The Bristol Cable - Issue 25 by Bristol Cable

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Issue No25 - April-June 2021 Made free by members

The city decides Local election special

INTERVIEW

HOUSING

MAYORAL RACE

WARDS TO WIN

Tim’s story: From seeking refuge in the UK to helping others find strength

The landlord hoarding empty properties during the housing crisis

Analysis on the race for City Hall

The lowdown on key battleground wards as Bristol elects 70 councillors

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DEAR READER,

Local Elections Bristol 2021

A year later than planned, Bristol is about to go to the polls to elect the city’s mayor, local councillors, as well as the police and crime commissioner and the mayor for the West of England. As the city re-emerges tentatively from the pandemic, we face big questions. How do we recover from the impact of Covid-19? How do we make housing more affordable? How can we become a carbon neutral city by 2030?

In this local election special, we explain what is up for grabs and the key issues at play. But if you’re no expert on local politics (not many people are) we’ve also got the basics covered: What does a councillor actually do? How does the voting system work? What on earth is WECA? You can also check out more election coverage on our website, including in-depth interviews with the mayoral candidates in our Bristol Unpacked podcast, and our Citizens’ Agenda of priorities chosen by readers. The recent protests in Bristol against the Police and Crime Bill have shown the importance of local media. On-the-ground reporting is vital to prevent events being mischaracterised and politicians from capitalising for their own purposes. More than 100 people have become Cable members off the back of our reporting on the protests. To support this reporting and to help our journalists hold politicians to account over the next four years, you can join the 2,500+ members who have already chipped in to make a better local media: thebristolcable.org/join

If you have a story, or a tip-off please get in touch: content@thebristolcable.org thebristolcable.org/got-a-story 07533718547 | The Station, Silver Street, Bristol, BS1 2AG Media team Matty Edwards, Alon Aviram, Hannah Vickers, Adam Cantwell-Corn Print production coordination Matty Edwards Production team Alex Turner, Arvind Howarth, David Sinden Print design Laurence Ware - laurence-ware.com Print advertising Alison Fraser, Michael York Tech team Mat Alborough, Will Franklin Marcus Valentine - xtreamlab.net Membership team: Lucas Batt, Marianne Brooker, Adam CantwellCorn, Will Franklin, Matty Edwards

The Cable team

Distribution coordination Lucas Batt, Dave Marsden

THEBRISTOLCABLE.ORG/JOIN There’s always more to the story, with your support we can tell it

Distribution team: Scatha Jones, Neill Talbot, Sarah Burroughs, Holly Jones, Katendi Heald, Bethany Roberts Workplace coordination We don’t have a boss at the Cable, we organise ourselves! People: Cait Crosse, Lucas Batt, Hannah Vickers, Mat Alborough Development: Adam Cantwell-Corn, Cait Crosse Forums: Will Franklin, Cait Crosse Resources: Lucas Batt, Adam Cantwell-Corn, Alon Aviram Front page illustration Laurence Ware - laurence-ware.com

Contents

Special thanks to… 4-5 What the Cable has been up to 6 Mental health Bristol to go longer without beds for children in crisis 7 Interview From fleeing persecution in Nigeria, to making your life in Bristol 9 Climate crisis Can experimental democracy help us tackle the climate crisis? Inside Bristol’s first ever citizens’ assembly 10 Climate crisis The community projects aiming to power our city with renewable energy

12 Local elections: Mayoral race How the voting system will shape Bristol’s mayoral race 14 Local elections: Transport Bristol’s transport woes and opportunities 16 Photoessay It’s been a long year for pubs, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel 18 Local elections: Ward profiles What’s at stake in the elections for your local councillor and a spotlight on battleground wards 24 Local elections: Policing How candidate for police and crime commissioner plan to tackle problem of hate crime

26 Local elections: Green jobs There’s a lot of talk about a green jobs revolution, but is it all just hot air? 28 Housing The property boss holding onto empty buildings during the housing crisis 31 Opinion Why funding for community cultural spaces matters

Mike Jempson Elected Directors: Jennifer Bartle, Julia Beasley, Ben Harris, Laura Williams, Abdi Mohamed, Roseanna Dias, Kate Oliver, Yuliya Kosharevska, Alain Demontoux Thanks to the Reva and David Logan Foundation, Luminate and the Centre for Investigative Journalism for their continued support.

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Enjoy reading our election special and make sure you register to vote!

Massive thanks to the 2,500+ members who make all this possible! - and all contributors, sources and contacts.

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CO-OP UPDATES

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WHAT THE CABLE HAS BEEN UP TO It’s never been business-as-usual at the Cable. As we emerge from a year of lockdowns, there’s no going back to a normality that wasn’t good enough in the first place. We have our work cut out for us. Just when trust in the media is most needed, it’s being eroded by clickbait, advertising and misinformation. We’re doing things differently. From our short documentary VIRAL – exploring vaccine hesitancy in Bristol – to our on-the-ground coverage of protests against the Police and Crime Bill, we’re investigating the issues that matter. The paper in your hands was made free by thousands of people in Bristol who believe in the importance of quality local news. Right now, the Cable is owned by 2,500 members. But if we’re going to survive, we need to grow. Our target is 3,000 members by the end of the year. So read on, pass your copy to a friend or neighbour when you’re done, and join us! Not a member yet? Support our journalism and get the Cable delivered directly to your door for £3 a month

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VIRAL: Vaccine hesitancy

Watch this space Our independent films are helping us reach out to more people and explore issues affecting communities in Bristol more fully – from working with gashead Jack Newcombe on a film about Bristol Rovers, to Marcus Smith’s short documentary on vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and mistrust. These films have had a real impact, helping us to build community and spark challenging conversations. Just as this issue went to print we were busy recruiting a new Video Journalist to help us create more video-based content, from short social clips to longer documentaries, and interviews exploring sub-cultures, hot-topics and deep-dive investigations. We’re excited to welcome a new member to our team soon! Check out our film archive at thebristolcable.org/film

Deepening our climate reporting In our last issue we launched a new series on the climate crisis, putting a spotlight on the particular challenges facing Bristol. We covered the city’s plans for reaching net zero carbon emissions, divestment from fossil fuels, and explored the connections between race, class and climate justice, as well as showcasing a range of climate solutions from around the world. Since then, our media team has been trained in climate communications, thinking specifically about how to tell the stories behind the science. We’ve made connections with environmental groups working across the city, and called out to readers to find out about the issues most important to them. Articles in this edition were informed by readers coming forward with ideas, and there’s much more in the pipeline for later in the year. Visit thebristolcable.org/category/bristol-climate-crisis

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Clarification In the last edition of the Bristol Cable (Winter 2021), the article ‘I’m a dad. Hormones didn’t stop me getting pregnant’ should have been categorised as an opinion piece, and should have had more context on the ruling on the Tavistock Trust’s Gender Identity Clinic and more information about puberty blockers to better reflect the debate around this clinic and puberty blockers. The amended article is here: thebristolcable.org/category/trans-healthcare-crisis-bristol

When the Society of Editors claimed that ‘the press is most certainly not racist’, we called them out. We withdrew our submissions to the Society’s prestigious Regional Press Awards in protest, and released a statement in solidarity with colleagues and communities at the sharpest end of media bigotry. Ian Murray, the Society’s former executive director, has now resigned. Both the national and regional awards have been indefinitely postponed. Bristol-based historian David Olusoga and Green councillor Cleo Lake were among over 250 journalists of colour who responded to the Society in an open letter published online. They highlighted the media’s ‘uniquely aggressive’ role in fuelling prejudice and hate speech, as well the staggering lack of representation in an industry in which only 0.2% of journalists are black. We need an alternative that’s strong enough to counter the discrimination and denial at the heart of the media establishment. So, as one new member of the Cable put it, we’re ‘supporting alternative, collaborative, anti-racist voices.’ But as the dust settles on this latest controversy, we acknowledge the deep-rooted problems and the work that remains – in newsrooms and beyond.

CO-OP UPDATES

Calling out Racism in the media

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L to R: Cait Crosse, Fatima Hudoon and Priyanka Raval

Farewells and welcomes In December 2019, Fatima Hudoon and Priyanka Raval joined the Cable team as Early Career Journalists, a placement scheme designed to help aspiring journalists get a foothold in the industry. Over the following year – and during a pandemic! – Fatima and Priyanka investigated scandals in our private mental health services and the corporate giants dominating our care system, as well as reporting on climate solutions, workers’ rights and the legacies of colonialism. It was a privilege to have them on our team, and you can look forward to more from them in the months to come! We’re also saying farewell to Cait Crosse. Cait played a major role in transforming our cooperative team’s structures and practices, and brought thoughtfulness and care to every part of her work. Farewell for now, Cait, we’ll miss you! Lastly, we’re so happy to have welcomed Marianne Brooker as Communications and Partnerships Coordinator – a perfect fit for a much needed new role at the Cable. Marianne will be working to strengthen the Cable’s connections with communities across Bristol, and is busy getting our work out to as wide an audience as possible. Interested in collaborating? Contact marianne@thebristolcable.org

Building a Citizens’ Agenda Our local election reporting is taking a variety of forms, from what you’ll read here in print to our iconic Bristol Unpacked podcast and online coverage. As part of that, we’ve been working on a Citizens’ Agenda. The Citizens’ Agenda is a manifesto crafted by local citizens and communities. It’s designed to give local people the power and platform to shape the election debate. Rather than asking readers who they think will win or who they’re going to vote for, we’re identifying the problems that local people face and developing questions to pose directly to candidates in the race for City Hall. Want to help set the agenda? Visit thebristolcable.org/CitizensAgenda

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REPORT

The Priory Hospital Bristol, where two children's ward closed down last year

Bristol to go even longer without mental health beds for children

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The gap in services was revealed by the Cable's reporting on ward closures at private psychiatric hospital the Priory Bristol Words Matty Edwards The reopening of vital NHS mental health beds for young people in Bristol has been delayed by three months, after ward closures last year left the city temporarily without overnight beds for children in crisis. The Riverside Unit, run by local NHS trust Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership ADVERTISEMENT

