City Square Leeds: More than £7k of 'levelling up' cash spent on new artworks for trees

‘The Trees Are Alive’ consists of 180 wooden shapes fixed to 53 trees across City Square, Albion Place and Queen Square.

They have been painted to resemble eyes, mouths and teeth, appearing to give the trees their own facial expressions and personalities.

In response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by the YEP, Leeds City Council shared figures that showed the total cost for the project was £7,450.

This included the development, design, manufacture and installation of the artworks, as well as costs for maintenance and repairs.

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It also paid for spare pieces, as the council estimated that a quarter of the shapes will be lost to vandalism or theft over the next three months.

The project was paid for using cash from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which is part of the government’s “Levelling Up” agenda. The funds are allocated to local authorities for spending on projects that improve areas or encourage a sense of pride.

In a statement today (June 13), the council said that the money spent on the art project represented less than 0.1% of the total amount of the UKSPF allocated for spending in Leeds - and that other projects funded by the scheme include cost of living initiatives.

When the project was announced last month, artist Joe Mason said he wanted to “tap into the universal human instinct to find patterns and faces in the world around us”.

But the artworks have drawn criticism online, with several questioning the use of funding in response to a social media post by the council.

One said: “Did you really pay for something that you could’ve had schoolchildren do (and have fun with)?”

Another asked: “And how many more trees could have been planted with that waste of money?”

Figures showed that:

• £800 was spent on designing the artworks
• £2,500 was spent on materials
• £700 was spent on fabrication
• £1,200 was spent on three days’ worth of painting and assembly
• £550 was spent on replacement pieces
• £800 was spent on installing the artworks
• £100 was spent on revisits to the site
• £400 has been set aside for call-outs to damaged items
• £400 has been set aside for the removal of the artworks

The council said that day rates were based on the Artists’ Union’s recommended rates.

The YEP asked whether a consultation was carried out before the project was given the green light.

The FoI response said that councillors were consulted about a proposed list of "small-scale interventions" back in 2022, such as the decoration of empty shop units and new seating, as well as child-friendly installations.

It also said that the proposal for the interventions came as part of the authority’s plans to make Leeds “the best city for children and young people to grow up in”.

The council's Culture Programmes team gave guidance on the amount that should be spent. Meanwhile, the authority's Strategic Play Officer along with experts formed a panel that appraised submissions for “small-scale interventions”.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “West Yorkshire received just over £83 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with £9.4 million of that money being specifically allocated to Leeds.

“The city has used the funding to deliver a range of activities, including culture and heritage programmes, cost of living schemes and efforts to stimulate business innovation and productivity. A stipulation of this funding is that it cannot be used to offset the council’s statutory duties such as adult social care and children’s services.”

They added: “The Trees Are Alive by Joe Mason is just one of the many projects we have supported, with the money committed to it representing less than 0.1% of our UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation.

“In alignment with our commitment for Leeds to be the best city to grow up in we were happy to support Joe, a Leeds-based artist and designer, in delivering his art piece following a public tender process.”