The Bristol Cable - Edition 20

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Issue No20 - Jul-Sep 2019 Made free by members

Revealed: Thousands of kids put in isolation, fuelling school debate Page 16

INVESTIGATION

CAMPAIGN

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

INTERVIEW

FEATURE

Bedminster boss kept men in slave-like conditions.

But people spoke out.

The latest on the fight for fair air

The alternative south west rich list: four compulsive hoarders

Charmaine Lawrence: local rapper, activist and entrepreneur

Own a house with your mates: are housing co-ops the way forward?

Page 25

Page 12

Page 34

Page 29

Page 32

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the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

The Bristol Cable represents the future of journalism. Local journalism is generally appalling in this country and I think the Bristol Cable is a great example of how it could be radically reformed.

Muneera Rashida, Poetic Pilgrimage Hip Hop artist and educator

George Monbiot, journalist and political activist

The Bristol Cable has the platform and the community support to challenge the status quo in the media, offering alternative perspectives which are not rooted in stereotypes.

THEBRISTOLCABLE.ORG/JOIN Support the Cable from ÂŁ1 a month

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DEAR READER,

Opinion: Council interim staff > p.37

CREDITS Massive thanks to the 2,000+ members who make all of this possible!

- and all contributors, sources and contacts

Underlying the scandal of fake news is a much quieter but equally serious issue. As many as 35% of British people now classify themselves as ‘news avoiders’ – people who actively avoid engaging in news and journalism. After all, what is the point of knowing all this information when one cannot seem to do anything about it?

However, when large amounts of us withdraw in this way, we give more space and opportunity for those willing to exploit it.

In our tiny team, with just a few part time journalists, we’re aiming for an alternative.

This does not mean shying away from major issues, such as uncovering the mass use of isolation in schools (Pg XX), or the men held in slave-like conditions by a local businessman (Pg XX). It does mean understanding what’s happening in our schools to create a better system for the next generation, and highlighting exploitation in our city to prevent it happening again.

It also means highlighting the innovative ways to address mammoth issues, like how housing co-ops can be a route to secure housing which doesn’t just line the pockets of landlords (Pg xx). It’s about understanding the world we live in and ultimately helping to change it for the better, like our Fight for Fair Air campaign which is amplifying voices and ideas, and keeping this issue on the political agenda.

We have a lot to do to meet these aims. None of this would be possible without Cable members.

Together we are creating a new type of journalism, one that isn’t driven by quick hits, big clicks and corporate profits, but for and by communities.

Editorial Production: Arvind Howarth, Alex Turner, Lorna Stephenson, Matty Edwards, Emily Williams Print design: Laurence Ware - laurence-ware.com Print advertising sales: Kerry Mead - advertising@thebristolcable.org Membership team: Lucas Batt, Cait Crosse Tech team: Mat Alborough, Will Franklin Marcus Valentine - xtreamlab.net Social media: Matty Edwards, Hannah Vickers Projects, partnerships and fundraising: Alon Aviram, Adam Cantwell-Corn Distribution coordination: Lucas Batt

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Distribution team: Dave Marsden, Scatha Jones, Neill Talbot Jenny Stringer, David Roberts Distribution couriers: Dave Marsden, Redistribution Cycle Courier Co-op Community media coordination: Mark Sennett Front page Illustration: Patch Plummer - patchplummer.co.uk

Contents 4 What the Cable’s been up to recently Behind the scenes on the Lopresti investigation, and connecting thousands of members across Bristol 5-8 News in brief Polluting pizza ovens, trans people buying hormones online, and digging into the story behind the Speedwell fire 9 Voices Some locals benefited from gentrification, but nostalgia in St Paul’s remains 10-11 Investigation NHS under fire after steep rise in charging migrants for healthcare

Special thanks to…

12-15 Campaign The latest in the Fight For Fair Air, as a Cable member tracks air pollution in their local area. And we investigate how farming in the south west affects the air we breathe 16-19 Cover story New data sheds light on controversial debate on isolation in schools 20-21 Photoessay A snapshot of growing up in Hanham from the local youth club 22 History How a death in a Victorian-era Bedminster workhouse resonates today 23 Voices The diary of a learning difficulties nurse

25-27 Investigation How Lopresti ice cream boss kept men in slave-like conditions and tenants in squalor 29 Interview Charmaine Lawrence: rapper, entrepreneur, activist 31 Data Inside Bristol’s housing crisis 32-33 Feature Own a house with your mates: are housing coops the way forward?

Editorial consultant: Mike Jempson Directors: Kate Whittle, Abdi Mohamed, Robert Triggs, Noelle Rumball, Roseanna Dias, Drew Rose, Kate Oliver, Yuliya Kosharevska, Nathan Fitzpatrick, Phil Chamberlain Alain Demontoux Thanks to the Reva and David Logan Foundation, Luminate and the Centre for Investigative Journalism for their continued support.

34-35 Strength in Numbers The alternative South West Rich List 36-39 Opinion Letting fees ban, interim managers cashing in, time up for single-use plastic and electric cars creating new problems

The Cable is printed on 100% recycled paper fibre produced in King’s Lynn.

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The Cable team

Editorial team: Adam Cantwell-Corn, Hannah Vickers Alon Aviram, Lorna Stephenson Matty Edwards

CO-OP UPDATES

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WHAT THE CABLE’S BEEN UP TO RECENTLY

Lopresti event: the inside story

Connecting thousands of members across Bristol

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When we launched in 2014 the number of Cable members was in the double digits. As you can imagine, meetings were slightly easier to organise back then, from gatecrashing a colleague’s living room to hiring small spaces in community centres.

In June we held a meeting with members at Windmill Hill City Farm to share the inside story of our Lopresti ice cream slavery investigation. This story led to Modern Day Slavery charges and a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order, indefinitely banning local businessman Salvatore Lopresti from activities as a boss.

Cable journalists Adam and Alon discussed how the story developed, and the risks and ethical dilemmas they had to navigate while working on the long-term investigation.

Members were able to ask questions and provide feedback and ideas for the next steps that could be taken, such as the victims claiming compensation, and further investigation into local worker exploitation.

No oth e r organi s ati o n co u ld have inve s ti gate d this for f i ve ye a rs Barry Cash, Bristol Cable member As a media cooperative our journalism is open and informed by members. At events like these, Cable journalists and members have the chance to scrutinise our reporting, share ideas and shape our stories. We want our work to be as transparent as possible and accountable to both our members and the wider city. We believe this is essential to doing ethical journalism in the public interest.

Now with over 2,000 members spread far and wide, we’re grappling with how to make sure members can continue to actively participate (if they want!) in the Cable cooperative.

Will Franklin, Tech Coordinator

So, we’re excited to announce that the Cable is in the early stages of building a digital member platform. What’s that you say? Members will be able to log-in to the Cable website and share stories and tip-offs with journalists, chat with other members about key issues in the city, vote in the cooperative without having to leave the comfort of their bedroom; and access behind-the-scenes content – to name a few.

We’ve been speaking with a number of organisations when designing this, from Bristol Bike Project to the New Internationalist magazine and Correctiv, a German investigative publisher. This platform will also be open source, meaning that others will be able to freely use and modify it.

After all, we want more member-led media organisations!

If you want to join the beta-test group for this, or have any expertise you can offer, our Tech Coordinator Will would love to hear from you! Email: will@thebristolcable.org

Members steer the Cable forward Hundreds of Bristol Cable members took part in our big listening project, which will help steer the direction of the cooperative moving forward. The research aims to find out how we’re doing and where we could improve. We want to better understand what’s important to Bristolians, so that we can focus our limited resources on the things that matter to people and deliver journalism in the public interest. Watch this space for when we’ll be sharing some of the outcomes.

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Alon Aviram

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hasn’t emerged.

Now the investigation itself is being scrutinised by tenants. Namely, why it took police a full two months before taking statements from people who were in the building when the fire started. Meanwhile, a forensic investigation of the building, known locally as The Office, was ruled out because of structural safety concerns and asbestos contamination, and the site returned to the landlord.

“It seems the bigger and more dangerous the fire, the less scrutiny it

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cidentally was appointed director of similarly named Douglas Homes (Bristol) Ltd on the day of the S&H fire. Government agency the Health and Safety Executive will monitor the complex clear-up of the site.

They’re no strangers to Alan Dykes and Wayne Braund. Dykes has been a thorn in the side of the HSE for years and was jailed for eight months in 2015 for shocking health and safety offences at the Speedwell building.

As for the displaced tenants, Braund is nowhere to be seen. And Dykes is keen to distance himself from this latest saga, telling the Cable: “I don’t own it, it’s gone, and that’s the end of the story.

“I’m hearing all sorts of rumours to do with that site. The thing is if I say nothing, that’s the best way innit… [Strachan and Henshaw] is too political.”

Wayne Braund did not respond, and Alan Dykes refused to respond to the Cable’s requests for comment.

Have you got information? We treat all tip-offs confidentially.

Contact Cable journalist Alon at: alon@thebristolcable.org / 07533718547

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Since the Strachan and Henshaw building in Speedwell went up in fire on 3 May, rumours have festered over what triggered the fire, and if it was deliberate.

40-odd business tenants have been left in limbo since that fateful evening, with a mysterious Dubairegistered landlord keeping quiet.

From the outset, the fire at the building – famed for its swingers club and bikers – was treated as potential arson. Police say the investigation is ongoing, but proof of criminal negligence or arson

receives,” one tenant told the Cable.

The building was owned by rogue landlord Alan Dykes, until he sold the freehold for a generous £1 to Douglas Homes Housing Incorporated in 2018. The sale raised eyebrows, given the fact the buyer is registered in Dubai.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said the landlord, Douglas Homes Housing Incorporated, must foot the bill for the clear up. But identifying the legal owner behind the company has proven tricky. The secretive jurisdiction grants no public access to company information.

So, who owns the Dubai company? Speaking on the condition of anonymity, police, council staff and tenants point to Wayne Braund – Dykes’ long term business partner and construction entrepreneur. However, on paper Braund is simply the majority shareholder of the building management company acting on behalf of the landlord, Braund Lettings Ltd. Braund directed a string of UK companies until he was disqualified as a company director in 2018.

After that, associates of his became directors, as did his son, who coin-

NEWS IN BRIEF

Too hot to handle: help us investigate the Speedwell fire

NEWS IN BRIEF

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Photo credit: Chelsea Flood

St Werburgh’s City Farm’s growing community

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Chelsea Flood Every Tuesday and Thursday, for five years, Helen McDonald has been getting a taxi to volunteer at St Werburgh’s City Farm.

But for Helen and the others at the farm, activities like sowing seeds, harvesting the fruit and vegetables or looking after

Photo credit: Yate Fire Station

the animals are about more than practical tasks.

The farm’s aim is to provide training placements and therapeutic activities in horticulture for more than 30 adults with learning difficulties, as well as mental health concerns.

Having recently installed a new accessible greenhouses, wheelchair users can get fully stuck into activities designed to build skills, social networks and confidence.

Businesses reopen after Speedwell fire disaster Close to 40 businesses and dozens of livelihoods were devastated by the Strachan and Henshaw building inferno in Speedwell earlier this year, and now face an uphill struggle to get compensation.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

Some tenants are back up and trading, thanks to the generosity of the local community.

As we investigate the murky circumstances of the fire [see page 5],

the Cable wants you to know that these companies are back open for business: M&P Motor Services SN Auto Services Twelve Twenty Joinery Paint Tec General Cars Services Autofix Scootertech Bristol The Bristol Sofa Doctor BRC Recycling Centre

07971540389 07968397274 07788723513 07766250424 07515160677 01179510899 01179652437 07824774618 07543653453

Those delicious wood-fired pizzas are as polluting as tens of thousands of diesel cars Dan Hobson Research by the Cable has identified 20 restaurants in the city centre using wood-fired pizza ovens that are open for up to 1,300 hours every week combined, although there are likely many more restaurants burning fuel in other areas of the city and other types of establishment.

Particulate pollution from this small sample means each hour that all these pizza restaurants are open, is the equivalent of at least 360 extra diesel cars on Bristol roads. The estimates are based

on figures from the Air Quality Expert Group, a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a ban on wood-fired cooking and Montreal, Canada is also considering a ban to get air pollution under control. Marvin Rees alluded on Clean Air Day in June to lobbying government for powers to take action on wood burning stoves, but did not specify between domestic and commercial usages.

Wood smoke has come under scrutiny as it produces high volumes of PM2.5, which has been linked with heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and dementia. Due to the microscopic size of PM2.5, its harmful particles can penetrate deep into our bodies once breathed in, affecting all of our organs.