(AWP), has been closed for refurbishment since the start of the pandemic. The temporary closure was revealed last year by the Cable’s reporting on problems at the Priory Hospital Bristol. Two children’s wards at the privately-run hospital closed following staffing problems and descriptions of poor care and

safeguarding by patients and their families. A subsequent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) demanded immediate improvements at the Priory. These ward closures meant young people had to be transferred elsewhere, and left Bristol without any mental health beds for children, while the Riverside was being refurbished. Now, after months of email exchanges with NHS bosses, local campaign group Protect Our NHS has discovered the unit will not reopen until June 2021 because of “structural maintenance issues”. AWP has been offering an enhanced day-service seven days a week, while the inpatient beds are unavailable, as well as 24/7 telephone support, with home visits if needed. The £2m renovation will increase the number of beds on the Riverside Unit by two to twelve. As many as 35 young people have been admitted to beds elsewhere in the south west while the Riverside beds have been closed. Seven young people had to be sent even further for treatment. By comparison, 37 young

people have been supported by the Riverside’s enhanced service as of January 2021. Monitoring of UK mental health services by the CQC in 2020 found that there has been “significant unmet need” during lockdown, due to limited community support delivered remotely, and fewer inpatient beds. A spokesperson for NHS England told the Cable in November that, following a review into CAMHS provision across the south west, there were plans in place to commission new inpatient services to reduce travelling times for young people and their families. Mark Arruda-Bunker, Associate Director for Specialised, Secure and CAMHS services at AWP, told the Cable the “unfortunate” delay was due to unforeseen maintenance issues with the existing roof, which can only be addressed after the expansion works are completed at the end of March. “We appreciate this news is disappointing for young people and their families, but we have explored all options available and this is the most suitable one.” ■

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INTERVIEW

Tim's brother encouraged him to start going to the gym

For Tim, strength training was 'empowering'.

Tim and his family fled from religious persecution in Nigeria. Here he tells how he is taking back control “within a system where you don’t often win”

Finding strength

Words Jess Connett

hen Tim was 11, his homeland became unsafe to live in. Growing up in Kwara, western Nigeria, he lived with his parents, older brother, and two sisters. “The living room and kitchen were massive so everyone would come over. Sometimes there would be 30 people talking and chatting. That was really cool,” Tim says. He remembers walking to school, playing football with the neighbourhood kids, and playing games at home during power outages. He had a close family. But Tim’s father faced religious persecution. Since the late 90s, Christians have been targeted across Nigeria by radical Islamist groups. An estimated 11,500-12,000 Christians were murdered between June 2015 and April 2020. Life “became super harsh”, Tim says. Work was scarce, and the family got into debt. “The person we owed got very aggressive and challenging. There were death threats. “I still don’t know much of why we left then. I still don’t ask. In a way, I don’t want to know. I want to hold

onto that good memory in my head.” After a long application process, Tim’s father came to the UK to study for a PhD. A year later the family joined, moving to windswept Aberystwyth. It was the first time Tim had seen the sea. Coming to the UK was cold and “a very different vibe,” he says, but a “beautiful and accommodating place”. Tim’s father had issues with his PhD funding, so to find work, the family moved to Fishponds when Tim was 14. “I hadn’t seen that many people in one place before," he says. "I found the little things exciting.” Battling the UK immigration system Tim’s parents applied for leave to remain in the UK, which would grant them the right to work, study, and access statutory services. Their application was denied. “They tried to shield us from it. They told us ‘this is happening’ but they didn’t go into too much detail”. But they couldn’t hide it forever. One day, Tim found a rejection letter from the Home Office. He learned his family were in a catch-22 situa-

tion. With their asylum claim being processed, they were not allowed to work. Paralysis gripped everyday life. As Tim got older, his friends eventually went to university or travelling, or got jobs, while he was “stuck”. “It was a really horrible few years. I had days where I didn’t see the point. I had days I didn’t want to wake up. I got depressed for a long time.” Tim worried for his parents, especially after his brother was detained three times: “That was terrifying. My mum was heartbroken. And you’re thinking ‘why has he been detained?’– the only thing he’s done wrong is being an immigrant. “It’s a very awkward situation to prove in front of a judge... the reasons you have to stay in the UK. ‘I’m here for a better life.’ “[My brother was] having to defend something that seems very basic – ‘I want to have a chance to have a bright future and think about the next ten years without someone killing me’. Having to defend that seemed very wrong.” To the family’s shock, Tim’s brother was deported. “It hit me that I might never see him again. And he’s going back to a place

Tim’s brother first took him to the gym. In lives dictated by the Home Office, it was something they could control. “It was a very empowering feeling. It made a massive difference to me...I learned so much about myself: so much respect, humility and discipline.” He took coaching courses and is now a personal trainer at Bath’s Base Gym. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns, Tim has been training at home and delivering fitness classes for asylum seekers and refugees over Zoom, thanks to connections with Bristol Refugee Rights and Borderlands. He secured funding through the West of England Sport Trust to buy equipment for the group. Keen to build numbers, he makes 50 phone calls a week to find out what’s stopping people from getting involved. “If you’re going through the immigration process, the last thing you’ll think is about exercise.” But a seemingly small action, like strengthening a muscle over time, isn’t small at all. It’s proof that your goals are achievable. “Getting stronger is something no one can take away from you. You don’t have to depend on anyone else to help you with that. “The feeling of accomplishment, within a system where you don’t often win, goes a long way.” ■

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The personal trainer strengthening Bristol’s asylum seekers and refugees

that’s freaking dangerous. I was fearing for his life.” Tim and his brother are in touch but haven’t seen each other for four years. After many years in the UK, Tim’s family were finally granted leave to remain. Tim had certainty at last, but the decision came too late for his brother.

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60 Bristol citizens have released their recommendations on climate, health and transport. Participants share their insights from this pioneering process of public participation Words Matty Edwards

Getting voices heard The idea was adopted by Green councillor Paula O’Rourke who felt not enough people were involved in local democracy. She worked with deputy mayor Asher Craig to make the assembly happen. With public participation charity Involve doing the organising, much work has gone into giving enough information to assembly members from expert speakers, and

facilitators are on hand to guide discussions in breakout groups. For each recommendation, the assembly has produced a rationale and list of actions, and has voted on which should be prioritised. Now it is down to the council to consider and implement them. Alfie Moss from Totterdown was among 12,000 randomly selected Bristol households to get an invitation, and ended up one of the chosen few out of nearly 700 applicants. He says he was keen because he’s always been opinionated and had an interest in green energy, but it’s still been a “massive learning experience”. “As an average Bristol citizen, you don’t tend to give too much consideration to the problems the council face, you see it from the outside,” he says. He speaks positively about the range of perspectives people from different backgrounds have shared.

Recommendations: How to rapidly reduce the impact of our homes on climate change?* 1. Council is to lead on training and upskilling the workforce 2. Council to take leadership and responsibility for meeting emissions targets in housing stock by partnering with the business, education and community sectors. 3. Create innovative financing options to support home owners and landlords to improve the energy efficiency of every home in Bristol. 4. Reduce the fragmentation of all the different initiatives by creating a One Stop Shop of contains objective, trustworthy information 5. The Council should introduce a set of tiered Bristol standards relating to energy consumption and efficiency for all retrofits, building improvements, developments and new builds 6. Develop a neighbourhood pilot programme of climate action *Paraphrased versions of full recommendations

Left to Right: Billy Clayton, Alfie Moss and Deb Aki

‘Eye-opening’ experience Deputy mayor Craig has since announced that Bristol is due to have another citizens’ assembly later this year. University College London research identified 13 citizens’ assemblies convened by local authorities in the UK since 2019, most of which led to councils taking some kind of action. For assembly member Deb Aki, the key is future scrutiny and accountability so the council acts on the recommendations. She admits she hadn’t thought much about the climate crisis before, except when climate strikes were a hot topic at her children’s school. “Awareness is the most important thing to me. People need to be aware. I’m aware now. Most people are not.” She enjoyed the “eye-opening” experience and found it easy to speak to others, as a sense of a “Bristol family” grew. But she’s already looking ahead. “Are the recommendations actually going to be implemented? I think we need a body or independent person who is going to stand in for the assembly and give us updates and feedback. I don’t want these four weeks to be a waste.” I ask if she thinks the council will listen. “Fingers crossed. I’m crossing everything to be honest. There’s a difference between the council wanting to do something and actually implementing it. Someone needs to be accountable.”■

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n a sunny Saturday in late February, dozens of people from across Bristol squint at Zoom. Their task? Produce recommendations for how Bristol can reduce the impact of our homes on the climate crisis – and contribute to the city’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030. No pressure then. This was the penultimate weekend, out of four, of the climate strand of Bristol’s first citizens’ assembly – an exercise in participatory democracy where locals come together to tackle our biggest issues. A demographically representative group of 60 Bristol residents have met to discuss how the city can recover from Covid-19, with a focus on three topics: climate, transport and health. Their recommendations, now published, will be presented to the council’s cabinet and One CIty Economy Board to hopefully inform council policy. The climate recommendations cover financial incentives to support people to improve energy efficiency, better public information, and a pilot programme for a neighbourhood to show how climate action could be rolled out citywide.

CLIMATE

‘Rebooting democracy’: Inside Bristol’s first ever citizens’ assembly

“It’s already had an impact,” he tells me. “I went into work a few days ago and started asking questions about what heating we use and what we could do to be more efficient.” As a transport researcher at the University of the West of England (UWE), Billy Clayton is probably more aware than most of the scale of Bristol’s challenge to reach net zero. “The city is going to look very different,” he says. “But I’ve been encouraged by people’s willingness to move towards that. People are ready to make the change as long as they’re supported to do so.” “It’s refreshing, this is what citizen’s democracy is… If I were making personal recommendations, it would be that they rerun this as a kind of annual sense-checking exercise.”

