be seeking donated books to fill the flash £188.8m Library of Birmingham after taking a purchasing “pause”. Sheffield city council is removing a large number of mature trees from its streets. Both moves show the grim reality of austerity and some unintended consequences of the private finance initiative. | Last week Birmingham city council was revealed to be seeking donated books to fill the flash £188.8m Library of Birmingham after taking a purchasing “pause”. Sheffield city council is removing a large number of mature trees from its streets. Both moves show the grim reality of austerity and some unintended consequences of the private finance initiative. |
| In a story I wrote recently Ian Rotherham, professor of environmental geography, argued that Sheffield residents’ ongoing battle to save street trees from destruction was the consequence of the cash-strapped Labour council putting its faith in the private finance initiative and a 25-year contract with Amey to maintain roads and street trees. He believes it’s cheaper for contractors to remove fine mature trees and replant them with saplings that won’t require pruning for the remainder of the contract – although the council says this is a myth. | In a story I wrote recently Ian Rotherham, professor of environmental geography, argued that Sheffield residents’ ongoing battle to save street trees from destruction was the consequence of the cash-strapped Labour council putting its faith in the private finance initiative and a 25-year contract with Amey to maintain roads and street trees. He believes it’s cheaper for contractors to remove fine mature trees and replant them with saplings that won’t require pruning for the remainder of the contract – although the council says this is a myth. |
| As well as drastically cutting its library services, Birmingham council has been criticised for its expensive library website, produced in partnership with Capita. The city’s street trees are also at the mercy of another huge private finance contract with Amey. And its council’s finances cannot be helped by the fact that it has been embroiled in an acrimonious dispute with Amey over this contract. | As well as drastically cutting its library services, Birmingham council has been criticised for its expensive library website, produced in partnership with Capita. The city’s street trees are also at the mercy of another huge private finance contract with Amey. And its council’s finances cannot be helped by the fact that it has been embroiled in an acrimonious dispute with Amey over this contract. |
| The cuts agenda makes it hard to argue for trees and books over, say, social care for the elderly. But studies prove the importance of reading in a child’s educational attainment. Research linking trees with physical and mental health suggests that tree-planting in impoverished suburbs could actually boost public health. | The cuts agenda makes it hard to argue for trees and books over, say, social care for the elderly. But studies prove the importance of reading in a child’s educational attainment. Research linking trees with physical and mental health suggests that tree-planting in impoverished suburbs could actually boost public health. |
| They are a powerful force for good. Trees and books are not luxuries. | They are a powerful force for good. Trees and books are not luxuries. |
| Let the readers speak | Let the readers speak |
| Media reports of cuts to libraries usually quote celebrated novelists explaining why books matter. Better to have readers making this case, for in the mouths of authors it looks like self-interest. But writers could help solve Birmingham’s problems. (Whether they should is another argument.) | Media reports of cuts to libraries usually quote celebrated novelists explaining why books matter. Better to have readers making this case, for in the mouths of authors it looks like self-interest. But writers could help solve Birmingham’s problems. (Whether they should is another argument.) |
| There is a depressing moment in almost every author’s life when their publisher offers them the chance to buy remaindered copies of their hardbacks before they are either pulped or virtually given away to discount retailers. Heartbroken at the prospect of hardbacks of my book Badgerlands returning to the pulp that made them, I saved 150 copies, which are stacked in my study, a daily reminder of my authorial mortality. Please, Library of Birmingham, take them all! | There is a depressing moment in almost every author’s life when their publisher offers them the chance to buy remaindered copies of their hardbacks before they are either pulped or virtually given away to discount retailers. Heartbroken at the prospect of hardbacks of my book Badgerlands returning to the pulp that made them, I saved 150 copies, which are stacked in my study, a daily reminder of my authorial mortality. Please, Library of Birmingham, take them all! |
| Although the library is unlikely to acquire any Harry Potters this way, I’m sure SJ Watson and other great library defenders would willingly donate surplus editions. Hey SJ – any spare copies of that Bulgarian translation of Before I Go to Sleep? | |
| Loathe thy neighbour | Loathe thy neighbour |
| Grouse-shooting enthusiasts claim that those calling for a ban are lefty townies motivated by class hatred rather than by a desire to protect the rare hen harrier (illegally killed because of its fondness for grouse). Mark Avery, the blogger behind the latest petition to ban driven grouse shooting, offers a riposte after studying the provenance of his signatories. Seven of the 10 constituencies with the highest number of signatures are Conservative seats. Many cover moorland areas where driven grouse shooting occurs, from Penrith and the Border (environment minister Rory Stewart’s seat) to High Peak, Calder Valley and Westmorland and Lonsdale (Lib Dem leader Tim Farron’s seat). It’s an uncomfortable fact for grouse shooters that the people who want to stop them are their neighbours. | |
| • This column was amended on 18 August 2015 to make clear that Westmorland and Lonsdale is a Lib Dem constituency, not Conservative. |
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