Research from the Air Quality Expert Group has shown that the best, cleanest and most modern single stove, burning the best wood in laboratory conditions,

produces the same amount of PM2.5 every hour as 18 new diesel cars or six new diesel lorries.

Stuart Phelps, of Residents Against Dirty Energy (RADE) Bristol, said: “This is an unnecessary public health crisis where the victims have no say or redress unless people stop buying woodburned food.”

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Joe Skirkowski

More rubbish to be burned in Avonmouth incinerators

Lorna Stephenson

Avonmouth, the waste processing capital of the south west, will soon receive 90,000 tonnes per annum more waste for incineration that had previously been sent to Scandinavia for processing. The West of England Partnership announced the 10-year contract worth £21 million in June.

A Suez incinerator currently operates in Avonmouth with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes per annum, while another incinerator by company Viridor is under construction and due to come online in the autumn with a capacity of 320,000 tonnes per annum.

The increase in tonnage burned on Avonmouth sites has been part of a long-term national move to prevent waste going to landfill,

Less than one in 10 of Bristol private rentals are covered by housing benefit

The humble Cumberland Basin heads for glossy transformation

Alex Turner

Arvind Howarth

Less than 10% of private rented housing in the Bristol area falls within rates covered by benefits.

The figures were revealed by the government following a parliamentary question by Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy.

That so little options are available underlines the desperate choices many people claiming local housing allowance (LHA) – the housing benefit for private tenants – must make between rent and other essential outgoings such as food and heating.

LHA rates have been frozen since 2016, meaning they have not kept up with soaring rents.

According to government data, no more than 10% of any size of Bristol homes fall within LHA rate and just 5% of two-beds are said to be covered.

In response, McCarthy has written to the housing minister calling for Bristol LHA rates to be urgently reassessed. The national freeze is due for review next year.

Bristol’s Cumberland Basin rebrand to the grand (and less sink-like) sounding ‘Western Harbour’ is trundling on. The transformation of the large area between Hotwells and the tip of Spike Island was first revealed in late 2017, as part of Mayor Marvin Rees’ vision for the future of Bristol.

As ever, money is an issue. But with the help of a glossy pamphlet titled ‘Bristol: Development and Investment Hotspots’ the Mayor’s team and others are seeking to elevate the Western Harbour “to one of the most desirable development locations in the UK” with an added opportunity to provide “essential flood defences resilient to climate change”.

Marvin and pamphlet have now done the rounds of Malaysia, and China and other places to drum up interest in a potentially very lucrative opportunity with the residential aspects of the Western Harbour estimated to have a value of £1bn.

Current plans aims for at least 2,500

which proponents say will provide energy-from-waste that can contribute to low-carbon regional energy networks.

However incineration is criticised over its green credentials: 2019 research from campaign group UKWIN concluded that a regulatory loophole means incinerators don’t have to report their particulate pollution. UKWIN estimated that the Suez plant emits

new homes, 500 additional student bedspaces, a mix of workspace, retail and leisure facilities, community facilities, open spaces and new walking and cycling infrastructure. The council has set a target of 40% of affordable homes, but under current rules have little ability to enforce this and will have to face down the might of multinational investors to get the best deal for the public.

Aside from getting the right investor, there are a few other obstacles including a substantial restructure of road infrastructure that is currently impeding development.

Getting the backing from the wider community may also prove tricky, and be another test for the Mayor’s leadership. While results from 2019 on the Local Plans, the overall vision for the city, are not yet available in a 2018 consultation just over half of responding residents objected to the proposed changes to the Cumberland Basin. Objections ranged from citing a loss of charac-

around 7.5 tonnes of PM10 and PM2.5 annually, along with 374.5 tonnes of NOx annually.

Locals to Avonmouth port, home to a large number of waste processing operators, have long complained of environmental issues such as odour, dust and fly infestations in warm weather which they say originates from waste industries which do not have proper environmental oversight.

ter, the need for detailed consideration of transport infrastructure requirements, and vagueness on who will fund the developments. Some didn’t like the renaming either.

In May this year, the Cumberland Basin Stakeholder Group (CBSG) formed. The residents’ groups and businesses with an interest in the area formed a joint response to the latest proposals listing further concerns including the erasure of some green space south of the river, the height of new buildings, and the impossibility of assessing any plans properly before road infrastructure plans are finalised. In echoes of the Arena saga, the CBSG along with councillors have expressed frustration at what they called an ‘unacceptable aspect of secrecy’ by the leadership council’s being denied access to the report compiled by engineering firm Arup on proposals for the area.

There’s no denying the ambition.

The question is how competing visions and interests will play out.

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A new strategy aimed at getting children aged eight and up to play is launching this August.

The Play Strategy for Bristol, comes after Bristol City Council cut 30% from the youth services budget, leaving no provision for under 11s. The new plan has been devised by a coalition of the council and 10 Bristol-based organizations under the name Playful Bristol, which includes all of the city’s five adventure playgrounds and various charities and organizations. Free inclusive play sessions and activities across 10 areas of Bristol that have been worst affected by the cuts will be set up, as well as support to schools and other organizations to help get the kids playing.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Time to play as Bristol launches plan

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NEWS IN BRIEF

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Trans people are turning to purchasing medication online Clara Bullock Trans women in Bristol have spoken out about waiting times for treatment which they say are years longer than the NHS claims, and which have left them relying on hormones bought from the internet without prescription or medical oversight.

Rachel* has been waiting over three years for an appointment with a Gender Identity Clinic (GIC), which specialises in diagnosing and treating gender dysphoria including the prescribing of cross-sex hormones.

She asked her GP for advice but could not get any help: “I have to get drugs from the internet, but I have no idea what I’m doing. Neither does my GP.” So-called ‘DIY HRT’ (hormone replacement therapy) is considered a last resort by some trans people unable to access the medication ADVERTISEMENT

through NHS services, but comes with risks.

Although GPs can prescribe hormones when patients are at risk of self harm or suicide, in reality many do not.

An NHS England spokesperson said: “All GPs aim to support each individual patient as best they can, and the GMC has developed guidance on bridging prescriptions to support them in this.”

Waiting for years Eleanor, a 54-year-old trans woman and scientist, has been waiting for an appointment with a GIC for 2.5 years, and says she also suffered extreme distress. “I was on the verge of suicide until I got help from a charity. The NHS didn’t feel responsible for that.”

“I had to use my savings to get help from private doctors. Otherwise I would probably not have survived,” she says. “I didn’t find out I was transgender until a few years back. It felt good to finally find out who I was. But when I didn’t get help from the NHS, I felt rejected all over again.

It got me depressed and made me suicidal.”

NHS GICs, of which there are seven in England, have waiting times between one year and two-anda-half years, but Eleanor says that waiting times are actually far longer than the NHS admits.

The NHS informs those on the waiting list of the number of patients they are currently seeing, and how long they waited before treatment commenced. By analysing the data the service provided her over a period of time, Eleanor worked out the rate at which patients were being seen.

“I found that the NHS was lying to me [about how long I would have to wait],” she says. “The numbers weren’t adding up.”

Eleanor calculated that at the rate

“I didn’t find out I was transgender until a few years back. It felt good to finally find out who I was. But when I didn’t get help from the NHS, I felt rejected all over again. It got me depressed and made me suicidal” they were going now, she wouldn’t be getting a first appointment for another five to eight years.

The NHS England spokesperson said: “NHS England is currently developing pilots to deliver more gender identity services locally, led by specially-trained GPs and wider teams, aimed at giving people experiencing gender dysphoria the specialist care they need quicker.” *Names have been changed to protect anonymity

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VOICES

‘I’m benefiting, but the life of St Pauls is gone’ Crime may be down, and some locals are cashing in, but there’s nostalgia for a different St Pauls WORDS HENRY PALMER

W

Changing communities Those of us most vehemently against gentrification can glorify areas’ pre-existing state, and seek to maintain its ‘edginess’. In doing so, we dismiss perspectives like that of shopkeeper Amina, who mentions reduced crime levels in St Pauls, especially since the 90s and early 2000s when serious drug-related violence was common. I challenge her, raising that reports of crime to Avon and Somerset Police have increased in the last decade. “Not in the last four years!” she assures me. She’s right. In 2018, St Paul’s recorded less crime than any year since 2015.

The ‘regeneration’ that areas like St Pauls disproportionately undergo perhaps explains why in a council city-wide survey last year, the group who was most likely to respond ‘Yes’ when asked whether gentrifi-

cation had a positive impact were those who classified themselves as Black or Minority Ethnicity (BME).

We assume gentrification entails BME communities being priced out. Many people are. But that fact can hide a more complex situation that speaks to the huge diversity and different interests within and between working-class BME communities, and the changing nature of areas as newcomers arrive.

At the last census in 2011, the BME population proportion in Ashley ward was 33.5% – up from 25% in 2001. Although the British Jamaican population fell from 16.3% to 8.3% in that time, the British African/Other Black (mostly Somali) group increased from 14.2% to 37.5%. In the same period, the white population of St Paul’s itself actually shrank from 54.5% to 36.8%, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

‘After 3am is when all the people come!’

We’ll have to wait until 2021 for the next census, to assess how St Pauls has shifted more recently. But for some, the past couple of decades have felt bittersweet.

Even Andre, now a property owner in an area where the average house price is £342,000, says his material gains have come at a cost.

“I’m benefiting, but the life of the area is gone,” he says.

Various long-time St Pauls residents I speak to, many of Jamaican descent, echo this view.

“Portland Square, with the Bam-

boo Club, is where we used to go and dance,” recalls Bill, in his eighties, who moved to St Pauls in the 60s and helped build the M32.

The closure of familiar spaces contributes to gentrified neighbourhoods becoming known as soulless shells – and while the Bamboo Club burned down in 1977, a string of other establishments have disappeared more recently. Bill, who decries the current lack of late-night St Pauls venues, nonetheless meets me in the Coral Café – which until a couple of years ago was the Prince of Wales pub, but now deals in coffee and baguettes.

Across Ashley Road, much-loved publicans Ann and Baby Lou run one of the last bastions of St Paul’s authenticity, The Criterion. Earlier this year the police tried to get its license revoked because of violent incidents around the venue. Ann and Baby Lou appealed, in part on grounds that they operate the last community pub in St Pauls. “The White Hart is flats; Prince of Wales, cafe; St Nicholas pub, flats. Blarney Castle is now a mosque.”

They won – though under conditions, including that last entry be set at 3am, which is “when all the people come in!” Baby Lou tells me. ’Money’s not all’

I mention that nearby Blue Mountain club has been sold for £950,000, and ask if he plans on selling too. “Never, ever, ever. This is the people’s building. Where are they gonna go? Money’s good. But it’s not all.”

The police tried to shut the Shady Grove down multiple times, which involved – so says Ajax – them smashing up the place looking for incriminating evidence. Why? “Harassment” and “racialism”, he says. The police cited ongoing noise complaints, violent incidents and illicit drinking – though in one of these instances, a judge found that there was no evidence illegal alcohol had been served.

Ajax’s Shady Grove did close in June 2016 after magistrates granted a closure order following complaints from neighbours. The ban was initially for three months, though the Shady Grove remains closed, with Ajax seeking compensation for the damage he says was done by the authorities.

As for the future of St Pauls, perhaps Ajax’s prophecy for his Shady Grove can provide hope: “I see so much is changing. That building [Shady Grove] is a people place.

And it gonna be rise again. For the young kids, the elder people, and whosoever may come.”

Ann and Baby Lou’s account reflects the area’s changing nature, but also a determination to stand their ground. This attitude is reflected in the words of Ajax, a fellow St Pauls legend. Ajax opened the infamous Shady Grove Cafe in 1970 to be a place of peace for “the people… black… white, pink, blue”.

Henry Palmer grew up in the heart of Bristol’s rapidly gentrifying areas.

His new book “Voices of Bristol: Gentrification & Us” (publisher Arkbound) sheds light on the supposed ‘renovation’ of Bristol’s poorer quarters. Available to order from Stokes Croft China, Bristol Clothing Pushers, Waterstones

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hen we read about gentrification, we don’t tend to think of locals who do well from their community’s ‘up-and-coming’ status. It’s a fact that many people, long time locals and working class communities, have been trampled in the march of gentrification. But that narrative doesn’t tell the whole story. Take 32-year-old Andre, born and bred in St Pauls, who bought his old council house in 2006 for £75,000.

Following the advice of an ‘elder’, Andre purchased a house for five times his £16,800 salary. Today, a house Bristol costs 11 times the average Bristolian annual salary.