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CLIMATE

Can community energy projects help Bristol get to net zero? Bristol has had success with community renewable energy schemes, but much more will be needed if the city is to reach its 2030 net-zero carbon goal. We take a look at three projects and ask what is needed for the sector to thrive Words Nick Dowson

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Ambition Lawrence Weston Ambition Lawrence Weston is leading the way for community energy in Bristol, with proposals for a 4-megawatt (MW) wind turbine – England’s largest to date – at Avonmouth, capable of powering 3,500 homes. Income from it will fund community development work in Lawrence Weston, as well as a learning zone to increase knowledge about renewable energy. It’s hoped the 150m-tall turbine will be spinning by autumn 2022. Dave Tudgey, project development manager at Ambition Lawrence Weston’s subsidiary, Ambition Community Energy, explains that the community interest company’s first foray into the sector was as a partner in the the 2016 development of Bristol Energy Cooperative’s 4.2MW solar farm, also near Avonmouth. Next came ambitious plans for the turbine. Work began shortly after national planning rules changed in 2015, making it tougher to get consent for new onshore wind. Initial funding enabled Ambition Lawrence Weston to explore planning routes further. Several councilowned sites were examined but only one proved suitable. Four paid interns were brought in to help with community engagement work, “so it would be local people asking those questions,” says Tudgey. Council support was also important, he adds. An additional £78,000,

from the Bristol Community Energy Fund in 2018, facilitated more planning development work. Meanwhile a public vote on what projects to fund from a pot made available by Bristol City Council from the Port of Bristol sale led to over £100,000 more funding over 2018 and 2019. Hard work on the project detail and community engagement paid off last autumn when the project received planning consent with only one objection – from the neighbouring Seabank gas power station. The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has now awarded £500,000 of EU funding, but the rest of the £4.8m needed to build the turbine is still to be secured. Tudgey says he is looking at borrowing or bond options, so ownership will stay with Ambition Lawrence Weston. He is also working with the council and others to find an organisation willing to buy the turbine’s electricity at a fixed price long term – making future borrowing easier. He is also keen for national rule changes so the community can benefit directly from the turbine’s power through cheaper electricity bills, as well as funding to get similar projects off the ground. “We’re doing a huge amount of innovation to make [the turbine] project work, but if we want more projects like this it can’t be this hard.”

What next for community energy? Bristol Energy Network aims, through community energy, “to enable people in Bristol to participate in the transition to sustainable energy,” as well as to encourage inclusion and address fuel poverty, says its coordinator Emilia Melville. The network’s vision is for a “low-carbon city where everyone has their energy needs being met”, and ensuring democratic input into the transition to green energy. A range of other innovative community energy projects are bubbling up in different neighbourhoods. For example, Eastside Community Trust is seeking to expand its mini district-heating network to more businesses and homes. The trust’s pilot project, at Easton’s Owen Square Park, stores summer heat from the air in the ground, using air source heat pumps powered by solar panels, and then pipes heat into buildings when needed. Meanwhile, Clifton Climate Action is working to support small businesses with energy efficiency

measures, Melville says. “What we do as a network is link them up with each other, so people can get to know people in other parts of the city and share skills and resources.” But community groups agree that more support or funding is needed for them to grow. “It was a mistake at national level to stop the feed-in tariff [subsidy scheme] as the community energy sector was growing,” says Melville. Support could involve either projects receiving a special price for the electricity they produce, or a mechanism allowing communities to use the power generated locally, she adds. She says the council should ensure that communities are able to be involved in the City Leap project, the large-scale partnership with big energy companies that will bring more than £1 billion of investment over the next decade, to improve its impact, harness local creativity and ensure everyone can have a say.

Wind turbine site in Avonmouth with Mark Pepper, David Tudgey, Kye Dudd, Dr Charles Gamble, Roger Sabido

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2030

CLIMATE

Renewable energy in numbers

When Bristol aims to be a carbon neutral city, including how we produce our electricity. Direct greenhouse gas emissions in Bristol have fallen by 36% since 2005, but hitting the 2030 target will require reduction at 1.6 times the rate

1,826 GWh The site of the hydro scheme at Netham Weir. Photo: Bristol Energy Coop

Bristol Energy Cooperative, whose 9MW solar portfolio already powers the equivalent of 3,000 homes, is close to completing a £2m community share offer for more renewable energy projects. Residents can gain a vote as a member for a minimum £100 buy-in, with the money being used to support projects, including a 300KW micro hydro scheme at Netham Weir, by the Feeder Canal junction. Construction of two turbines, which will generate power as the River

Avon flows through them, will begin in spring and be finished towards the end of the year, says Will Houghton, project developer at the co-op. “It will generate electricity that will mostly be used by a nearby business.” The European Regional Development Fund has provided £1.15m to make the project viable. Bristol Energy Cooperative is also looking at setting up ‘microgrids’, including one of the first at the Water Lilies eco-housing development in Lawrence Weston, which is currently under construction. These small-scale electricity grids will integrate solar panels, battery storage and heat pumps for local residents, aiming to maximise local usage of power generated on site, and so minimise the charges paid for importing or exporting energy from the National Grid. This means cheaper electricity for residents while increasing the income that can be earned from solar panels. “It’s about taking ownership,” says Houghton. “Generally the developments we are looking at are already communities that are interested in being sustainable.” The project partners will look to sell the microgrids into local community ownership after a couple of years, enabling them to support newer projects. Houghton says community energy projects have a crucial role in the energy system “in pushing the boundaries of what can be done”. “You are always at the forefront, basically.”

Lockleaze Loves Solar Lockleaze Loves Solar, a collaboration between the Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust and community-owned enterprise Low Carbon Gordano, has had to delay plans to install 1MW of solar panels across 300 homes. The project was targeted at people in fuel poverty, to help them reduce energy bills, but has been complicated by Covid-19 and the sell-off of Bristol Energy, which Lockleaze Loves Solar had planned to partner with. Chris Stuart-Bennett, director of Low Carbon Gordano, says it will likely go forward in a couple of years when falling solar costs make it more viable. In the meantime, Lockleaze Loves Solar has worked on a deal with Bristol Credit Union, and an installer, to make it easier for homeowners to put panels on their roofs. But Stuart-Bennett recognises this will limit participation. To go further, community renewable energy needs government funding and tax breaks to be redirected from polluters such as oil and gas, which get a lot of government subsidy, he says. Stuart-Bennett calls for a level playing field: “With renewables, battery storage and other newer clean tech schemes, it’s just assumed they are going to operate on their own two feet… They aren’t given the subsidies other legacy industries are.”

9 GWh

The annual electricity that would be generated by Ambition Lawrence Weston’s wind turbine – enough to power 3,500 homes but just 0.5% of Bristol’s consumption.

42%

The percentage of UK electricity generated from renewable energy sources in 2020 – the first time this was higher than from fossil fuels (40%).

1 in 2

There is the potential to have solar panels on every other home in Bristol by 2030, which would generate an extra 530 GWh of electricity.

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Micro-hydro at Netham Weir

Gigawatt hours (GWh): Bristol’s annual consumption of electricity

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Local Elections

Mayoral candidates will need to look both ways as they race for City Hall The voting system and the realities of electoral politics mean hopefuls have the tricky task of appealing to a diverse electorate

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Words Adam Cantwell-Corn

“S

tanding in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides,” said Margaret Thatcher. She certainly didn’t stand in the middle of the road when it came to local government, whose power her governments ruthlessly undermined. But looking to the coming election for Bristol’s mayor – not to mention the race for the West of England metro mayor, and Avon and Somerset’s police and crime commissioner – the voting system could help push candidates towards the middle, for better or worse. Unlike in general elections, where you vote for one candidate, under the ‘Supplementary Vote’ system people can place two votes, in order of preference. So as well as rallying their base, candidates and parties will be seeking to get second-choice votes from others. Though not a comprehensive overhaul of the system, the idea is to drive up the votes a winning candidate secures. This increases their political legitimacy and avoids situations – like in general elections – where MPs and governments can be elected with less than half the constituency or population voting for them. But for the Bristol mayoral election, likely to be the most closely watched contest, the voting system is not the only dynamic forcing candidates to try to ride multiple horses at once.

Labour are the favourites, but facing issues Within Labour itself, which enjoys high support and office in the city at all levels, the battle for the party’s direction is continuing locally as it is nationally. There have been resignations, allegations and insurgent speeches by prominent councillors, mostly on the party’s left, criticising mayor Marvin Rees’s leadership as bullying and unaccountable – which he denies – and his politics as centrist or worse. Dissent-inducing policies include freezing council housing rents, a potential vote-winner but a policy that cuts future income for repairing, improving or building social housing. Engaged in a toxic fight with the national Labour bureaucracy, leftwing group Momentum has also called a local ‘campaign strike’ for any Labour candidates who have not spoken up in their support – which includes the mayor. With high levels of support from other parts of the party, Rees may not be too concerned with these vocal Labour members, due to their ultimately small size in electoral terms. But the ricochets of low morale, and a weakened campaigning effort, could cut through in different ways – including the scramble to select councillor candidates in time, and getting out the vote on election day. Low turnout generally hurts Labour more than the Tories, for example.

Tussle over Bristol’s progressive credentials The Greens will be hoping to benefit, and are positioning themselves as the custodians of Bristol’s green and progressive reputation. Having come fourth in 2016, their candidate, Sandy Hore-Ruthven, the boss of large charity the Creative Youth Network, faces an uphill battle to capitalise on Labour’s problems. It will take a lot to dislodge Labour allegiances, and under the ‘One City’ banner Rees has built a network across wide sections of the city. Judging by early election materials, the Green strategy – besides pushing their eco-credentials – seems to be to cast themselves as capable ‘anti-politicians’, with Rees in the role of stale partypolitical establishment. Not having a record to defend makes this easier. But Rees has a compelling backstory and high profile to parry the challenge, and successes he can point to. These include a marked improvement on housing issues from the previous administration, inclusion and diversity, and important policies such as maintaining council tax exemptions for people on the lowest incomes. Still, opponents can highlight headline-grabbing missteps – dithering over the airport expansion, acting slowly on air pollution and failing children with special educational needs and disabilities. In pursuit of disenchanted Labour voters, the Greens will also have to broaden their limited base, and be careful not to scare the city’s business establishment types. They’ll need a significant share of the votes cast in 2016 for independent ex-mayor George Ferguson, the Merchant Venturer and selfstyled ‘establishment anarchist’ who came a distant second to Rees after beating him in 2012. Time for a new (old) system?