The Jamaica Inn is being turned into townhouses

INVESTIGATION

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Revealed: NHS under fire for steep increase in charging migrants for healthcare

Evidence suggests vulnerable people who should get free healthcare are being forced to cough up, while others are being chased by bailiffs WORDS MATTY EDWARDS PHOTO NOBERTO FERNÁNDEZ SORIANO

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“I

don’t want to contact them because I feel very scared, the way they talk to me. I have a mental health problem...and because of this threatening language I was shaking for a couple of days.” Sam* is an asylum seeker who was handed a bill for £21,000 by the NHS. He is one of many people in Bristol who have been charged for NHS healthcare. A Bristol Cable investigation can reveal sharp increases in the charging of migrants for healthcare and that both NHS trusts in Bristol are using private debt collectors to chase unpaid fees from hundreds of patients.

We have also learned of cases where vulnerable people who are supposed to be exempt from paying are being handed large bills, as the trusts appear to be incorrectly enforcing their own rules.

Since 2015, NHS trusts have been required to identify and charge overseas patients who are ineligible for free healthcare, as part of the ‘hostile environment’ – the government’s controversial approach to immigration enforcement. Upfront charges for non-urgent treatment were introduced in 2017, along with ID checks on patients. These reforms are in response to the perceived problem of ‘health tourism’ – people visiting the UK to use the NHS – despite the estimated cost being negligible in the context of NHS funding.

The policy is attracting increasing criticism from medical professionals as the list of people adversely affected continues to grow. For example, a cancer patient from Jamaica died last year in London after being denied treatment because she couldn’t afford the £30,000 upfront cost.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has recently called for the NHS to scrap upfront charging

after finding evidence that seriously ill patients are being deterred from seeking treatment. The Department of Health and Social Care has been accused of a cover-up after refusing to release reports assessing the harms caused by the policy. We now also know the Home Office is still obtaining patient data from the NHS for immigration enforcement, even though the controversial practice was to be scrapped.

“They know I can’t pay” Sam has lived in Bristol for 10 years. Last year, he had a stomach operation and a biopsy on his lungs. The doctors didn’t ask him about his immigration status or mention money.

But about six months later, he received a bill for £21,000 from University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UHBT) and is now unsure if he’ll have to pay. Sam is an asylum seeker, so should be exempt, but at the time of the operation he had not yet claimed asylum because he had been advised not to by a solicitor.

Sam said that hospital staff told him that if he didn’t pay the bill, they would tell the Home Office, which could have a negative impact on his asylum claim. “They know that I can’t pay, but that is a threat.

It’s like I’m a criminal because I’m not paying.”

“I have my mental health issues; I’m a vulnerable patient who is looking to get protection in this country.”

The trust won’t consider him a vulnerable patient despite his asylum claim. He is also homeless and unemployed because of rules prevent-

ing asylum seekers from working.

“I want people to know that the NHS is charging migrants irrationally,” he said.

Sam’s case is not unique. The NHS has charged migrants in Bristol a total of £7.6 million in the last four years. In 2018, the figure was £2.9 million – a 30% increase on the previous year and five times the amount in 2015. The Cable has also learnt that in the last three years, hundreds of people in Bristol had their debts referred to private debt collectors, worth a total of £2.7 million.

Despite the NHS’s target to collect £500 million a year nationally, there is great disparity between what they charge and collect. Between 20152018, Bristol’s trusts collected nearly £2 million. As a result, this policy is only earning the hospital trusts between £150-200,000 a year, after the costs of staffing this regime are considered.

“The delay caused me so much pain” Mina* had just given birth when she received a bill for £7,000 for scans during her pregnancy at St Michael’s Hospital. Like Sam, she too is an asylum seeker, but when Bristol Refugee Rights (BRR), who strongly oppose the charging of migrants, called the trust on her behalf, they said she had to pay.

Susannah O’Sullivan, the BRR volunteer helping Mina, said it took 30 minutes on the phone for staff to admit asylum seekers were exempt.

A month later, Mina is still waiting to hear if she will have to pay or not. O’Sullivan said, “The bureaucracy they have to go through on the phone is insane. These are vulner-

“They know that I can’t pay, but that is a threat.

It’s like I’m a criminal because I’m not paying”

Sam doesn’t know if he’ll have to pay the bill for £21,000

11

Regardless of immigration status, everyone has the right to register with a GP and receive free primary care, free treatment in A&E and get diagnosed and treated for infectious or sexually transmitted diseases.

Those entitled to free hospital healthcare are: refugees and asylum seekers; victims of human trafficking, slavery, female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic or sexual violence; people being treated under the Mental Health Act, in detention, children under local authority care and adults under the Care Act. For free advice on accessing healthcare, call Doctors of the World on 02075157534

my anxiety and past traumas that I had been beginning to recover from…it took me right back.”

Amina is now eligible for free healthcare because her asylum claim is being reconsidered by the Home Office, and she finally had the operation in September, but the ordeal was “traumatic” nonetheless.

“The delay caused me so much pain.

The GP had to visit me at home. I couldn’t get to the bathroom and needed carers to help me. Physically and mentally I felt like I was forgotten in the world. I felt like ending North Bristol NHS Trust University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust Total

Charges to migrants in Bristol for NHS care: 2015 – 2018 £3m

£2,948,760

£2m

£2,294,515

£1,722,701 £1,893,952

£613,106 £1m

£1,548,410 £1,221,535 £1,054,808

£606,968

£746,105 £501,166

£6,138 2015

2016

Bills referred to debt collectors, 2016 – 2018:

2017

2018

Debts

Amount

North Bristol NHS Trust

533

£1.98million

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust

115

£286,000

Source: FOI requests from UHBT and NBT

Growing opposition to the charging regime Local campaigners Patients Not Passports (PnP) are calling on the trusts to suspend ID checks and upfront charging, and pressure the government into stopping all NHS charging. They say these practices undermine the founding principles of the NHS and unfairly force staff to take part in the ‘hostile environment’ without enough training.

Livi Sinclair from PnP said the cases reported above illustrated “a lack of clarity regarding who is eligible for charging exemptions, leading to the most vulnerable patients being charged for healthcare”. She added this confusion was leading to disputes between staff about treatment plans, delays to treatment and psychological harm to patients.

Adam Hundt, leading human rights lawyer of firm Deighton Pierce Glynn, said that nationally he had seen a “definite increase in charging incidents”, as trusts now often assume people are chargeable until it’s proven otherwise.

He’s seen more cases of the Home Office telling hospitals that people are to be charged, and people being deterred from seeking healthcare, or receiving treatment too late. “People are dying because of these policies.”

“Personally, I think it’s abhorrent. I don’t think people should be charged at all. For humanitarian reasons, I think everyone should get free healthcare; but for public health reasons, any barriers to healthcare are a bad thing for everybody. And for financial reasons, I don’t think you’re going to make back the cost of this initiative.”

Lucy Jones, director of programmes at Doctors of the World, said; “We have seen NHS trusts using debt collectors to pursue destitute people seeking safety in the UK, which is both unethical and pointless. Being hounded by bailiffs puts extreme pressure on people already living in poverty and struggling with homelessness and poor health. It’s inhumane and doesn’t save money for the NHS.” She added that increasing pressure on trusts to pursue patients for money and the complex rules

“Personally, I think it’s abhorrent. People are dying because of these policies” meant that “mistakes are being made – with terrible consequences for patients”.

The Cable asked North Bristol NHS Trust about debt collection practices and if they could justify the distress caused with relatively small financial gain. The trust did not answer these questions but instead provided this statement: “All NHS hospitals in England are required by the government to identify and charge overseas patients for treatment. We will always give urgent treatment regardless of anyone’s willingness or ability to pay and our processes to recover costs are in line with national standards.”

A UHBT spokesperson also referred to their legal obligation to charge overseas patients, adding; “We fully embrace our ethical responsibilities to our patients and would like to emphasise that immediately necessary and urgent treatment will always be given regardless of willingness or ability to pay.

No individual should be discouraged from seeking treatment on this basis.”

And yet the BMA report shows this is discouraging people from seeking treatment. While it’s difficult for trusts to question government policy, the number of medical professionals speaking out is on the rise. It remains to be seen if this is enough to bring the change that people like Sam need. *Names changed to protect anonymity

Have you been personally affected by this issue, or know someone who has?

Get in contact: matty@thebristolcable.org 07710195565 We will handle any information provided in total confidence.

the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

able people who should get free medical care.”

Even when debts are cancelled or people are finally given free healthcare, there are lasting impacts. Last year the Cable reported the case of Amina*, a disabled asylum seeker who was denied a knee operation she’d been waiting on for years, because she couldn’t afford the upfront cost of £6,000.

The last minute cancellation of the operation left her feeling ashamed. “Instead of ending my pain, it brought another pain, and

my life.”

And now? “Every time I go for a check-up I feel fearful. You have to face this fear and shame.”

INVESTIGATION

Charging rules

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FIGHT FOR FAIR AIR

12

Campaign Update It’s several months now since the Cable launched our Fight for Fair Air campaign, following a vote by members on what they wanted us to campaign on.

Air quality had been moving rapidly up the agenda nationally and locally, making an issue previously somewhat in the background now our number one public health emergency.

In Bristol, around 300 deaths per year are attributable to air pollution, according to council research, and that’s not to mention those who struggle with asthma or other respiratory problems day-to-day.

Exposure to pollution has also been linked to illnesses from dementia to diabetes, to stunted lung growth and miscarraige.

The momentum continues elsewhere, with the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London and the roll out of Clean Air Zones in other core cities – albeit with rocky starts to some.

Our readers joined campaigners and Green councillors in calling for significant political action on the issue in Bristol. At the time, Bristol’s Labour administration had already missed two government deadlines to provide a Clean Air Plan (CAP).

The council was ordered to reduce the level of harmful NO2 pollution down to legal levels as soon as possible in the worst affected areas – mainly the city centre and arterial routes in and out of the city.

Enter the Clean Air Plan consultation. Launched on July 1, the council put out two options for what a CAP to reduce traffic pollution could look like. One option involves banning diesel vehicles from a small central area (near the BRI) from the hours of 7am to 3pm.

The other outlines plans for a larger ‘medium’ zone in which noncompliant vehicles, except private cars, would pay a congestion charge to drive in. Various other ‘noncharging’ measures are also being considered.

But does either plan go far enough? Some campaigners and

local politicians are challenging whether the plans put forward do, in fact, achieve the legal directive of reducing NO2 ‘as soon as possible’.

Also puzzling is that the council has launched the consultation before the modelling and analysis of the two options – for example, their legality, expected public health benefits and timescales for achieving compliance – is available. More detail is expected by the middle of July.

The mayor has frequently said that any action on traffic must not negatively impact the city’s lower earners, for example, by charging private cars a congestion charge. But the links between deprivation and pollution are complicated.

In fact, people living in lower income areas are much less likely to drive a car themselves, and have a much smaller pollution footprint than more affluent citizens. Yet inner city neighbourhoods are the most polluted – in more deprived areas residents are in effect breathing in other people’s fumes.

In July, air quality researchers at UWE released their latest report into inequality and traffic-related air pollution. They conclude that “there are significant environmental justice issues with regard to generation of traffic pollution.” Despite ten years of air quality policy, they found that social inequalities in pollution exposure are ‘clearer and stronger’ than ever before.

The Cable has been following the political developments and will continue to scrutinise the Clean Air Plan proposals – with a final plan expected in September.

We’ve also been highlighting citizen action around the city, getting members involved (see the opposite page!) and are shining a light on lesser-known causes of air pollution (check out the following pages).

Make sure to check out thebristolcable.org/fairair for our ongoing coverage, and take part in the council’s public consultation at https://bristol. citizenspace.com/growth-regeneration/traffic-clean-air-zone/

How much air pollution am I exposed to?

A Cable member took out our air quality monitor to see what she and her baby were exposed to on a normal Saturday Bristol Cable member Bea Oliver took out the Cable’s air quality monitor to get a snapshot of Bristol’s air on a Saturday spent on the move around the city with her 10-month-old baby in a pushchair.

Some of the results are expected - the air pollution is high when you’re by a busy road, for example - some less so. Like the fact that the monitor recorded dangerous levels of air pollution even when she wasn’t next to a road. “The more I know the more I feel I can do about it, for myself and talking to other people about it,” she said.

Something that particularly surprised her, was when air pollution levels went up while she was still at home. “If you have it in the house it spikes when you cook, so when my partner does fried breakfast it goes through the roof. I was quite dismayed about that. And tumble dryers make a lot of lint, particulate in the air.”

Although not widely known, cooking can spike pollution in your house. Researchers in the University of Colorado recently found that cooking a Sunday roast could create as much particulate matter pollution in your house than the streets of Delhi, for around a one hour period. The scientists advise to ventilate by opening windows while cooking and to use extractor fans where possible.

She says her increased awareness of how polluted Bristol’s air has made her more careful of the routes she takes, even going the long way around, to avoid car fumes. Because of the way air pollutants can get trapped in localised areas due to landscape and architecture, changing your route slightly can make a big difference to your exposure.

It’s also made her less keen to cycle - especially with her baby.

“I just started cycling with the baby in the child seat. Before I did this I just thought ‘Well, you have to be in the traffic’… I’ve noticed that I’m not wanting to cycle as much as I thought I would because I don’t want her to be in between queuing lines of traffic at a traffic light.”

And there may be more reason to take extra precautions when you’re travelling with an infant. Not only are they more susceptible to health impacts as they are still developing - air pollution has been linked to stunted lung growth and higher rates of asthma in children - but the height of pushchairs makes children closer to traffic exhaust fumes.

But, Bea says, “It doesn’t really matter whether you’re next to a road or not, just the fact that you’re in a city means that you’re going to be exposed to a lot of pollution.”

But awareness can help us make proactively make healthier decisions for ourselves and families.

13

All over the city the levels of harmful gases that can cause or exacerbate illnesses like asthma or bronchitis breach legal levels. The gas, Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), is mainly emitted from diesel engines and shouldn’t go beyond levels of 40 microgrammes per meter cubed (<40 µg/m3) but does so in many places.

Key: NO 2 annual levels for 2018 Compliant (<40 µg/m3) Illegal (>40 µg/m3)

FIGHT FOR FAIR AIR

A picture of pollution

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Source: Bristol City Council In today’s media, communities don’t often get a say in what stories are covered, and how they’re written. We want to change that.

We believe the media needs to listen to, and involve communities in order to serve them. ​O ne way we do that is by opening up big decisions on what we do to Bristol Cable members.

© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap This story is part of our campaign for Fair Air in the city, which was voted for by hundreds of Cable members, who made it clear that it’s one of the most pressing issues for Bristolians.

From concerned parents with asthmatic children, to commuters choking on city fumes, members from across the city had a say in why the issue matters to them.

Have your say and support the Cable from £1 a month

THEBRISTOLCABLE.ORG/JOIN

FIGHT FOR FAIR AIR

14

The hidden impact on air pollution by farming emissions WORDS LORNA STEPHENSON PHOTO JIM HARROGATE This story was produced in collaboration with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

D

riving past a farmer spreading slurry, you might hold your nose and wind up the windows to avoid the stink.

But you might not know that the ammonia gas emitted by farming is one of the most significant pollutants contributing to dangerous particulate pollution in cities and towns.

An estimated 1.8 million cows live in the south west, the cattle capital of the country, according to the National Farmers Union. But there is no monitoring or regulation of the ammonia emissions, because they don’t require environmental permits, and there is little enforcement of illegal pollution breaches.

Cattle farms are the largest emitter of ammonia, contributing to almost half of agricultural ammonia emissions, and yet they aren’t required to monitor their own ammonia levels. Currently, only intensive pig and poultry farms are required to estimate and self-report their ammonia emissions, but these account for only 4% of emissions nationally.

Almost half of the ambient PM2.5 (the smallest and more dangerous type of particulate pollution) originates from farms, whose emissions are not monitored or regulated by the government. Meanwhile, there are 300 deaths a year in Bristol because of air pollution.

Yet without financial assistance, cattle farmers – who are often struggling to make a living – lack the resources to implement measures which could dramatically reduce ammonia emissions.

What’s the problem?

“On a national or regional level, ammonia, largely from agriculture, reacts with nitric acid derived from nitrogen oxide emissions produced by vehicles and industry, to form a

type of particulate matter called ammonium nitrate,” explained Professor Roy Harrison from Birmingham University’s School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, talking to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ).

Particulate matter exposure is linked with respiratory and cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, low birth weights and increased mortality.

Professor Alastair Lewis, from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, explained that around half of PM2.5 found in towns and cities is associated with ammonium.

“Thinking about the basket of air pollutants we breathe in,” he told the BIJ, “PM2.5 is probably responsible for somewhere between half and three quarters of the total harm we derive as humans from air pollution.”

An analysis by Andrea Pozzer of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany, produced for the BIJ, found that reducing ammonia emissions from UK farms by half could prevent 3,000 premature deaths per year.

Lack of monitoring Ammonia, which is produced from the storage and spreading of slurry, manure and the use of inorganic fertilisers, could be significantly reduced with low-tech interventions.

These include ensuring slurry is stored correctly and covered, using spreading equipment that reduces air emissions such as injection, and spreading only in correct weather conditions.

However currently these practices are not widespread, as most farms lack the necessary infrastructure, and given the lack of slurry storage most farmers have, spreading guidelines are often ignored.

Alongside the air quality impact,

Farmers warn that funding and support is needed to tackle the problem One of the major sources of air pollution is unregulated and unmonitored by the government Ammonia emissions from farming are the cause of half of dangerous PM2.5 particulate pollution ammonia from slurry has significant impacts on soil and water health.

For this reason, one local organisation with insight into the extent of problems locally with poorly handled slurry is Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART).

CEO Ian Mock tells the Cable the organisation deals with complaints of poor slurry handling with “astonishing and depressing regularity”.

“We get a lot of calls about slurry spreading in bad weather.”

BART is working with farmers to encourage better slurry handling

practices through building longterm relationships.

Mock says economic pressure on farmers means many may have more livestock than their capacity can handle: “Their slurry capacity is too small, they have to get rid of it and they can’t pay to drive it somewhere else. So they put it on their land whether the conditions are right or wrong.”

On the week we speak in midJune, he said there had been a case of slurry pollution on the outskirts of Bristol – which had been report-

15

Plans – but no funding?

ed to the Environment Agency, to no response.

“The Environment Agency (EA) are the best people to resolve these things, and if they actually increased the investment in the EA, perhaps they would be able to do more,” says Mock.

Research by Unearthed published in December 2018 found that site visits by the Environment Agency had fallen by more than a third over the previous four years, and that the regulator had shed more than 20% of its workforce since 2013.

Mock is keen to point out that farmers feel under immense pressure, a sentiment echoed

by Becky Wilson, a technical specialist in resource management at Duchy College.

Duchy College ran a Europeanfunded project in the south west for encouraging sustainable farm-

Reduction in emissions in the Netherlands from 1990-2016 after preventative measures introduced

Number of premature deaths that could be prevented by cutting UK agricultural emissions by half

The amount of UK ammonia emissions accounted for by agriculture in 2016

The amount of dangerous PM2.5 pollution associated with ammonium

The amount of ammonia emissions from cattle

The number of cows in the South west, one third of England’s cattle

87% 50%

48% 1.8m

ADVERTISEMENT

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“Farmers know the issues but they literally haven’t got any other option. That’s one of the cold hard realities”

What would ‘the right thing’ be?

The Netherlands is touted as an example of success after introducing control measures that reduced ammonia emissions by 64% between 1990 and 2016.

Ammonia emissions were addressed by the UK government for the first time with the Clean Air Strategy 2019. It stated that it would regulate on, among other measures, requirements to spread slurry with low emission equipment by 2025, and a requirement to keep slurry stores covered by 2027.

Yet there are no plans for how to help farmers adopt the technologies and infrastructure improvements they would need to comply.

“In many cases, these improvements are very expensive,” said David George from the National Farmers’ Union south west branch.

“The volatility of farm incomes makes replacing old, inefficient infrastructure difficult. Grant support for ammonia reduction technology, along with the right advice, could significantly reduce emissions.”

For now though, Wilson says the sudden interest in legislating on ammonia has left farmers “frightened”.

“I think you have to have all the ducks in a row, if you’re going to start legislating on something that we haven’t had any legislation on before, or that farmers haven’t been expected that is coming,” she says.

“Then we have to have information of the areas of the farms that you’re going to target and if they say we have to put big investments in, then we have to help them with that.

“There needs to be clear guidance about what is expected.”

Until a coherent plan is in place, ammonia may continue to be one of the most significant but least addressed sources of air pollution.

64% 3000

FIGHT FOR FAIR AIR

ing practices called SWARM hub between 2009-2016. It focused on showing how farmers could increase productivity by using their resources better, but at the same time reduce their environmental impact.

They now maintain online resources and news to continue the work.

“They [farmers] know the issues but they literally haven’t got any other option. That’s one of the cold, hard realities… They all want to do the right thing, apart from a very small minority,” Wilson says.

INVESTIGATION

16

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Revealed: Thousands of kids put in isolation, fuelling school debate

patchplummer.co.uk

New data reveals sharp rise in children being sent to isolation at Bristol secondary schools Children being sent to isolation almost 1,000 times a week

Isolation policies vary from school to school Teachers, parents and experts demand stricter guidelines

17

INVESTIGATION

A Bristol Cable investigation can reveal Bristol schools are sending children 1,000 times a week to isolation. The new data sheds light on the debate about the controversial form of discipline that can take children out of class for days on end, but is seen by some as crucial in managing behaviour.

WORDS MATTY EDWARDS ILLUSTRATION PATCH PLUMMER

I

a week of learning. FOI responses from schools and analysis of behaviour policy documents have uncovered variation in these policies, with almost half of schools putting students in their isolation room all day for disruption, while others use more supportive systems closely linked with pastoral care. A number of schools have no maximum time limit, do not let students out at lunchtime, and restrict when they can go to the toilet.

Although some schools defend the use of isolation rooms as vital for managing behaviour and removing disruptive kids who might stop others from learning, parents tell me their kids have missed out on huge chunks of learning and are being pushed from isolation to temporary exclusion.

Schools under pressure, unmet needs Isolation rooms aren’t new. They have previously been used as a ‘sin bin’, where teachers would send kids without a clear policy, but now schools use them as part of proper behavioural systems.

But their use has come under scrutiny recently. Legal proceedings were launched against an academy trust in Yorkshire last year after a boy spent 35 days in isolation in one year, forcing them to review their policy. By comparison, this year a pupil at Metropolitan Academy in Bristol spent 42 days in isolation, and City Academy sent a pupil to isolation 128 times.

A spokesperson for the Cabot Learning Federation, which runs City Academy, Metropolitan Academy, and Brunel Academy, denied the schools used isolation, instead

saying behavioural policies “includes a sanction of pupils being temporarily withdrawn from lessons, although neither is it overused, nor is it the only strategy used to support pupils’ behaviour”.

“The way he’s been treated is outrageous.

I think he’s being discriminated against” The government will be changing its guidelines on isolation to avoid legal action, after a girl in Kent tried to kill herself following over a month in an isolation booth earlier this year. Education solicitor Dan Rosenberg from the law firm representing these families, Simpson Millar, says: “It’s often the most vulnerable, and those with disabilities such as autism or ADHD who are most affected – the children of the families we have represented have been through very difficult and traumatic experiences as a result of repeated confinement in isolation.”

When I speak to Ben’s dad, this comes to mind. Ben has just finished his GCSEs at Brunel Academy, which is one of the schools to use isolation the most – 2,737 times so far this academic year. When Ben was first sent to isolation he wasn’t given work, and often just went to sleep. Only after his parents challenged this did he receive relevant work to complete.

His dad says Ben would get sent to isolation for talking and losing concentration, even getting up to sharpen his pencil, and having a milkshake thrown at him by his friend. “The way he’s been treated is outrageous,” his dad tells me. “He’s not a bad kid. I think he’s being dis-

criminated against.”

Ben’s dad feels the school didn’t make enough allowances following his son’s ADHD diagnosis. “On the one hand the school were saying ‘we recognise this’, but on the other hand they were kicking him out for any minor infraction.”

Ben wasn’t allowed to revise for his exams at school, but instead had to work unsupervised at home, despite his difficulties with concentration. After exams he was escorted off school premises. “You’re made to feel excluded,” his dad says.

“If he fails his exams, I’m going to blame isolation.”

Bristol Brunel Academy said their behaviour system is “adapted to meet the individual needs of students with additional needs”, employing a range of inclusive strategies.

Ofsted guidance says reasonable adjustments should be made to make sure expectations of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) are appropriate and fair: it would be unfair, for example, to isolate a child with ADHD because they can’t sit still.

Another parent I speak to has a different perspective. Her son, who has Asperger’s, benefits from isolation. He has a timeout card which he can use to take himself to the isolation room when he is struggling.

However, one Bristol teacher tells me that although the Ready To Learn policy (a version of isolation) at their school does help manage disruptive behaviour, SEND pupils are isolated more often, even after allowances are made. They said this is because funding cuts have reduced the number of learning support assistants in the classroom

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t’s Ben’s* first year at secondary school. He knows the answer to a question, so calls it out instead of putting his hand up. For this, he is sent out of class to the isolation room, where he has to work in silence.