Main party Bristol mayoral candidates: Marvin Rees, Alastair Watson, Caroline Gooch and Sandy Hore-Ruthven

The Lib Dems’ Dr Caroline Gooch, a pharmaceutical industry consultant, and the Conservative Alastair Watson, are also chasing the ‘antipolitician’ mantle by pledging a referendum on abolishing the mayoral system should they win. Gooch is leading the charge of #scrapthemayor – sparked by a clamour about how democracy is being undermined by the may-

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A lot has changed since 2016. But looking back on the mayoral elections five years ago may give us some insight into what’s in play this time around. After losing to George Ferguson in 2012, Marvin Rees was comfortably elected with almost 30,000 more votes than Ferguson in 2016. With no prominent independent candidate running alongside the main parties, and UKIP dead in the water, a big question will be where those votes go this time? Under the Supplementary Vote system, voters can cast two votes in order of preference. If a candidate achieves 50% of all firstpreference votes then they are the winner. Though Rees secured considerably more votes than his closest rival, he did not have more than 50% of all votes cast. Rees and Ferguson then received any second preference votes from voters whose first preference candidate didn’t make it through to the second round. Here is how the first and second preference votes tallied up in 2016:

2016 results Marvin Rees, Labour 56,729 votes George Ferguson, Independent

+ 2nd choice: 39,577 votes

32,375 votes Charles Lucas, Conservative

Kay Barnard, Lib Dem

19,617

8,078

Tony Dyer, Green

Paul Turner, UKIP

10,000

7,115

7 Other candidates with less than 2,000 votes each 6,400

How the 'Supplementary Vote' system works Unlike in general elections, the Supplementary Vote is used to elect the mayor of Bristol, the mayor of the West of England, and the Avon and Somerset police and crime commissioner. For a candidate to win, they will need more than 50% of first and second preference votes.

Ballot Paper Vote once (X) in column one for your first choice Vote once (X) in column two for your second choice 1st Candidate 1

Party 1

Candidate 2

Party 2

Candidate 3

Party 3

Candidate 4

Party 4

2nd

oral model, not least by sidelining elected councillors from decisionmaking. While this was an issue under Ferguson, the fact that Labour councillors are speaking out against their own administration is fuelling the debate. Political memories are notoriously short, but some may remember that breaking council gridlock was one argument for introducing the mayoral model. ‘Get Things Done’ seems to be Rees’s mantra when faced with such criticisms – and he can rely on this having a strong appeal to some. The Tories came third in 2016, with more than the Lib Dem and Green vote combined. Watson, a businessman and former councillor, is playing the old tunes, pledging to cut red tape and protect taxpayers’ money, and highlighting the Bristol Energy fiasco that lost £50m of taxpayers’ money. There doesn’t seem to be a recognition that a well-placed bit of ‘red tape’ and scrutiny can guard against such wasteful, failed initiatives. All Rees’s challengers also face a fundamental hurdle: the ‘notLabour’ vote will split at least three ways, before factoring in independent candidates like Sean Donnelly, the owner of Bedminster’s Three Lions pub and Bristol City icon. But an optimistic Tory may hope to bring together previously disparate groups over touchstone issues. Besides traditional Conservatives, they could include parts of Labour’s traditional white workingclass base, and mopping up the votes from UKIP’s 2016 showing, which was not far off the Lib Dem total of 8,000 in the city. Such touchstones include the reaction to the riot and protests in March, and the fallout over the

toppling of the Colston statue, a single seismic event that put Bristol at the centre of the ‘culture war’ so gladly stoked by the government. Though he was in a tricky spot and had other things to take care of, in some quarters there’s a perception that Rees tried to stand in the middle of the road regarding the statue’s fate prior to it coming down. He took flak from multiple sides – that he hadn’t done enough to remove Colston officially, or hadn’t done enough to stop the toppling – including horrendous and ongoing racism. Deciding factors With issues like the so-called ‘culture war’ over identity, history and rights raging across the country, it’s likely this year’s local elections will be something of a referendum on what’s happening nationally. Keir Starmer’s visit to the region, and focus on the non-locally controlled NHS, seemed to imply they might be – and the Tories will hope for an electoral ‘vaccine bounce’ that helps smooth over their initially disastrous handling of the pandemic. Mayors and local government as a whole have huge responsibility for vital issues such as adult social care, transport, housing and more. But it’s not controversial to say that nuts-and-bolts policies won’t be the deciding factor for most of us. Slippery concepts like trust, and appeal to a diverse electorate will be at least as important. Whoever ends up in City Hall will know that standing in the middle of the road means you risk getting knocked down – but you also get to direct traffic in our famously congested city… but that’s another story. ■

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+ 2nd choice: 68,750 votes

“The voting system is not the only dynamic forcing candidates to try to ride multiple horses at once”

Local Elections

What can the 2016 mayoral election results tell us this time around?

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slmillustration.com

Local Elections

The city's transport is stuck. Here's how to kickstart it

Change is coming to our roads, but are radical transformational plans just hot polluted air? Words Jon Turney Illustration Scott Luís Masson

ue to Covid, we get to vote for two mayors this year: one for Bristol, and one for the fairly obscure West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Good, because maybe that’ll draw attention to things where they have to work together to get anything worthwhile done. And one issue among those stands out just now: transport. If everything goes right, we could be on the verge of transforming how we get around Bristol and the wider region. It’ll take longer than one term of office for any politician. But there’s all to play for. It’s been a while, but remember being stuck kerbside on Bristol’s main roads watching choked traffic, creeping buses, cyclists dicing with death round potholes, waiting dolefully at lights that never seemed to change?

We could change that: get people out of cars, on to clean, efficient public transport, leaving more safe space for walkers and cyclists – and give everyone cleaner air. Lots of European cities have transport systems that work. To get there, they needed: a long-term vision that made sense, political commitment over years or even decades, and large, patient investment. Bristol isn’t going to get the transport it deserves without these. How far we get towards it is anyone’s guess. An optimist and a pessimist can both line up plenty of arguments. Here are some of them. Hurrah – change is a comin’? Covid briefly showed how nice roads can be without cars. Road closures and partial restrictions in the city centre, and pop-up cycle

lanes followed. Now the council, with encouragement from Whitehall, is modifying street access to create low traffic neighbourhoods, wresting public space back from cars. “Active travel” – walking and cycling – is high on the policy agenda, locally and nationally. Also, a foot-dragging Bristol City Council has finally agreed to enforce a clean air zone, charging vehicles that don’t meet emission standards. Soon, the folk on those little e-scooters you see zipping about won’t be breathing so much gunk. The scooters are the first visible product of a project that WECA already won government cash for – the experimental Future Mobility Zone, which covers those rental scooters, soon to be followed by cargo bikes, and the testing of systems that could knit a transport system together properly. Systems

to make it easier to find out what’s running, where, and to catch a ride. Ideally, one ticket or app should allow you to ride a scooter to a tram stop, switch lines, and hop on a bus for the last bit of the journey. Some countries already do this. Then there is the Big Upgrade for public transport, outlined in the Joint Local Transport Plan (JLTP 4) agreed in 2020 by WECA and four councils – Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It goes beyond metrobus routes, or future improvements to bus routes and rail links. A map shows four bold arrows designating new routes that would be “transformational” – each representing a new, speedy connection between the centre and outlying parts of Bristol. Imagine living in Hartcliffe, say, and being able to ride to far Severnside, one of the city’s main employment growth spots, in half an hour, with just one change in the city centre. Thanks to energetic lobbying by groups in Bath and Bristol, trams – not seen in Bristol since 1941 – have been proposed for these new links. They could be key to persuading people not to drive. The government, like WECA and Bristol City Council, has quietly recognized the climate emergency, and declared that all cars sold after 2030 must produce zero emissions. That means they’ll be electric (powered by batteries or fuel cells). And if the entire auto fleet is going to be changed, we could use that to rethink car-ownership. Why not share a car, rent one from a car club, or summon an electric cab? Perhaps it’ll be easier to shift people in that direction if more of us work from home in future? This is catching people’s imagination, too. A report from Bristol’s recent Citizen’s Assembly called for stepping up efforts to redesign streets. They want to see city-wide bike, e-bike, cargo e-bike, e-scooter and car share schemes, backed up by a commitment to transfer 3-5% of road space and street car parking spaces to cycling, walking and green space every year. Those recommendations will be put to Bristol’s cabinet after the election. Don’t hold your breath Put all those together, and you really could have a revitalised transport

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includes 15 big road schemes. It’s those – widening carriageways, rebuilding or adding motorway junctions – that will no doubt go ahead, with backing from the Department for Transport and Highways England. They are aimed at speeding up traffic and easing congestion, but new roads generate extra traffic, so that won’t work. Getting people out of cars depends largely on the “transformational” schemes, as yet unplanned, and unfunded.

Another giveaway is seeing numbers for reduced traffic simply grafted onto old plans. The 2017 Joint Transport Study, which JLTP4 follows closely, simply said that traffic overall ought not to go up, after 100,000 extra people arrive. The aim is to reduce it, pretty drastically if emission-reduction is to happen. But the plans remain essentially unchanged. And the mass transit scheme, which might help, is… not exactly imminent. The four sketchily indicated routes also appeared in the Joint Transport Study. Four years since then have seen little progress. True, Bristol City Council published a modified version of the map in March. Lines look better defined. There are even possible stops. But they aren’t real stops or, outside the city centre, real routes. The Mayor, in a media briefing (March 11), emphasised that everything remains in the mix – over and underground, light rail, trams, even automated “pods” got a mention. He remained upbeat about raising the £4bn needed. He and cabinet members insist the plan is developing well and “op-

tions are being finalised now”. Meanwhile WECA, on whom the fate of the scheme depends, insists it still needs to investigate all possibilities. So don’t get excited about trams just yet. Similar attempts to bring them back in the 1980s and 90s floundered. The new mass transit deal needs to go through three separate, increasingly onerous, stages before a final business case goes to the Department of Transport. That will take eight or nine years – to 2030, which is, er, when we are supposed to be approaching net zero. It seems sensible not to bank on the results. Meanwhile, liveable neighbourhood schemes have to contend with understandable uneasiness from local businesses, and concerns about displaced traffic raising pollution levels elsewhere. Like other changes, low traffic measures look more appealing as part of a proper vision of an improved transport system. Our planning system hasn’t really produced that. But it still could. That’s why the long-term plan for transport needs probing during the election campaigns. It will be tricky to deliver, but it’s worth a try. ■

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“Lots of European cities have transport systems that work. To get there, they needed: a long-term vision that made sense, political commitment over years or even decades, and large, patient investment”

Local Elections

system. But, sadly, it’s not a given. Cars dominate our roads, and drivers will use them until there’s a better alternative. Transport planning is a mess – a patchwork of organisations not fit for purpose. Cars dominate planners’ mindset, too. They trumpet new ideas, but mostly go on doing what they know: spending on roads. Here’s how that works. That latest 15-year plan for our region (JLTP4) features seemingly incompatible objectives – promoting economic development and moving toward zero carbon emissions. Development is a huge issue because all our regional plans blithely assume massive population growth, from 1.1 million in 2016 to 1.3 million by 2036. Those people will need homes, and jobs; transport links are largely imagined as a way to get from one to the other. The Joint Local Plan is a monster wish list. There’s an impressive inventory of major (over £10m) schemes which are, as it says, “at very different stages of development”. The full list is diverse, and would cost £8–£9bn. As Steve Melia highlighted in the Cable, it

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PHOTO ESSAY

RAISE A GLASS Pubs are back from April, but it’s been a tough year for Bristol’s landlords who’ve struggled to keep afloat through the many changes over the last year

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Photos Colin Moody 1. The Beaufort Patsy has been here decades. She takes down a box to show me dozens of photos of all the parties and people that have made this place. "It will be the end of my career here I think," she tells me. 2. The Plough Tom is busy organising veg boxes for the community care package several pub workers have spent their furlough organising. 3. The Griffin Bristol's go-to heavy metal pub was looking forward to its busiest year before Covid struck

4. The Fringe They tell me about how sudden it all was, how Clifton was instantly dead. "The hardest thing to think about is the future," says Sylvie. 5. The Elmer’s Arms He has worked so hard to get bands to play here from all over the world and create a little piece of European-style cosiness where the records are always spinning. 6. The Eastville Social Club The club has been in existence for over 100 years and it's a hidden treasure. 7. Queenshilling This is a vibrant LGBT+ venue, but as we talk it is clear this has been a tough year for Paul and Andy.

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PHOTO ESSAY

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Local Elections

A spotlight on the battle for council seats

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As debates have raged recently about the role of councillors under the mayoral system, small numbers of votes can swing this local election Words Matty Edwards Photos David Griffiths

t the 2016 local elections, Labour gained seven seats to cement a narrow council majority. At stake this May is how well the party, which has since lost several seats, can hang on. Seventy councillors are elected to represent 34 Bristol wards. They deal with constituents’ enquiries, participate in council meetings where motions and petitions are voted on, and sit on committees that scrutinise council activity and make licensing and planning decisions. Councillors, usually belonging to the ruling party, also take cabinet roles, where they oversee important functions such as housing or transport. Bristol voted to have a directly elected mayor by a narrow margin in 2012, which has since left councillors of any party with less power and influence. Councillor’s roles have been in the spotlight recently, after they debated holding a referendum on scrapping the mayoral system. The motion was defeated, but Labour councillor Mike Davies, who is stepping down this election, said the mayoral system has hollowed out elected members’ pur-

pose, letting down communities. This followed a Labour row over the council’s decision – slammed by party rebel Nicola Bowden-Jones – to freeze council housing rents. Soon afterwards, councillor Jo Sergeant quit Labour and joined the Greens, claiming her former party was “beset with fear and bullying” and pointing fingers at mayor Marvin Rees and Bristol Labour Group leader Marg Hickman. The mayor’s office dismissed her remarks as a “personal vendetta”. Not all citizens will have these local concerns on their mind at the ballot box. In the first postCovid election, decisions may be swayed by the government’s handling of the pandemic, other national issues, or possibly Labour’s new leader, Keir Starmer. But whatever their motivation, just a few hundred voters can change the council’s makeup. In 12 wards, a shift of less than 200 votes in 2016 would have returned a different councillor. When so many don’t vote in local elections – 2016’s turnout was 45%, 2012’s just 28% – it doesn’t take many ballots to shake things up. Here are a few parts of the city where things look interesting:

2016 Councillors: Horfield 1 Labour 1 Conservative Central Ward 2 Labour Lawrence Hill 2 Labour Hartcliffe and Withywood 3 Labour

Central Ward Elected councillors in 2016: Kye Dudd (Labour) & Paul Smith (Labour) Margin of victory for 2nd councillor: 7 votes If a handful of people had voted differently in Central ward at the 2016 election, Labour’s Paul Smith wouldn’t have returned to life as a councillor, having previously done an 11-year stint from 1988 to 1999.

After being elected by just seven votes, Smith became the cabinet member for housing, one of the top council positions, overseeing Labour’s pledges to build more affordable homes.

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Horfield Elected councillors in 2016: Olly Mead (Labour) & Claire Hiscott (Conservative) Margin of victory for 2nd councillor: 1 vote In an almost comical sign of how close local elections can be, Claire Hiscott got just one more vote in 2016 than Labour’s Teresa Stratford, who came in third. Hiscott, who was

first elected in 2013 and now chairs the council’s people scrutiny commission, which among other things has scrutinised the council’s failings of SEND children, is standing for re-election.

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fic, extra cycle lanes and pedestrianising part of the Old City. One of the main criticisms of the council since 2016 has been the scandal around children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), with the system in Bristol deemed “not fit for purpose” by inspectors in December 2019. Families had to wait months to get education, health and care (EHC) plans, which are crucial for children with SEND to receive extra support at school. The Labour administration has held its hands up to failing on this issue, and now appears to have a better handle on the situation. One of the campaigners who has been holding the council to account over this, Jen Smith, is running in Central ward for the Liberal Democrats. In 2016, just 2,600 people voted in Central to elect their councillor, giving the ward one of the lowest turnouts in the city (35.5%). With narrow winner Smith gone, Labour will be extra determined to protect the seat of his former cabinet partner Kye Dudd, who holds the Transport and Energy briefs.

Local Elections

In late 2020 he resigned to become the chief executive of housing association Elim Housing. With Labour on the back foot because of councillors and candidates stepping down – with some of the latter also being suspended from the party – Farah Hussain was only recently announced as Smith’s prospective successor. Just behind Smith in 2016 was Ani Stafford-Townsend of the Green Party, previously the councillor for Cabot ward, which became Central in 2016, who is standing again. The other Green candidate will be her partner Simon StaffordTownsend. He has campaigned to return Colston Street, where his psychotherapy practice is based, to its historical name of Steep Street. Cabinet member for transport, Kye Dudd, is the remaining Labour councillor for Central, who will be defending his seat. He has been an important figure in the development of Bristol’s Clean Air Zone, and other changes last year to how we move around the city centre, such as closing Bristol Bridge to through traf-

Support our journalism to be free to access for all. Become a member: thebristolcable.org/join Labour’s Olly Mead is standing down after seven years. He recently criticised the mayor for treating councillors like a “nuisance to be barely tolerated”, and called for elected members to have more meaningful input. Defending his seat for Labour are Tom Renhard, who is involved with ACORN and local mental health campaigning, and Becky Ward. Besides Labour and the Tories, the Lib Dems have also had Horfield councillors as recently as 2014 – but came last in 2016 behind the Greens. According to numerous measures, such as home-ownership, social housing levels, crime rates, and local demographics, Horfield is a fairly typical Bristol ward that reflects the wider city,

with richer and poorer neighbourhoods sitting side by side. Its main landmarks are Horfield Common, Southmead Hospital and Horfield Leisure Centre, the last of which is expecting a boost after the council announced investment there as one of three ‘flagship’ Bristol leisure centres. Horfield has one of the city’s highest proportions of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) – 41%. The council has brought in a policy to restrict HMOs where there are already 10% or more in the area, and Horfield residents are currently being consulted on plans to extend Bristol’s landlord licensing scheme to the area, in an attempt to give renters greater protection and crack down on rogue landlords.

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Local Elections

Hartcliffe & Withywood Elected councillors in 2016: Mark Brain, Helen Holland & Paul Goggin (Labour) Turnout in 2016: 27.3% (Lowest in the city) Only one in four people eligible to vote in Hartcliffe and Withywood thought it was worth the bother in 2016. The turnout of 27.3% was the lowest of any ward in the city, as three Labour councillors were comfortably elected, with the UKIP (remember them?) candidate coming in fourth place. The area is such a stronghold for Labour that every councillor elected since its creation in 1983 has been from the party though in 2016, Hartcliffe ward’s boundaries were redrawn and it was renamed to recognise

the inclusion of neighbouring Withywood, which was previously part of Bishopsworth ward. Helen Holland, who is also the cabinet member for adult social care, and Paul Goggin are standing for re-election for Labour, with Cllr Mark Brain standing down. Hartcliffe and Withywood is one of the most deprived wards in the city, and it also fares poorly on other related measures such as life expectancy, health and educational attainment. An issue that seems set to dominate the elec-

In a rare example of Horfield making headlines, it was the scene last year of a racist attack on Monks Park Avenue. K-Dogg, a 21-year-old musician, suffered life-changing injuries after finishing a shift at Southmead Hospital. Last year, Kellaway Avenue, which runs along Horfield Common, was identified by the council as one of five “high impact” encampments of van dwellers. There have been a number of fires destroying caravans along the road, which police investigated as deliberate. A few seats could decide whether Labour stays in control of the council. In the ToryLabour battleground of Horfield, more than in most other Bristol wards, every vote counts. tion campaign, though, is housing – especially social housing – of which there is a lot in the area. Kerry Bailes, who is standing as Labour’s candidate for the seat vacated by Brain, has recently spoken out about conditions in social housing. Bailes, who herself is a council tenant, has previously been an outspoken critic of the council. Recently, she joined current Labour councillors Nicola Bowden-Jones and Jo Sergeant (who has since quit to join the Greens) in criticising the council’s decision to freeze rents in social housing. She argues that the income generated from rent is vital to delivering ongoing investment in maintaining homes, and to improving their energy efficiency, which will play a significant role in the council meeting its commitment to netzero carbon emissions by 2030. In recent months, residents of Walwyn Gardens housing block for older people spoke about having to live in freezing conditions with mould and damp for more than a year, while there have been delays to the council’s refurbishment work because of budget constraints. While it is unlikely that other parties will challenge Labour’s hold on the neighbourhood at this election, that doesn’t mean people in Hartcliffe and Withywood can’t make their voices heard and influence the agenda.