His dad tells me: “It broke my heart.

He looked at me and said ‘Dad, I knew the answer.’”

Throughout the rest of his time at Bristol Brunel Academy, Ben was constantly sent to isolation – sometimes two days a week – to the point that his parents feel he’s been “badly let down”. In Year 11 he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but things didn’t change – he continued to be sent to isolation and had to revise for his GCSEs at home without extra support.

Ben is one of hundreds of kids who spend days in isolation on a regular basis. A Bristol Cable investigation has revealed all but two of Bristol’s state secondary schools are using some form of isolation policy, where students are removed from class. Data acquired via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests shows an increase of more than 30% in the use of isolation in recent years, as Bristol’s schools are sending kids there almost 1,000 times a week.

Isolation booths, where students sit facing the wall, have been used in some Bristol schools in the past, but now most schools instead use a classroom. Anywhere between 10 and 30 kids are supervised by a member of staff and work in silence, sometimes at individual desks.

New data reveals some schools have sent as much as half their entire student body to isolation, as kids sometimes miss multiple days

INVESTIGATION

18

Number of times a child was sent to isolation: 2017 - 2018

Number of times sent to isolation this year 4,805

City Academy

21,152

58.5%

48.5%

48%

City Academy

Metropolitan Academy

Brunel Academy

3,477

Metropolitan Academy 2018 - 2019 so far

27,581 30,000+

to help pupils with additional needs. The teacher added that vague rules for SEND pupils and isolation meant teachers interpret them differently.

This view is echoed by Wendy Exton, from the teachers’ union NASUWT: “As teachers, we are under pressure to produce results.

Classes are getting bigger and support services have been cut to the bone, meaning students who have unmet needs are being moved regularly into isolation to allow the teacher to teach.”

As funding falls and expectations rise, it’s hard to blame teachers who send kids out so they can teach. But some argue it’s important to identify teachers over-reliant on isolation and give them training and support, because it’s not always down to ‘problem children’.

Dealing with disruption, setting boundaries There seems to be a clash between the growing awareness about young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and restricting their freedom for extended periods – a form of discipline that, if misused, can be damaging for their mental health.

This is why it’s so crucial that isolation is linked with support, argues Alex*, a pastoral worker at a Bristol secondary school. “For the majority, it works really well… If it’s truly punitive it won’t work. You need to be able to go full circle. The relationship is damaged, there’s a consequence for the actions, then there needs to be that restorative conversation to rebuild it.”

3,206

Henbury School Brunel Academy

Estimated year end:

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Percentage of pupils sent to isolation this year:

2,737

2,087

Merchants’ Academy

“He hates isolation.

As a result, he doesn’t enjoy being in the classroom because he’s fallen so far behind” As well as this restorative conversation, Alex’s school gives students work using an online system and contacts the parents. Similarly supportive systems do appear to be in place at some schools in Bristol.

And for some it works. One parent at Bristol Free School tells me isolation allowed their son to work undistracted before his GCSEs. A teacher tells me how the Ready to Learn policy at their school is “very supportive for the majority of pupils”, as repeat offenders are monitored so that any unmet needs or underlying reasons can be addressed.

Schools must look into why kids end up in isolation and support them, Alex says. But it’s just as vital to set boundaries. “We need to help equip these young people so when they come to making choices later in life they can reflect on the consequences. Because otherwise we’re just setting them up to fail.”

When I ask about the variation in how much isolation is used, he points to kids from disadvantaged areas being more likely to have behavioural problems. It’s backed up by the FOI data.

For example, City Academy used isolation most often this year, on 4,805 occasions, but also has

the most students eligible for free school meals – 63%. By contrast, schools in wealthier areas do appear to use isolation less, but the school with just 8% of kids eligible for free school meals still kept one pupil away from lessons for 16 days, and even put kids in booths until 2017.

It is worth noting that some schools using isolation frequently have been praised for behaviour management by Ofsted. City Academy was inspected earlier this year and staff praised the new behaviour policy, as exclusion rates went down for SEND and disadvantaged pupils.

Bristol has one of the lowest rates of permanent exclusions in the country – just seven in 2016/17.

There were 3,663 temporary exclusions in the same year though – one of the highest rates in England. A number of parents feel isolation played a part in a downward spiral for their child, towards more serious sanctions and then having to move school.

Jayden* only started secondary school last September but is already on the brink of leaving. His mum tells me he’s lost a quarter of this academic year as he often has to repeat isolation the next day, meaning he misses prolonged periods of learning.

And it’s taking its toll, cutting him off from other parts of school life. “He hates isolation,” his mum tells me. “As a result, he doesn’t enjoy being in the classroom because he’s fallen so far behind. There’s a complete contradiction when I’m speaking to school about how emotional

health really matters yet they isolate your child for three days in a row.”

He has also told his mum it’s often the usual suspects in isolation, who are predominantly black and minority ethnic (BME) boys.

“The only time he would ever find himself in the majority with other BME children would be in isolation or with his family. That’s a stark contrast,” she says.

After spending time at other schools in the same academy chain on fixed-term exclusions, and on negotiated transfer, he is back where he started, his future hanging in the balance.

Another parent is very nervous about speaking out, but tells me her son is being pushed out by his

Bristol Cable members did so much to inform our reporting for this story.

Journalist Matty Edwards met with concerned parents and school staff from the Cable membership, which helped us get invaluable insights into the situation, and ultimately, improve the story we published.

Become a member from £1 a month and help make our reporting stronger:

THEBRISTOLCABLE.ORG/JOIN

19

8

The number of schools where students aren’t allowed out of isolation at lunch or break time

397 128

The number of times one student spent in isolation at City Academy

9

The number of schools where it is typical to spend all day in isolation

20

The number of Bristol secondary schools using some form of isolation

4

The number of schools that limit toilet breaks in isolation

Stricter guidelines to stop misuse School discipline has come a long way since the corporal punishment last seen in state schools in the 1980s. Perhaps one day the use of isolation will be looked back on with similar scorn.

This issue clearly divides opinion. What comes up again and again is the variation in how these policies are used. While some

schools isolate students for a few lessons, others take them out of class all day. Some schools do so for not having the right uniform or equipment, while others are much more flexible. Pastoral support is central at some schools, but not others. Even getting accurate and full data for this investigation was a challenge.

Underlying this issue is the fact that nearly all secondary schools in Bristol are now academies. First introduced under New Labour, but accelerated by Michael Gove, there are now more than 8,000 academy schools in England outside local authority control. Academy trusts have considerable freedom – from uniform and isolation policy to how much they pay their executives – because they are removed from local democratic oversight. Even greater power is handed to head teachers and senior staff. Sometimes this works well, other times it doesn’t.

Many schools have changed their policies in recent years: Metropolitan Academy isolates students more than 120 times a week, but has reduced the length of time from an entire day to three lessons. Cotham School used to isolate pupils for uniform breaches, but this has been relaxed, and now students there can’t spend consecutive days in isolation.

And yet it seems like other schools are much less flexible. One parent at Henbury School compared it to a “boot camp”, where students get sent to isolation for not having the right stationary and breaking uniform rules. This aca-

demic year Henbury School isolated pupils more than 100 times a week.

Even though it has received the most complaints from parents, the school said they haven’t changed their policy in the last three years.

The school is being taken over by academy chain Greenshaw Learning Trust this summer following an inadequate Ofsted rating in November. The Ofsted report said the school’s preoccupation with the new Ready to Learn strategy had diverted attention away from declining academic performance, and found disadvantaged pupils are removed from lessons more often.

It also pointed out that the policy’s impact isn’t being evaluated.

A spokesperson for the Greenshaw Learning Trust said they were currently ensuring that “all the students are consistently provided with disruption free lessons”, adding the school regularly reviews and analyses referrals to the isolation room and the last review took place two weeks ago.

This variation between schools is why the law firm Simpson Millar successfully pushed the government to review its guidance on isolation. This won’t be before summer 2020, so Simpson Millar are calling schools to review their practices now.

Current guidance says pupils should only be kept in isolation for “a limited period”, but ultimately it’s up to individual schools to interpret this. Esther Keller thinks a time limit would help stop this variation.

“Isolation rooms have their place if you use them appropriately. When misused, it might give the teacher

more breathing space but doesn’t do anything to improve the child’s behaviour.

“Ofsted needs to be looking at the policies they have, how inclusive they are, and getting the schools to use data to see how consistently these policies are being applied.”

She thinks problems with isolation, exclusions, and off-rolling, where students are pushed out of schools, are worse now than before.

“Part of it is schools being in league tables and judged by exam results. I think it’s in a very poor state, education, at the moment.”

Isolation is proving to be one of the latest touchstones in the debate around education, and what that means for the adults that come out the other end. What’s clear is that with schools under greater pressure, receiving less funding, and given greater freedom than ever, transparency and scrutiny is vital. Otherwise, parents like Ben’s dad and others will continue to feel like their kids have been let down at a critical juncture in their lives. *Names have been changed to protect anonymity

Have you been affected by this issue, or would like to respond to our reporting?

Get in contact: matty@thebristolcable.org We will handle any information provided in total confidence.

the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

school and their “heavy-handed” use of isolation.

Recently, he says, he was sat in the sports hall reading a book, when a teacher spotted him looking around and sent him to isolation. “No, I haven’t done anything,” he said. “I’m not going.” This defiance led to a fixed-term exclusion. Now the school won’t let him return until he accepts his isolation, creating a stalemate where he’s sent home daily.

“He’s shocked about how he’s been treated,” his mum tells me.

“He just can’t understand why it’s escalated like this. In his mind, he didn’t do anything wrong. It’s so shocking and I can see how kids get expelled. It’s really scary.”

I mention this case to Esther Keller, who used to work for Bristol City Council advising schools on behaviour. She is shocked: “That’s outrageous. You shouldn’t have a fixed-term exclusion for a referral to isolation room. That’s very poor behaviour management, and the parent ought to complain.”

Jayden’s mum has lodged a formal complaint.

INVESTIGATION

The number of times students spent two days or more in a single week in isolation at Metropolitan Academy

PHOTO ESSAY

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the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

Activities offer a space for young people to express, play and interact

Waiting to go in

This is England

Young people shooting their own images and sparking a new direction

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PHOTO ESSAY

HUMANS OF HANHAM

PHOTOS COLIN MOODY

Hanham Youth Club – where young people hang out, where they build their community and find their voice.

Photographer Colin Moody and artist Nick Fogarty worked with the Creative Youth Network to document the issues that matter to young people at the club and offer a snapshot of what it means to be a Human of Hanham.

In suburban southeast Bristol, Hanham Youth Club is run for young people and with their help. It’s the busiest youth club in South Gloucestershire.

Over 400 people can come through its doors every week.

Valentine’s Day Special

Their humour is palpable. Here this young group wanted to have their portrait taken this way. Possibly taking a poke at the whole thing.

Does the media really represent their world fairly when they themselves play with image so fast and in so many ways?

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Young people are growing up in a world of managed outcomes with little space to express themselves and test out ways of belonging to a community away from the education system and home. Colin worked with the teenagers at the youth club to put on a photography exhibition showcased by Creative Youth Network.

Here’s a select few shots from that series.

PEOPLE’S HISTORY

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The tragic story of Hannah Wiltshire and a Bedminster workhouse resonates today An untimely death led to a campaign for justice by the local community

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WORDS ROSEMARY CALDICOTT ILLUSTRATION SOPHIA CHECKLEY

I

n 1855, rumours of murder and cover-up were circulating in the small North Somerset village of Walton-in-Gordano.

Allegations were made that a 22-year-old female inmate of Bedminster Union Workhouse, who suffered from epilepsy, had been murdered. Victorian workhouses were brutal institutions that forced poor people into terrible working conditions and harsh treatment.

Within a few months of entering the workhouse, Hannah Wiltshire died a violent death, after an altercation in the dining room.

Her premature death caused public outrage – fanned by a letterwriting campaign to the local press initiated by her pauper aunt, Ann Howe. Illiteracy did not stop Howe from attempting to expose the circumstances of her niece’s death, and demanding an inquiry. There were accusations that the Board of Guardians, the authorities who oversaw workhouses, concealed the neglect that took place inside the institution.

Adding to her distress, Howe was not convinced that Hannah’s body was in the coffin, because she hadn’t been allowed to view her niece’s body before burial. Workhouse guardians had the right, under the punitive Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, to sell dead bodies to medical schools for dissection, for £2, 12 shillings per corpse, if a body remained uncollected by family or friends.

Due to public pressure, an inquest opened in October 1855 at the schoolhouse in Walton-in-Gordano.