Covid-19: voting safely

Polling stations will have special measures in place to make them safe, including limited numbers of people inside at once, requirements for face coverings, and social distancing. 1. Wear a face mask 2. Bring your own pencil or pen 3. Don’t share a car with people outside your household 4. If you have Covid symptoms or are selfisolating, apply for a proxy to vote for you. You can apply for an emergency proxy vote up until 5pm on election day. 5. Apply for a postal vote and vote early to avoid needing to go to the polling station

Important dates: 19 Apr

Deadline to register

20 Apr

Deadline to apply for postal vote

27 Apr

Deadline to apply for proxy vote

6 May Election day

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Elected councillors in 2016: Marg Hickman & Hibaq Jama (Labour) Lawrence Hill is traditionally Labour, but some residents are feeling let down by the current councillors. With the Greens snapping at their heels, can Labour hold onto Bristol's largest ward? Words Fatima Hudoon

meet Zeinab* sitting on a bench in Barton Hill’s Urban Park after doing the school run. She has been living in Corbett House, a nearby high-rise, for eight years, and I ask if she’ll be voting in May. “There’s no point, because I don’t see councillors and the council doing anything for us,” Zeinab replies. “Look at how the park looks!” she says, pointing to potholes in the ground. “I’ve heard they’ve got funding for it but, apparently, they haven’t got the time to fix it.” Extending from the business quarter of Temple Quay to bustling Stapleton Road, the traditionally Labour ward of Lawrence Hill is Bristol’s largest. With 60% of votes cast in their favour, the 2016 local election was a landslide win for Labour councillors Hibaq Jama and Marg Hickman – who is standing

down this year – with Green candidates coming a distant second. But in recent months, residents and local organisations like Bristol Somali Community Association (BSCA) have been speaking out about councillors’ lack of meetings with residents, their interests and concerns not being adequately represented in City Hall, and residents generally feeling left behind. Could the ward be in for a tighter race in May’s elections? Lack of representation In 2000, the New Labour government pumped £50 million of regeneration money into Barton Hill. But building a new health centre, a school and housing hasn’t changed the area’s – and the wider ward’s – status as among the city’s most deprived. Samira Musse lives in a local high-rise and runs the Barton Hill

‘We found we were being ignored’ Back at the park, Zeinab sighs and says she feels “stuck” as she discusses drug and anti-social behaviour problems in her building and the surrounding area. The council could do more to solve these issues, she says. But when drug users are housed in high-rises full of young kids, “what do you expect?”, she asks hopelessly. Labour’s new candidate to replace Hickman, BS5 resident Shona Jemphrey, is pledging to be responsive to the concerns of residents like Zeinab, and to hold monthly meetings. Active in the local community and online, and offering a fresh face for voters, she says her approach “is being supportive rather than ‘we should do this or that’”. “I’d listen to what people have to say,” the ex-Green Party member says. But Jemphrey’s former party has been campaigning fiercely in Lawrence Hill since the last election, pledging to hold weekly surgeries, respond to emails within 48 hours and actively address issues like flytipping. “I always supported Labour, but we found we were [being] ignored as the Somali community, especially in Lawrence Hill,” says Yassin Mohamud, who is running as a Green candidate in the ward alongside Jon Eccles. While acknowledging Lawrence’s Hill’s historic Labour lean, Barton Hill resident Eccles, who was a runner-up in the 2016 local election, hopes the party’s campaign has given residents a choice. “We just want to see a change,” says Samira Musse. “If [the Green Party] are willing to be the change, we’ll give them a chance.” But despite residents’ unhappiness with the status quo, low voter turnout in the ward and loss of faith in authorities mean Lawrence Hill’s election result remains unpredictable. The choice isn’t so much about candidates’ politics, emphasises Musse. “All I care about is people getting what they’re entitled to,” she says. ■ *Not her real name At time of writing only the Labour and Green Party have put forward their official candidates for Lawrence Hill.

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Lawrence Hill

cured in 2019 – but added that they had “been working to expedite it” and would have more news “soon”.

Local Elections

Abdihakin Asir in front of Barton Hill Tenants Association

Activity Club. She hoped a majority Labour council would bring about change. But four years on, “our parks are still broken, our houses still have damp, and anti-social behaviour is still there”, she says. People are “very fed-up”, says Abdihakin Asir, the chair of BSCA, which offers community support for residents of Barton Hill, home to a sizable Somali population. Asir has been vocal online about issues affecting Lawrence Hill, such as flooded underpasses, underfunded parks and flytipping. For years, Asir says, residents have complained about a lack of regular, timetabled surgeries in Lawrence Hill for residents to raise concerns directly to councillors. He and others have also voiced particular concerns about Jama’s absence from council meetings. Her lowest attendance record was 43% in 2017/18 and 2018/19 (May-May), while Hickman’s was at 61% in 2017/18. While recognising that attendance has improved significantly (84% for Jama and 97% for Hickman between May 2020 to March 2021), Asir says that a “lack of representation is the foundation of all problems in Lawrence Hill”. He says decent schools, spaces for teens and a library in Barton Hill are still missing, and has been calling for a long-abandoned building to be converted into a youth centre. In a joint statement to the Cable, Hickman and Jama, who is running again in May, did not answer questions about meeting attendance, but said they have held monthly surgeries with Easton ward colleagues since 2016, alternating between Easton Community Centre (which sits just outside the Lawrence Hill boundary) and Barton Hill Settlement. Some other two-councillor areas, such as Bedminster, have monthly surgeries within the ward. Hickman and Jama defended their record as councillors, pointing out that they have been working in a context – a decade of austerity – quite unlike that of New Labour’s first term, when major investment was being pumped into areas like Barton Hill. They cited local achievements, such as refurbishments at Felix Road Adventure Playground, Junction 3 Library, which opened in 2013, Cllr Jama’s role in securing Channel 4’s Creative Hub in Bristol, and the ‘Tidy BS5’ initiative as examples. The councillors acknowledged delays in refurbishing the Urban Park – funding for which was se-

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Shortly before police forcefully removed peaceful protestors during Bristol's third protest against the Police and Crime Bill. Photo: Guy Peterson

BRISTOL PROTESTS SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL MEDIA The Bristol Cable’s on-the-ground reporting on the protests against the authoritarian Police and Crime Bill was seen by millions of people. Careful and accurate real- time reporting of how the events unfolded cut through the fallout and official responses, informing the public of the facts on the ground. Whatever your opinion, a cleareyed account of what happens is vital.

There’s a lot of talk about local media being in crisis. But with events like this on our streets, quality local media is more important than ever. Hundreds of people joined the Cable following our coverage of the protests. We now have 2,500+ members who are building a new media for the city. Join them today and keep us reporting.

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Local Elections

Cleo Lake - Green

Heather Shearer - Lib Dem

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Riots and racism thrust the race for PCC into spotlight The police and crime commissioner candidates set out how they plan to heal distrust in policing and tackle rising hate crime Words Priyanka Raval

ive candidates will vie for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner in May’s elections. They are Labour’s Kerry Barker, Liberal Democrat Heather Shearer, Conservative Mark Shelford, Green Cleo Lake and Independent John Smith. The PCC oversees Avon and Somerset police force – setting the force’s policing priorities and budget and being accountable to public scrutiny. The role of the PCC is often regarded as more symbolic than meaningful. However, this year it will draw more public attention. The controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which grants more powers to police, has sparked outrage and demonstrations across the country. Bristol is at the epicentre of the debate, as protests in the city have seen dramatic clashes between police and protesters. The issue of hate crime and its policing, meanwhile, continues to be a key concern for voters. The Cable asked the candidates about their plans to tackle rising hate crime in the force area.

Candidates’ set up their stalls From January to August 2020, the number of racially-motivated hate crimes reported to Avon and Somerset Police increased by 20% compared to the same period in 2019. In total, the force registered a total of 2,599 hate crimes, up from 2,310 during the same period in 2019. Whoever becomes PCC will not only inherit this challenge, but also the label of “institutional racism” gained after the force failed to prevent the murder of 40-year-old Iranian Bijan Ebrahimi in a racist attack in 2013. The tasering of Ras Judah is another blemish on the police’s record. Promising a “zero-tolerance, active approach” to hate crime, independent candidate John Smith promises to “work with partners from across society, such as SARI, schools, local charities, and others”. His appointment to the role of deputy police and crime commissioner, with the backing of police chief Andy Marsh, caused controversy last year when a scrutiny panel said it had “blurred the boundaries” of the democratic process.

John Smith - Independent

Kerry Barker - Labour

For Kerry Barker, part of the problem is getting police officers (and the general public) to recognise hate crime and misogyny. “Police officers, like the rest of us, need to learn about prejudices that affect others, and to modify what [police] say and how [they] behave accordingly. Educating officers and members of the public is a key priority for me.” Green Councillor and former Lord Mayor Cleo Lake, running under the slogan “with communities, for communities” tells us she has seen first-hand the “fractured” relationship between communities and the police. Hate crime will be a priority for her; in particular she’d like to “build a bridge to GRT communities” who have been singled out in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. There is distrust of the police, and the wider judicial system, in many communities of colour, heightened by racial disparities in custodial sentencing, and stop and search. How do candidates plan to build trust and engage affected communities? “I believe that visibly holding police to account is an important way of changing this distrust. When the police are seen to be held to account, people’s trust in them can return,” says John Smith, pledging to develop existing accountability and transparency mechanisms, “including public scrutiny panels, so local people can review police use of force, stop and search, and feed back their views to officers.” Barker puts it down to recruitment: “We need to improve the recruitment of members of BAME communities to become police officers and lawyers, barristers and solicitors. Our communities need to see their members as police officers.”