The coroner ordered that Hannah’s coffin be opened for inspection with the jury present, and the body inside was recognisable as Hannah Wiltshire. The surgeon who carried out the autopsy stated that although her skull had not been fractured, there were signs of bleeding under her skull. The workhouse doctor, Mr Massey, as well as the Master and Matron of the workhouse were not required to be present at the inquest.

Female pauper witnesses were called to say whether the doctor was sent for, or at least whether the matron visited Hannah, while she lay dying. After hearing all the evidence, the jurors took only 15 minutes to return the following verdict: “...the deceased’s death was caused by apoplexy [a brain haemorrhage or stroke], but sufficient care was not taken by the authorities of the Bedminster Union Workhouse to separate the deceased from the other inmates of the establishment... The jury are also of the opinion of the peculiar circumstances under which the deceased on this occasion, came by her death.” This verdict was dissented from by one or two jurors, who were for one of “Manslaughter”.

Following the verdict, there was an outcry that a unanimous charge of manslaughter was not reached, and a public enquiry was demanded. Instead, the Board of Guardians agreed to hold an inquiry behind closed doors.

Ann Howe persisted in attempting to bring those to blame

to trial, with the possibility of them being charged with manslaughter.

Although ultimately unsuccessful, her campaign did instigate a coroner’s inquest and a private investigation by the Governors of the Bedminster Union Workhouse. This was quite a remarkable achievement for an impoverished daughter from the labouring classes, and as a woman with very few rights.

The case of Hannah Wiltshire also unearthed disquiet in the community regarding the treatment of epileptic paupers. Perceptions of epilepsy among Victorian medical practitioners were formed by consideration of class and social status, a view that dramatically affected the treatment of the disease. Many Victorians saw the working class epileptic as a burden on society, and the condition a dangerous character flaw among the labouring poor; while among the wealthy, it was characterised as a private misfortune.

The inquest exposed many fundamental issues: that certain people and witnesses were not answerable to an inquest court; that the treatment of epileptics was class-based, and that institutions were not sufficiently transparent and accountable to the public. These revelations began a shift of attitude towards the treatment of epileptic paupers; as well as heightened mistrust of management practices inside England’s workhouses, particularly around treatment of the old, the ‘feebleminded’, and invalids.

Just like Ann Howe, there are families today still fighting for truth and transparency. Recent parallels are found in the Winterbourne View scandal in Bristol, Hillsborough Stadium Disaster in Sheffield, and the plight of hemophiliacs given infected blood during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Bristol Cable covered the tragic story of Becky Romero, from Bedminster Down, who was found dead less than a fortnight after being discharged from a chronically underfunded, understaffed mental health facility in the south west. In December 2017, an inquest offered a verdict of accidental death with neglect.

Bedminster Union Workhouse finally closed under the Local Government Act of 1929. Finally, in 1948, many workhouses were converted into municipal hospitals for the chronically ill, funded by the new and optimistic NHS. Over 70 years later, a United Nations report has compared the austerity regime ushered in by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to the Victorian workhouse system, and many are still campaigning for justice.

More information about the life of Hannah Wiltshire and Bedminster Union Workhouse can be found in Rosemary’s book “The Life and Death of Hannah Wiltshire.

A Case Study of Bedminster Union Workhouse and Victorian Social Attitudes on Epilepsy”.

@sophia_checkley

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On the centenary of the establishment of the profession, a student learning disabilities nurse explains the crucial daily work they do

Overall, working with people with different types of learning disability and across healthcare settings, our values are based on independence, inclusion and accessibility.

We seek to practice in a way that enables people to put their own wishes, goals and ambitions before their obstacles. All this is important to meeting the health needs of this population.

In the following accounts all names and identifying information have been changed.

People with learning disabilities often have unmet health needs, and experience worse health than those without, so they are offered annual health checks with their GP. Sadly uptake is frequently low, with often the simplest of reasons standing in the way.

One example was a GP surgery sending individuals invitations they may not have been able to easily understand. To remedy this, embracing my creative side was in order!

Here, I set about creating an easy-read invitation letter that the GP surgery could use, incorporating colourful images and short descriptions (no jargon!) of what to expect during an annual health check. A simple task – yet without accessible information, individuals can be set up to fall at the first hurdle.

tuesday Lindsay, a child with Down syndrome, is off to have her adenoids removed in surgery today. Part of my role today includes advocating for Lindsay’s right to have reasonable adjustments implemented by the children’s hospital. Examples include providing Lindsay her own room (to manage anxieties around new people), inserting her intravenous cannula into her foot instead of her hand (to avoid her pulling it out), and providing visual cues guiding her through what to expect for the day. Importantly, I make sure staff adhere to her ‘hospital passport’ – a document providing vital information to enable hospital staff to understand her wishes and needs.

wednesday Today Craig, an individual with mild learning disabilities and autism, left the ‘assessment and treatment unit’, which is a secure placement. Frustratingly, despite government initiatives to ensure people with learning disabilities are not stuck in these placements long-term, Craig spent two years there. However, he made some immense progress during his stay. Due to his sensory differences, washing and grooming have historically been uncomfortable experiences for Craig, leading to him to avoid these tasks and then develop physical health conditions.

To support Craig’s self-care, systematic desensitisation (AKA gradual exposure), was utilised. An example of this in practice involved Craig being supported to first have

a bottle of shaving cream in the bathroom, before exploring its smell, look and texture.

He eventually worked up to applying small amounts to his face, before finally using it to shave with. Seeing Craig leave with a clean presentation and donning a big smile has been such a triumph for the team.

thursday Charlie, a young man with Down syndrome, recently took the plunge into independent community living. Unfortunately, his move has coincided with considerable weight gain, following the transition from living with his mum, where food restrictions were in place. Today I participated in assessing Charlie’s capacity, in line with the Mental Capacity Act, around managing his food choices. To do this we utilised the communication tool Talking Mats, using images of differing portion sizes and healthy versus unhealthy foods. This allowed us to determine Charlie’s capacity in this specific area, so as to work out the input he’ll require from the nursing team.

friday Joining a learning disability hospital liaison nurse, today I attended a multidisciplinary meeting regarding Jenny, a lady with mild learning disabilities. Jenny attended the meeting with her support worker, who explained that Jenny has been behaving significantly out of character and her concerns that she was experiencing a deterioration in her mental health. The consultant doctor immediately dismissed this, saying: “this is how people with learning disabilities act, nothing to worry about”.

I learned afterwards that this was a case of ‘diagnostic overshadowing’, whereby the doctor assumed Jenny’s behaviour was attributed to her disability, without considering other physical, mental or social factors.

The hospital liaison nurse and psychiatrist questioned the consultant and, as it turned out, Jenny was experiencing an acute psychotic episode. Too often diagnostic overshadowing occurs, leading to health issues remaining untreated, which can be serious and increase the risk of fatality. Observing the part played by the hospital liaison nurse really brought home to me just how vital the role is in ensuring people with learning disabilities get their basic health needs met.

This diary is a montage of experiences.

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My chosen profession, learning disability nursing, was established as a practice 100 years ago this year – although there have been several threats to the specialised role over the years. As I’m about to graduate, I want to offer a glimpse into the type of work that we do, and why it remains important, with the following account of my experiences.

monday

VOICES

Diary of a learning difficulties nurse

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The flexibility suits some, but comes with insecure terms and a lack of hardwon rights. But some workers are getting organised.

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This is the story from Bristol.

Janice has been working at a familyrun community project in Cadbury Heath for 22 years.

Surrounded by affluent areas, the working class estate has been hit hard by years of austerity.

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Through it all, Janice and the community around her are aiming to stay true to the neighbourhood and build its future.

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How Lopresti ice cream boss kept men in slave-like conditions, tenants and families in squalor.

But people spoke out.

WORDS ADAM CANTWELL-CORN AND ALON AVIRAM This story was made possible by Bristol Cable members. Find out more and join at:

thebristolcable.org/join This investigation was originally published online. Visit for exclusive videos, audio recordings and an interactive map.

thebristolcable.org/icecream

Thousands of passersby have bought ice creams from Lopresti ice cream vans at iconic city landmarks over the decades.

For an equally long time, rumours spread about their notoriety as employers and landlords. In a Cable investigation spanning five years which led to Modern Day Slavery charges, these rumours have been investigated and a shocking story uncovered.

Now with reporting restrictions lifted, the Cable can reveal there were men living like slaves under Salvatore Loprestiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control, and a trail of workers and tenants exploited by the Lopresti ice cream and property business.

Having had enough of living in fear, poverty and indignity, these same people spoke out.

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THE ICE CREAM SLAVERY CASE

INVESTIGATION

Finally exposed:

INVESTIGATION

26

hen Jakub*, a Polish tiler, moved to Bristol in 2008 he looked forward to a prosperous and secure life.

He soon heard of a job going at an ice cream business with a Mr Salvatore Lopresti.

But what he found wasn’t regular employment and he wasn’t alone in answering the advert.

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Banned as boss after 50 years of business in Bristol October 2018 – 10 years after Jakub arrived in the city and answered the job advert.

Salvatore Lopresti, the barrelchested Sicilian, appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court charged under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for forcing Jakub to work gruelling 12-hour days for £5, for over eight years, and a charge of actual bodily harm. If found guilty, he faced the prospect of serious jail time.

A trial date was set in for 2019 but the evidence never made it to court.

With two psychiatric reports to hand, Judge Blair at Bristol Crown Court accepted that the 75-year-old ice cream boss and major landlord had dementia and was unfit to stand trial.

The Crown Prosecution Service had previously dropped the modern slavery charge against son and joint ice cream manager, Robert Lopresti.

The inability to proceed with the prosecution came as a blow to the coppers on the case who had worked hard to build on the Cable’s findings.

But it was clear that Salvatore still posed a threat. In May 2019, he was slapped with a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order, indefinitely banning him from activities as a boss. The judge told Salvatore, “I’m sure that there is a risk that you will commit a human trafficking or slavery offence.”

Outside court, DC Morgan acknowledged that the police “used the Cable’s evidence to achieve this risk order”, the first of its kind in the police force area.

This is that evidence.

“I want to forget what happened there” The freezing cold, windowless room is set back from the ice cream shop on Bedminster Parade. Environmental Health officers would later call it ‘unfit for human habitation’. The

room with a leaking corrugated plastic roof was both home and workplace for Jakub.

Over a period of eight years, Jakub, who is understood to have learning disabilities, would pull 12-hour days in summer, seven days a week and get just £5 a day. He told detectives that he sold ice creams from vans, painted and decorated, performed maintenance work on Salvatore’s rental properties and gardened at his boss’s Long Ashton home.

While firmly under the control of Salvatore, Jakub told police that he also worked in ice cream vans operated by Robert Lopresti.

As soon as he had taken up Salvatore’s offer of work and board, his ID documents were confiscated for “some formalities”, said Salvatore.

With his work and shelter now in the hands of his boss, Jakub found himself caught in a pattern of vindictive and controlling behaviour that ranged from petty bullying to grotesque abuse.

In a situation sure to make stomachs turn, Jakub was led to believe that his full wages were being safely held back to ensure that he didn’t squander it and would be returned when he stopped working for the Lopresti ice cream and property business.

“You should check out the Lopresti family ice cream business” On one occasion, Salvatore docked Jakub’s pay to cover unpaid rent from another one of his tenants.

Jakub was assured by Salvatore that the tenant would pay him back. He never did.

When Jakub demanded his identity documents be returned, Salvatore threw a photocopy of his ID card at his feet and mocked him that he could even travel to America on it.

The forced labour – as the Crown Prosecution Service claimed it was – then morphed into a vicious assault on a cold December day in 2016.

While cleaning the ice cream vans, Jakub grew frustrated at being ordered around.

Again he asked for his ID documents and money.

against him and charges against Mr Robert Lopresti were dropped.

But Jakub wasn’t the only one to have alleged to have been living in slave-like conditions.

Now with reporting restrictions lifted, the Cable can reveal there was a second man under Salvatore’s control, whose living situation also appeared to be modern day slavery according to experts.

The man paid 55p per hour One of the men, A, who lived in slave-like conditions

He wanted out.

Armed with a heavy broomstick, Salvatore struck him hard across the face at least three times. He managed to escape from under the blows to his room. Jakub tried to recover in bed but was beset with headaches.

He started to vomit blood, and it was then that he took himself to hospital.

Photos show the whites of his eyes had entirely turned a throbbing dark red.

The police were already acting on the information provided by the Cable and, after the assault, arrests were made. Jakub got out and entered the National Referral Mechanism – the government framework designed to support victims of modern day slavery.

Since leaving he says he now feels like living again. “I want to improve my life, find a job and forget what happened there,” he says.