Mark Shelford - Conservative

Barker, who has 50 years’ experience of criminal justice, and has been a criminal barrister in Bristol since 1991, says this applies to the law as much as it does policing. Lake, who would be the first PCC of colour, if elected, agrees that representation matters, but also “advocating for institutional and culture change” – something she championed as Chair of the Avon and Fire Rescue Service, successfully passing a motion on reparations in Bristol City Council, and working with the police as the Chair of St Pauls Carnival. Following the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill protests, Lake has been adamant in her calls for an inquiry into policing. Black Lives Matter: A watershed moment The toppling of the statue of slave trader, Edward Colston, at Black Lives Matter protests last June, was seen as a watershed moment in Bristol; the policing of the protests divided opinion. Chief Constable Andy Marsh told his officers not to intervene, saying he wanted to avoid a “very violent confrontation”. All candidates, bar one, were in agreement that this nuanced approach was suitable. Criticism came only from Mark Shelford: “No community is safe if a mob is able to take the law into its own hands, whatever the issue,” he said. Shelford is a former Tory councillor for Bath with over 30 years' experience as a soldier. The city is reeling from the protests against the bill with images of a burnt shell of a police van and baton-bruised protesters seared in people’s minds. The next PCC has their work cut out, with the rift between police and sections of the public growing wider by the day. ■

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Marvin Rees, Labour

Alastair Watson, Conservatives

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Caroline Gooch, Lib Dems

Sandy Hore-Ruthven, Greens

L i s ten to i n - depth conve rsations w i th th e m a i n c a ndidate s in the ra ce fo r Ci ty Ha l l Th e Ca bl e’s p i o n ee ring podca st w i th Nei l Ma ggs , guiding you th ro u gh th e Br i s tol mayora l el ec ti o n 2 0 2 1 .

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CLIMATE

A green jobs revolution must go beyond construction and manufacturing

West of England metro mayor candidates are talking big on low-carbon employment in the Bristol region. Meeting the challenge of net-zero will mean not just meeting campaign promises but considering fairness, inclusion and how all our jobs can become greener Words Adam Corner Illustration Megan Pilcher-King

efore the pandemic, in the wake of powerful street protests, an outpouring of climate concern washed over Bristol and the West of England. Bristol City Council’s declaration of a climate emergency then spurred many of its peers into similar announcements. At a national level, reaching ‘net zero’ by 2050 (or sooner) is the goal. Driven by initiatives like the Climate Assembly UK, and amplified by coverage even from previously sceptical media outlets, climate policies are finally part of our national conversation. Tellingly, politicians across the political spectrum are tripping over themselves to talk up the potential of ‘green jobs’. As 2020 came to a close, Boris Johnson announced a 10-point plan

for a ‘green revolution’, central to which was the promise of 250,000 such jobs to ‘level up’ and ‘build back better’ after Covid-19. The prime minister’s rhetoric has been echoed locally, with the current West of England Combined Authority (WECA) mayor, Conservative Tim Bowles, enthusing about the region’s potential as a hub for low-carbon jobs. Bristol City Council have also made green jobs a part of the One City Climate Strategy. But making good on the talk means unprecedented investment, and a transformation of every sector in the country in a matter of decades. Bristol’s sustainability strategy estimates that between 75,000 and 100,000 additional working hours could be required if the city is to become carbon neutral by 2030. A Local Government As-

sociation analysis suggests more than 25,000 low-carbon roles could be created in the WECA region during the same time period. That’s a lot of jobs. In the upcoming elections, candidates who are vying for the position of WECA metro mayor will have a lot of control over employment, training and industrial strategy in the region. So how are low-carbon jobs and a green recovery manifesting in the promises being made by candidates on the campaign trail? Low-carbon promises Samuel Williams is the Conservatives’ prospective metro mayor, having pulled out as Bristol’s mayoral candidate in late 2020. “It is important we invest in low-carbon construction for

new buildings and retrofit current properties,” he told the Cable. “I will prioritise the regeneration of brownfield sites, making the most of our underused spaces.” The focus on buildings, old and new, makes sense – the UK’s building stock accounts for nearly a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions. Dan Norris, Labour’s WECA candidate and an ex-environment minister, also highlights the importance of buildings, adding that “tackling climate change requires a proper strategy”. “That’s why I’ll rapidly establish a Green Recovery Fund, which will create 23,000 new jobs,” he says. “I want to see serious investment in home retrofitting, treeplanting, flood and drought defences, and renewable energy.” This ambitious list reflects the breadth and scale of change required, but jobs won’t simply appear without the right training, something ex-Bristol West MP and Liberal Democrat metro mayor hopeful Stephen Williams is focused on. “I will work with further education colleges and apprentice training firms to ensure we are training people in the green jobs of the future, and I plan to set up [a] West of England Centre for Green Technology Excellence.” Reflecting the shifting national discourse, the candidates’ ambitious promises are encouraging, if changes can be made swiftly (2030 is only nine years away).

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Widening the ‘green jobs’ definition Tools that track green employment in the local economy show where the highest demand for jobs is likely to be – in sectors such as construction and manufacturing. But while solar-installers on pitched roofs and tradespeople carrying rolls of insulation are the visual shorthand for green jobs, other parts of our economy are also about to start changing fast. “Some jobs we don’t think of as ‘green’ start to look very green when you think more carefully,” explains Simon Roberts, chief executive of the Bristol Centre for Sustainable Energy. He gives the example of people working in our electricity distribution system, which will have increased demand from electric cars. “We seem to be shy of calling these ‘green jobs’, yet this rewiring of the city will be a major source of new employment.” Green jobs are not just about fitting solar panels, or upskilling people to become biomass boiler engineers, adds Labour’s Dan Norris, who says that, as metro mayor, he would comprehensively review our local transport infrastructure. In the WECA region – one of four nationally to be identified as a future transport zone, which translates to £24 million in government money for decarbonising transport – some of the clearest early signs of change are in this sector. There are two possible scenarios, according to Bristol-based active travel specialist David Lucas. “The first is that autonomous electric vehicles flood the streets, we retain the congested status quo, and jobs are in both transport and retail as more shopping moves online,” he says. “The second is restricting what vehicles, when, can access the city. Autonomous vehicles that stop at the outskirts, cargo bike delivery, last-mile delivery on foot, or a community ferry service can generate lots of new jobs in Bristol.”

Initiatives that push back against decades of car-culture are controversial. Plans for low-traffic neighbourhoods have proven sufficiently contentious that the Bristol Advisory Committee on Climate Change has issued rapid guidance on how to better engage around these crucial initiatives. It’s tempting to dismiss objections as being in bad faith, but genuine questions around fairness, access and inclusion must not be ignored. Other sectors also offer exciting potential for green innovations, argues Conservative WECA candidate Williams. “Our creative industries can inspire and challenge us to be greener,” he says. Here in Bristol, it’s perhaps no surprise to find a flourishing space where culture and climate change interact. Pauline Bourdon, a sustainability coordinator for Bristol event promoters Team Love – known for the Love Saves The Day and Simple Things festivals – has just launched a new company called Soliphilia, focused on greener touring and sustainability for the music industry. “The idea is to work directly with artists, agents and ADVERTISEMENT

managers to make sustainability an integral part of their careers and day-to-day practices, pioneering new industry standards," she says. Being the change Green jobs, then, are finally a hot topic. But with mere decades to extinguish carbon emissions quickly and fairly, the idea of them being in a separate category, while the rest of us carry on as normal, misrepresents the situation we’re in. On some level, all jobs from here on in must rapidly become greener. Ultimately, the only way out of Covid-inflicted economic damage is a green recovery – on this, there is little dispute between the WECA candidates. But with the stakes so high, what really matters is making good on green recovery promises – so candidates’ commitments are worth paying close attention to. Broadening our definition of a ‘green job’ is crucial for accelerating the transition. When most people ‘see themselves’ in the stories of change, the green revolution becomes something everyone has a stake in. ■

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In our previous edition, we launched a listening exercise to hear from readers what we should be covering about Bristol and the climate crisis. As one of more than 100 readers who shared their views, Adam Corner, who has worked in this area, came forward wanting to write about green jobs.

forms to support the growth of green jobs. “I would campaign for the increased taxation of wealth, which is an essential part of us becoming a fairer country, and lobby for a reduction in VAT on energy-efficiency products and home renovations,” he says.

CLIMATE

Stephen Williams’ focus on the educational pathways required to skill-up the workforce is welcome, as, although financial investment from national government is critical, regionally-tailored apprenticeships and vocational training will be at the heart of the transition. Labour’s Green Recovery Fund is based on bringing forward planned investment, bolstering existing investment pledges made by the Conservatives, and a renewed call for a National Investment Bank with a green mandate. But even this belatedly rapid pace of change is, arguably, the bare minimum – this is a transition that should have started two decades ago. A Friends of the Earth report, setting out 10 key challenges for the incoming metro mayor, argues that not enough attention is being paid to the inequality that has driven vulnerability to Covid-19, and will shape the contours of the climate crisis. People on lower incomes, and especially communities of colour, suffer most from a lack of nature and green space in towns and cities, are hardest hit by air pollution, and are least likely to own cars, it noted. Ensuring the green revolution is a ‘just transition’ is critical. A recent citizens’ jury, led by the IPPR thinktank, found strong support for green jobs, but also a recognition by jurors that “no-one can be left out” and that the response “needs to increase equality in society”. This is a perspective supported by the Green Party metro mayor candidate, Jerome Thomas, who told the Cable he will lobby national government for tax re-

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FEATURE

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Mushtaq Ahmed’s derelict building on Church Road, Redfield