A statement issued to the Cable by the business denied these allegations against Salvatore and Robert, saying, “Mr S Lopresti does not accept the truth of all of the matters alleged against him.” The statement added that Mr Salvatore Lopresti has not been convicted of any of the charges made

“You should check out the Lopresti family ice cream business.” That was the tip-off the Cable received from a kitchen porter in 2014 during our first ever investigation into working conditions in the hospitality sector.

Lopresti ice creams, owned by relatives of Tory MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke Jack Lopresti, paid hundreds of thousands to secure a monopoly on the pitches awarded by the council at key locations and iconic sites in the city. As of April 2019 they have lost all but two pitches.

We tracked down three former workers who said the same thing: they were paid about £2 per hour to work in ice cream vans.

Most seriously, they expressed a profound sense of unease when discussing a man, possibly two, who appeared to be under the thumb of Salvatore Lopresti. It sounded like modern day slavery.

Keen to run the story, but concerned for the welfare of the individuals, the Cable liaised with anti-slavery charities and solicitors. On their advice and with the permission of sources, the Cable submitted evidence to the police about working conditions and potential victims of slavery at the business.

Salvatore (overleaf) and Robert Lopresti (right) Photo credit: Simon Chapman/LNP

27

‘You better think twice,’ said the slum landlord After the story broke, the name ‘Lopresti’ was removed from all the ice cream vans in the city, but word had already spread.

Dozens of former workers and tenants contacted the Cable, revealing a litany of mistreatment by the family business stretching back decades.

From Clifton to Totterdown, at least 28 properties are owned by Salvatore and Robert Lopresti and Grandbill Limited, a private company owned by Salvatore, his wife Micelina Lopresti and daughter Maria Licata.

Despite a property portfolio worth millions of pounds, many of the properties are in a horrendous state of disrepair. Deposits are not protected or returned, the business is a cash operation and Salvatore and Robert routinely turn up unannounced. The Lopresti ice cream and property business did not respond to questions regarding the significant amounts of cash being collected or the conditions of the properties.

Tenants alleged that the abusive behaviour faced by workers carried over into the property business.

When Anna* arrived to the UK with her family, she moved straight into one of Salvatore’s houses.

“I’m sure that there is a risk you will commit a human trafficking or slavery offence” “The walls of the flat sweated and dripped continuously, being wet and sticky. There were leaks from the ceiling, apparently from the top floor flat shower,” she said, adding, “basically we stayed there because we had no more options.”

Like Jakub and A, some tenants were offered work in the ice cream business. Anna and her husband were in need of quick money and took up the offer, but soon found themselves in trouble.

They endured 10-hour shifts for no more than £25. Eventually, Anna’s husband’s desperate search for another job paid off. When they announced they would no longer be working for the Lopresti ice cream and property business they were confronted. Salvatore threatened to evict them and his son Robert told Anna, “You better think twice because you have a small daughter and you will

‘I’m sure that there is a risk that you will commit a human trafficking or slavery offence’ Granting the first ever Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order of its kind in the Avon and Somerset Police area, District Judge Matthews told Salvatore Lopresti, “I’m sure that there is a risk that you will commit a human trafficking or slavery offence.”

“Capito” – I got it – Lopresti muttered to his Italian interpreter. After 50 years of work in the city, the judge declared Salvatore indefinitely banned from managing or employing staff and from leasing them property.

The story isn’t over Although he escaped prosecution, the Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order made against Salvatore in May 2019 spells the end of his activities as a boss.

The council have announced an “urgent investigation” into the practices of Salvatore and Robert as landlords of their array of properties in the city. Although his company has lost many of the council-allocated ice cream pitches, the pitch at Greville Smyth Park is still registered to Salvatore. One of Robert’s vans is still located at the M Shed. At the time of going to press the council have not exercised the right to terminate these contracts.

“It’s really sad,” said Anna. “To think that he is taking advantage of people that came in the same situation that he once did.”

While the story isn’t over, there can be some relief for those who Salvatore ruthlessly exploited for years.

“Sometimes when I recall it I am unable to sleep,” Jakub says, “but I try only to think of the future.” *All names changed to protect anonymity

We’re able to do investigations like these because of ​o ur unique business model: we’re funded directly by readers​. These members voted for investigations over target-driven daily reporting. We carried this mandate forward and investigated the Lopresti case for five years.

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The ball is in the Ma yor and the council’s court to show zero tol erance for exploitation and slum landlords The council have announced an “urgent investigation” into the property business of Salvatore and Robert.

Unfortunately the same level of vigour is not being applied to the ice cream vans that continue to be operated on pitches tendered by the council.

The council have legal rights to terminate the contracts where one of the parties acted in a way that “has or may cause significant harm to the reputation of the council”, but have yet to take action at the time of going to press. This is an opportunity for the mayor and the council to really show zero tolerance for exploitation.

This story was based on peopl e coming forward to sh are information.

Get in touch confidentiall y: adam@thebristolcabl e.org alon@thebristolcabl e.org 07533718547

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But with an abysmally low rate of modern day slavery prosecutions nationally, we did not leave it to the police.

An undercover Cable journalist worked for the Lopresti ice cream and property business. Not only was he paid little more than £3 an hour to sell ice cream to unassuming punters near the M Shed and Clifton Suspension Bridge, but he confirmed the existence of a man we’ll call ‘A’.

“From what I could tell he [A] seemed intimidated by Salvatore Lopresti in particular and was often shouted at. He was always working when I saw him. He did not look healthy,” said the Cable’s reporter.

We met with A at an undisclosed location. Similar to Jakub, he too worked for Salvatore from 2011 to 2016, on everything from gardening at his family home and repairs at the Bedminster HQ, to selling ice creams.

During the summer months, he would be on shift nine hours a day, 6.5 days a week. He was paid £105 a week, but £75 was deducted immediately by Salvatore Lopresti as rent for his board – the same damp shack where Jakub lived. On average, A was paid 55p per hour.

Careful to not jeopardize the police investigation, but aware that the public needed to know what was going on, the Cable published the minimum wage scandal information in 2017. At this point the full picture became clearer.

not like to be living under a bridge,” adding that he knew what school Anna’s daughter attended.

Despite the fear, Anna is one of the many who have now spoken out. “I really appreciate the opportunity that you are giving me to speak out about this because I wasn’t brave enough at the time, or I couldn’t do it at the time, so I’m happy I’m doing it now.”

The Lopresti ice cream and property business did not respond to these allegations.

INVESTIGATION

“You better think twice because you have a small daughter and you will not like to be living under a bridge”

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INTERVIEW

deemed newsworthy to have a room full of BME entrepreneurs from hard backgrounds winning awards and celebrating each other,” she says. “I was like, ‘You know what, Char, after three years and hundreds of emails sent, you’ve got to stop asking people to be in their papers.’ That was my sole reason for creating Mogul Magazine.”

Char describes the monthly mag, which launched last November as “the first ever BME-led digital publication for entrepreneurs”. Its team of women writers includes contributors in Saudi Arabia, Birmingham and, of course, the South West.

International aspirations

Charmaine, back centre, with participants at Mogul Minded awards ceremony

From pots of shea butter to awards ceremonies and magazine launches, Bristol businesswoman Charmaine Lawrence’s journey has been all about taking other talent with her WORDS LAURA DOWN

I

t was a natural hair journey that led Bristol entrepreneur Charmaine Lawrence to launch her own cosmetics company – and opened the door to a whole new world.

“Someone introduced me to shea butter and I started mixing up my own potions,” explains the 37-yearold mum-of-one. “My daughter had eczema and it was getting rid of it, so I started giving out little sample pots to friends and family and they all started really liking it so I thought, ‘Char, maybe you can make it into a business’.”

“I didn’t know what to do next,” she recalls. “There wasn’t much support out there for female entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds like myself.

“At that same time [2015] in St Pauls, I knew about 10 other women starting their own different businesses – in catering, in fashion, some doing tutoring,” she goes on.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I do a networking event?’.”

Born and bred in St Pauls, Char – as she refers to herself in the in-

ner monologue she shares during our conversation at an Old Market cafe – studied health and social care at Filton College before moving to London to study performing arts, then returning to Bristol in 2010.

Creativity runs through Char’s bones – she spent years making music under the moniker Skrilla UGQ, and recently stepped up as artistic director for St Pauls Carnival. But for now, her focus is trained on a series of businesses she has established, which have turned obstacles into opportunities and now have global ambitions.

Bridging gaps The first edition of her networking event – the Queens Power Lunch – brought together almost 50 women, mostly from the black community.

Liv Little, founder of the influential magazine gal-dem, has cited the event as one of the main catalysts for launching her successful publication.

“Liv came to my second-ever Queens Power Lunch,” Char ex-

plains. “That’s where she met LisaMarie Carter [the founder of jewellery company Nikao, who advised Little on building a website], who was one of my guest speakers, and that is how they formed their friendship.”

As the events took off, Char decided to launch another business – Mogul Minded Group – aiming to bridge the gap between Bristol’s diverse entrepreneurs and the corporate business scene. It wasn’t then long before Char spotted another opportunity to make a difference.

“The audience I work with was doing great work but there seemed to be nothing that recognised their efforts,” explains Char, “so I came up with the idea of the MMG regional awards.”

The first awards took place in 2016, coinciding with the official launch of N9NE Cosmetics, which had evolved from friends-and-family sales of Char’s handmade lotions to a thriving online shop. Fed up of being ignored by the local media, she next moved into publishing.

“For some reason, it was never

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Charmaine Lawrence: Rapper, entrepreneur, activist

With tens of thousands of people visiting the website, and thousands of followers on the magazine’s Instagram page – including high-profile US celebrities such as Rick Ross, Tiffany Haddish and Torrei Hart – Char believes her brands will “without a doubt” become international names.

“So many ideas are going to branch off [Mogul Minded],” she says. “But right now it’s about cementing my place in Bristol as a reputable independent organisation that’s doing great things for entrepreneurs and creatives from diverse communities and helping to increase social mobility.”

Mogul Minded Group’s benefits lie in how it can help and inspire young entrepreneurs, wherever they’re coming from, Char says. “A lot of the people I’ve reached have never gone to university – they’ve probably come from the worst backgrounds; it’s not just black or ethnic minority people, it’s white people as well,” she explains. “I’ve created a platform that is truly open to all.”

That ongoing openness is enabled by the diverse panel of women involved with MMG. “I believe there’s so much we can learn from different cultures,” Char says.

“I admire the way Asian families work together, look after each other when it comes to business and economics in a family setting – I can learn from them,” she concludes.

“When it comes to white middleclass women with their own businesses, I got a lot of mentors from that – and I can learn from them.

Then I’ve got my own community I can learn from as well.”

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DATA

Inside Bristolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing crisis

INFOGRAPHIC GRACE UHURU

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FEATURE

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“It’s about living with people, rather than just sharing a space, about living communally, building a support network”

Somewhere Housing Cooperative has been going since 1979

A landlord you can trust

For the many people in Bristol renting their homes and unable to buy, housing cooperatives offer an alternative way to live WORDS AND PHOTO HANNAH VICKERS

“I

couldn’t believe that most of my week I was working in this shitty job so I could pay a landlord loads of money.”

Tired of extortionate rents and zero stability – inevitable consequences of renting in Bristol – Vic decided to take things into her own hands. She and her friends formed Hammerhead, a housing cooperative in St George, so they could be their own landlords.

“My ex-landlord is really rich, he’s got five houses,” adds Vic. I’ve spoken to a lot of people at various stages of cooperatively owning their home. The same motivations come up again and again: stability, reasonable rent, and having control over your home. The private rental sector in Bristol is bigger than it’s ever been. A growing number can’t afford to buy but aren’t eligible

for social or affordable renting.

Housing in Bristol is at crisis point. Rents and property prices are rising faster in Bristol than in nearly any other UK city. Rent has been increasing faster than wages since 2011 and now takes up a bigger slice of our income than ever before. Rising rents (up by a third in the last four years) and property prices (up by more than half in the last decade), a shrinking social housing sector (more than 11,000 are waiting for a council house) and stagnating wages are making Bristol increasingly impossible to afford.

“There’s a massive demand and we’re not building enough of the right homes,” says Oona Goldsworthy, CEO of housing association United Communities, but she insists this is not unique to Bristol.

“It’s a global problem, we’re just not providing houses for young

people. They can’t put down roots,” she adds. “The only way you can afford to buy anywhere now is if you get given money or save up loads and loads. Buying is very difficult for under 40s.”

Lording it Forming or joining a housing cooperative is a potential solution for the growing number of renters in Bristol who want security, but for whom buying is out of reach. Housing coops have been a small but steady presence in the UK for decades.