The property boss behind empty buildings ‛blighting’ Bristol’s high streets

Despite the city’s housing crisis, empty buildings dot popular neighbourhoods. While the council has pledged action, its toolkit against owners remains limited Words Alon Aviram

hile Bristol’s high-street businesses reel from the shock of the pandemic and the housing crisis rumbles on, one local property boss seems happy to let derelict buildings he owns in several prominent city locations simply rot. Mushtaq Ahmed has a multimillion pound property portfolio in Bristol. He has seemingly done little in the way of managing some of his properties and vacant plots, which include addresses on Church Road in St George and Easton’s Stapleton Road. Then there is the crumbling Kernow Audio and Sound building on Mina Road in St Werburgh’s, beside Sonni’s corner shop, which has been derelict for upwards of 20 years. Local residents claim Ahmed is

holding out for a £2 million sale of the building, accusing him of brazen property speculation and failing to maintain his properties, to the detriment of their community. But Ahmed dismisses this as rumour, saying: “People talk a lot of rubbish, don’t they”. Land registry records show that Gracewell Limited, of which Ahmed is the sole listed director, owns 19 properties in Bristol. Ahmed acknowledges he has “more than that”. St Werburgh’s residents, who have been lobbying for council action on the Kernow Audio building, were surprised to learn from the Cable that Ahmed has vacant plots and long-term empty buildings on several of Bristol’s high streets. He is no stranger to unwelcome attention from the press. In 2016, Bristol 24/7 reported that

former tenants had warned prospective renters on Gumtree not to rent from Ahmed, complaining of mice infestations, holes in floors and rusted electrical sockets. Ahmed, who also happened to be a major recipient of housing benefits – receiving £79,575 from Bristol City Council in 2015 – denied the report’s claims. The pledge to tackle empty properties When Marvin Rees swept to victory as Bristol’s elected mayor in 2016, he rode on the ticket of tackling the housing crisis. Labour’s council election manifesto pledged to bring “empty homes and buildings in Bristol into use” to help address the city’s desperate shortage of homes. The manifesto spelled out the future administra-

tion’s intention to “make full use of existing legal powers to bring empty homes back into use”. To help deliver on this pledge, unfurnished empty properties were, as of April 2017, no longer excused from council tax charges. Landlords of homes standing empty for longer than two years were, from April 2020, required to pay double the full council tax charge, increasing to triple after five years. But despite these and other measures, the legal powers, funds, and tools at the council’s disposal are limited. There continue to be neighbourhoods with clusters of empty homes in the city, though this is clearly not unique to Bristol. According to government data, 268,385 homes in England are classed as long-term empty, meaning they have been unoccupied for longer than six months. In St Werburgh’s, neighbours have been badgering Bristol City Council and local MP Thangam Debonnaire to take action over Ahmed’s long-term empty Mina Road property for years, with little success. In late March, the council served Ahmed with a community protection notice – the legal notice which can pave the way for enforcement and prosecution action if Ahmed fails to carry out improvements. If he fails to deliver on the notice, Ahmed could face a compulsory purchase order (CPO) – a tool enabling the council to buy or take

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Fiona Hodge and Anne Devereaux outside Mushtaq Ahmed’s derelict property on Mina Rd

house, and there’s asbestos guttering hanging over the edge,” Devereaux says. “A lot of people want to move. They have had enough. Some neighbours have gone, saying they’re fed up of it.” Ahmed pushes back on these claims, telling the Cable: “The council haven’t given me the planning I’ve needed, so at the moment I’ve left them as they are. There’s no sign of any rats, or there weren’t last time we looked.” The council’s planning portal however shows no sign of planning applications being submitted by the landlord. He later clarifies that his intention to redevelop the building only ever reached the ‘pre-app’ stage. Responding to the news that the council was preparing enforcement action, Fiona Hodge, who lives round the corner on Tyne Street, tells the Cable she is glad but not overly optimistic. “You assume after five years someone will do something about it. After 20 years you realise it might stay like this forever,” she says. “It’s the most incredible blight for us.”

‘A lot of people want to move. They have had enough’

Beyond St Werburgh’s, Ahmed owns a large swathe of the parade of shops between the train bridge and the Black Swan pub on Stapleton Road, plus many other properties across the city, some of which are tenanted by residents and businesses. “We’ve helped a lot of people. We were one of the first investors in Stapleton Road, 30 to 40 years ago,” the landlord insists, dismissing complaints. “We’ve been buying them up, doing them up and making use of

“I’ve been complaining to the council for at least eight years,” says Anne Devereaux, who has lived next door to the Kernow Building for 31 years. Standing outside her council house, she says that Ahmed’s building has been a constant source of problems. “Debris has fallen down on the street and into my garden, windows were left open for years, the smell of rubbish seeps into my

‘An absolute dive’

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over the rights of a property – later down the line. But for that to succeed, local Labour councillor Mike Davies tells the Cable via email, “The Council needs to have exhausted all other avenues (and even then it’s not guaranteed to be successful – it really is a last resort).” As Davies implies, enforced sales of properties are rare and cashstrapped councils are reluctant to flex their muscles and go down the CPO route. And not without reason – it risks taxpayers shouldering hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs to force a sale. This was the case in 2019 when the owner of a Clifton town house was made to sell his property, which had been left empty for 16 years. As an example of what the relatively toothless community protection notice can achieve, in neighbouring South Gloucestershire a Downend man was ordered to pay £2,000 and a £20 victim surcharge for failing to comply with a CPN in 2018. He had been required to complete works on his unfinished Winterbourne building, which stood empty from before 2012, while building works started in 1996.

them and renting them out.” But again, one of his large lots in Easton tells a different story. Sandwiched between a Caribbean restaurant and Ahmed’s fabric shop, Iqbal’s, the mostly demolished site has been vacant for years. It’s a similar tale on another of BS5’s main shopping streets, Church Road. The old Hire Station, owned by Ahmed, is a large commercial building opposite St George Park and appears to have been empty for at least 12 years. A neighbour says: “It’s an absolute dive, it’s been like that for years, but I guess if it were flats there would be more of a parking problem than there already is!” Planning records show that in 2012, Ahmed was refused

his first and only application to convert the Hire Station building into flats. “The council won’t give me the planning,” Ahmed complains. “If they give me the planning then I’m willing to spend money and do them up.” Ahmed pins the blame on “something bigger”, making the unsubstantiated allegation that the council planning department has a racism problem. “An Asian guy applies for a planning application, a white guy applies for application, he gets planning… we apply, we get turned down for various reasons, for essentially the same application,” he says. “It’s happened to me a number of times.” Back on Mina Road, Anne Devereaux points at the graffitied shutters and crumbling property of the Kernow Audio building, saying: “People here would like a chemist and maybe more housing… not this.” Property boss Ahmed insists he will make the necessary improvements now that he’s been served with a community protection notice. But after years and even decades of inaction, locals won’t be holding their breath for change. ■

FEATURE

“You assume after five years someone will do something about it. After 20 years you realise it might stay like this forever”

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OPINION

‛We need a Bristol beacon in every community’ As Bristol pours money into the Bristol Beacon refurb, it’s time to ask for more for our independent music and arts venues Words Emma Harvey CEO, Trinity Community Arts Illustration Joe Watson-Price

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because ‘it’s going to be world class’. As costs rose to £48.8m in 2019, the council underwrote £12m, to enable the project to start as planned. The announcement of costs doubling to £107m in 2021 was met with a promise of further public subsidy because ‘there’s no other option’. As 2020 data shows, Bristol City Council’s property portfolio consists of more than 1,500 properties: approximately 250 community spaces like libraries, parks and leisure centres, and 117 concessionary lettings, including youth clubs, community farms and local centres. In spite of such assets being critical to the One City Plan, investment in their upkeep stays firmly off the agenda. Over two phases, £127m for Beacon’s 290,000 annual audience is £437 per head. Were comparable capital investment made in all publicly owned assets, Trinity alone with 60,000 footfall would be owed £24m – a sum that could fix up concessionary lettings citywide. Primrose Granville, Chair of Malcolm X Community Centre,

“Not dilapidated liabilities clinging to life, but successful hubs that can facilitate good health, wellbeing and positive relations between communities as they grow and diversify” says that Bristol’s venues are “simply asking for equity in funding distribution from the council, for being caretakers of their spaces. “What about the other councilowned community spaces across the city that exist in need of care and repair? Do they not deserve some funding to serve their respective users? These are spaces that cater largely to the city's marginalised communities and would be grateful for a fraction of that colossal figure.” We’re told investment is coming, with promises of devolved funds for capital investment regionally, yet WECA funds remain a mystery. Schemes such as the Community Ownership Fund look good on paper, but with the need to raise comparable match-funding, leveraging such funds is rare. When our library or youth club closes, or our community centre remains dilapidated until it is eventually sold, we lack clout individually to fight back. Some take action to save a space, with mixed success. Some have tried so many

times they’ve lost the strength to argue. The issue is complex and we all have problems to deal with – even Bristol City Council has been selling off publicly owned assets to plug rising gaps in revenue funding. With local elections coming up, it’s time for Bristol’s communities to say we want our fair share of ‘Build Back Better’. We can rebrand a concert hall or topple a statue but, if we are to exorcise the spirit of Colston, we must demand a commitment from all electoral candidates to parity of investment. Funding so our community assets can leverage available national match-funding for asset purchase, repair and renovation, COVID-secure measures, accessibility improvements, digital technologies and green initiatives. We need to give these assets a fighting chance of still being here in decades to come. Not as dilapidated liabilities clinging to life, but successful hubs facilitating good health, wellbeing and positive relations between communities as they grow and diversify. So they can create vital paid jobs, and contribute to our economic prosperity and collective recovery. We need £100m for the hundreds of beacons across our neighbourhoods. ■

Want to help? Write to your local Councillor or MP about the importance of capital grant support for a local building that’s close to your heart, using the template on Trinity’s website. Visit trinitybristol.org. uk/100beacons for more info. #100beacons

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park to walk in, a library to read in, a community centre. Our ‘them and us’ divides are less easy to uphold when you’re rubbing shoulders. Shared spaces have proved their worth during the pandemic, adapting for localised responses. They may not be much, but they’re ours. Those of us from poorer backgrounds are accustomed to settling for second best, grateful for small generosities. When we bring up the subject of investment in our locality, at best we can expect to be humoured. At worst, we are stonewalled or told to fend for ourselves. After all, the country’s broke don’t ya know? We believe there’s no money to make things better because, well, we have no money ourselves. An asset like Bristol Beacon deserves public investment though, right? A £20m boost in 2007-9, supported with £13m from the local authority, made sense because ‘we own it’. A £45m transformation plan in 2014 was supported by £10m from Bristol City Council,

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