There are around 40 registered in the southwest, and although each is unique, they tend to share some core beliefs.

A housing coop is a group of people who buy a property, which they manage together. The coop owns the house but the group owns the

coop, making members effectively their own landlords; able to set rents and arrange work on the house. It’s a way to step out of the rental market and make sure a home remains in cooperative ownership for years to come, with usually cheap rent for members and more security than rental tenancies. You also avoid the personal debt of having a mortgage.

“Hammerhead Housing Cooperative owns the house and the five of us are all directors of that company,” explains Vic. “If I move out, I’ll stop being a director and whoever moves in will become a new director.”

“Two rooms will always be a housing benefit level,” adds Vic, and rent for each room is on a sliding scale, dependent on the resident’s income. It’s a far cry from privately renting.

Being in a housing coop doesn’t give the same financial benefit, for an individual or couple, as buying a house. If someone leaves, they don’t get ‘bought out’ because the coop is paying the mortgage and owns the house. And it still means renting for the rest of your life.

“It’s not like buying a house and then your mortgage is paid off,” explains Anne Barham, from Somewhere Housing Cooperative, Bristol’s oldest and largest housing coop in Bedminster. “I’m going to have to pay ‘til I die. And now I’m getting older, that’s a bit of a problem for me.” Once the mortgage is paid off, rent (which by then is much lower) goes towards maintenance and some coops invest in helping newer coops get off the ground with skill sharing, advice and loans though cooperative federation Radical Routes.

“There’s no way that I could afford to have a place like this to live,” says Trevor Houghton, also from Somewhere. They’ve just added three new-build super-low-energy one-bed flats to their fleet of 14 housing units for over 20 members, and he’s about to move into one of them.

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a support network. Cohabiting is good for your health, says Steph.

“Being around other people is just good for you.”

“Basically you’re creating your own extended family.”

It’s not always easy though. Buying a house as a cooperative can be a gruelling process, full of disappointment and frustration, as the five friends behind Anarres Housing Cooperative found out.

They formed their coop around the same time as Hammerhead started up. “We saw where the rental market was going in Bristol, and we realised that if we got kicked out we wouldn’t be able to get somewhere,” says Cheryl. Most of the members of the coop are on disability benefits and Cheryl has a dog, both of which, as anyone who’s ever rented knows, make finding a home nearly

impossible. “And landlords never ever fix anything.”

They had everything in place.

They’d found a house, raised enough for a deposit and got a mortgage in principle with Triodos, one of the few banks to lend to cooperatives.

Now, after months of careful planning they were finally close to moving into their own home.

But suddenly, everything went wrong at once. They were outbid on the house, the mortgage provider increased the interest rate and reduced the percentage it would lend them, and one of the friends – the one who’d been putting in the biggest chunk of money – pulled out. And then, they got evicted. Their landlord wanted to sell the house so they split up, moving where they could.

“There’s so much to think of.

We thought we’d covered everything,” says Cheryl in a low voice, clearly still stung by the memory.

Cheryl says that it was tempting to give up, but in the end it was the thing they’d all feared – being evicted and moved into separate houses – that made them give it another go. The friends took a six-month break, then started again. They found two new members to replace the ones who’d left, and joined Radical Routes.

“Once you’ve got a loan from Radical Routes, mortgage brokers will take that as quite a strong endorsement because there’s never been a Radical Routes loan that’s been defaulted on,” explains Sam, who joined Anarres when it restarted. The coop is currently trying to raise its loan stock (anarres.org. uk), which is made up of long-term loans from family, friends and other investors.

When choosing tomorrow’s front page, there’s an old newsroom saying, “If it bleeds it leads”. This tactic of choosing shocking stories is unhealthily sensational, preys on peoples’ fears,and all too often leaves us feeling powerless.

We want to stop this kind of reporting. So we’re trying to lead by example by publishing in-depth stories which focus on solutions, not just problems.

By celebrating pioneering ideas and community action we’re highlighting the positive things which will improve the city we live in.

Support this by joining the Cable from £1 a month, and be part of the solution!

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The message I got from Anarres, and everyone I’ve spoken to for this story is: it probably won’t be easy but it’ll be worth it. For the obvious economical benefits, but also the social and ideological ones. “It’s about land being held in common, not believing in private property but that we should all have access,” says Vic. “None of us has the right to own a bit of land.”

For more about housing cooperatives, how to start one or ones looking for new members: www.radicalroutes.org.uk www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk Step-by-step guide: www.radicalroutes.org.uk/publicdownloads/ how2housingco-opstepbystep.pdf

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But not everyone starts from scratch. Steph is on the hunt for an established coop to join. She’s in her 30s and doesn’t want to be at the whim of landlords anymore, but can’t afford to buy. “And it’s unlikely I’ll be able to in the next 15-20 years,” she points out. Tenants in the private sector are getting older, according to the latest report from the Office of National Statistics.

Steph wants to live in a coop “to provide stability and security”, which she can’t afford to do on her own. “Especially if you’re a single person, what do I do? My friends are all having babies and buying houses. I’m one of three people I know who doesn’t own the house they live in.”

While escaping the insecurity of the private rental sector is appealing, it’s also about taking property out of private ownership and providing actually affordable housing.

But the motivations are not all financial. “It’s about living with people, rather than just sharing a space, about living communally, building

“The only way you can afford to buy anywhere now is if you get given money or save up loads”

FEATURE

“Basically you’re creating your own extended family”

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

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The alternative South West Rich List

SIR JAMES DYSON

Four cases of hoarding so serious they deserve a Channel 4 reality series WORDS MATTHEW HOLLINSHEAD

PETER HARGREAVES

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Worth more than 35 times the entire annual budget of Bristol City Council

Brexit no-dealer with billions in cash “not doing very much”

Wealth:

£12.6bn

Time it would take a Bristolian on the average salary of £28,855 to earn that?

How long ago was that?

In 2000, James Dyson argued that it was ‘suicidal’ for the UK to not join the Euro, because of the difficulties that poor, struggling firms like his were having exporting their goods due to the strong pound. In the Brexit referendum and since, Dyson – who is richer than all other members of our South West Rich List combined – has vigorously campaigned for Brexit on the basis of the golden age of opportunity it will usher in.

But whichever way the hot air is blowing on Europe, 72-yearold Dyson remains a caricature oligarch when it comes to working people.

In 2017, he argued that workers’

436,666 Years

Our ancestors didn’t even have stone tools rights should be reduced and that corporation tax, a tax on a company’s profits, should be scrapped, adding that it is a “very odd thing because there are ways of getting around paying it”.

Having moved production of vacuums to Malaysia in 2003 as trialed during his Euro tantrum – saying that “wages in the Far East are less than half those expected in Britain” – the famous Brexiteer and national hero who said Britain needed to go it alone moved Dyson HQ to Singapore earlier in 2019.

Of course, this mystifying decision had nothing to do with turning his back on the country – Dyson was simply “future proofing” the company.

Wealth:

£3.2bn

Time it would take a Bristolian on the average salary of £28,855 to earn that?

How long ago was that?

110,899 Years

Humans had begun to leave North Africa for the Middle East

This West Country billionaire, 72, enjoys a pub lunch with his local MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. Apparently, Hargreaves goes for a steak pie, while it’s rumoured that Victorian vampire Rees-Mogg prefers to devour the life-force of local peasants.

Speaking of pastry products, Hargreaves, who donated £3.2 million to fellow financier Nigel Farage’s Brexit effort, admitted the campaign told “porky pies” and was a “little bit racist” in its demonisation of migrants. A committed no-deal advocate, he has claimed that Brexit will be good for the country, saying that things “will be like Dunkirk again”, referring to the WW2 retreat from France. (In the midst of the fervour surrounding Dunkirk, Churchill cautioned that it was not

a victory and that “wars are not won by evacuations”). After building Bristol-based financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown into a £6 billion behemoth, Hargreaves retired in 2010 to focus on pulling up his bootstraps by cannibalising public assets. The privatisation of Royal Mail in 2013 saw Hargreaves pocket £45.7 million.

This self-described, self-made billionaire has said of his wealth, “I don’t really do very much with it” (aside from the odd £15 million private jet). While he does pay all UK taxes, the fact that he can have more than £3 billion in personal wealth that “isn’t doing much” says more about our tax system and the distribution of wealth than Hargreaves himself.

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For even longer, the Sunday Times Rich List has been published annually – a showcase of humans with magpie-like tendencies to hoard and hide more cash than could ever be spent. It’s easy to laugh at these guys, until you realise they wield great power and wealth in a way that corrupts the political process and forces us to listen to their dodgy opinions – and look at their dodgy suits.

It goes without saying that our lives are immeasurably enriched by the work of many innovators (think how dusty our skirting boards would be without Sir James Dyson). But as billions sit idle and wasted in private bank accounts, innovative ideas for the world’s problems go unfunded and people go hungry. While that might say more about our political system than the individuals themselves, we can still have a bit of fun.

Because, you know, if you don’t laugh…

All wealth data based on the Sunday Times Rich List 2019.

TERENCE MORDAUNT STEPHEN LANSDOWN Climate Change denying Brexiteer

“No qualms” about tax dodging

Time it would take a Bristolian on the average salary of £28,855 to earn that?

17,328 Years

Homosapiens emerge as the sole How long ago was that? survivors in the once diverse human family Terrance Mordaunt, 70, took over the Bristol Port as co-owner after its privatisation in 1991. Mordaunt is a relative pauper in comparison with the Scrooge McDuck opulence of others on this list. He does however have as strong a commitment to putting his vast wealth where his mouth is and standing up for what he believes in.

Mordaunt personally gave £100,000 to the official Vote Leave campaign and is a long-time major donor to the Conservative Party. In 2014, Charlotte Leslie, former Bristol North West Conservative MP was forced to apologise for not declaring £17,000 in donations from a Bristol Port company boss while asking a series of Parliamentary questions related

to the Port’s business and lobbying efforts to prevent the Severn Tidal Barrage from being built. In May 2019, he made donations of £25,000 each to two renowned charity cases, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.

A member of local rich man’s gang the Merchant Venturers, Mordaunt also sits on the board of the Global Warming Policy Forum – professional climate change deniers who in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence are committed to muddying the waters over climate science and lobbying against investments in renewables and green economic policy. This is of course wholly unconnected to the huge quantities of fossil fuel that enters the UK through his ports.

Wealth:

£1.7bn

Time it would take a Bristolian on the average salary of £28,855 to earn that?

58,915 Years

How long ago was that?

Our ancestors are breeding with Neanderthals

Steve Lansdown is currently bankrolling Bristol City FC from the tax haven of Guernsey, having made his fortune as co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown. Unlike his partner Peter Hargreaves, above, Lansdown said he had “no qualms” about moving his excessive treasure out of the taxman’s reach.

to pull it off means that clubs can have little or no warning of problems faced by their super-rich backers. Especially if, like City, you have taken out the biggest loan (£40 million) in the Championship in the last decade.

Lansdown, 66, has been pumping money into the club. On the one hand, this is par for the course for teams trying to make it big, but – as the Cable has pointed out elsewhere – it’s a worry for the clubs in question. All the hypercomplex accounting needed

Lansdown has spent a long time in the shadow of his much wealthier partner Hargreaves, but in many ways seems to be much more the cartoonish billionaire, buying up local sports clubs from his island hideaway. On the one hand the childlike fantasy fulfilment is kind of endearing and until you think: “Imagine the problems we could solve with this money.”

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Wealth:

£500mn

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

For years Channel 4 has runs series such as Britain’s Biggest Hoarders, or The Hoarder Next Door. We gawk at vulnerable and isolated people who obsessively gather things for no apparent purpose.

OPINION

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Goodbye to unfair letting fees Victory for renters who for too long have had to fork out WORDS JESSICA WALTERS ILLUSTRATION LOUIS WOOD

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oving is expensive. Having moved five times in the past three years I am far too familiar with the awful feeling of having to pull hundreds of pounds out of thin air to account for the next round of vampiric letting agency fees, and I’m not alone.

According to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, letting fees average at £400 per tenancy. A 2016 study by housing charity Shelter found that nearly a third of renters moved three or more times in a five-year period. The cost of moving is crippling, but when you have a limited window to find

somewhere, you have no choice but to pay the check-in fee, the check-out fee, the inventory fee, the contract fee, the reference fee and so on, to ensure you have somewhere to move to when your tenancy is over.

But no more! Thanks to hard campaigning by Acorn and others, our voices have finally been heard; the introduction of the Tenancy Fees Act has seen rip-off letting fees made illegal.

It also ensures that tenants cannot be charged more than five week’s rent as a security deposit and no more than one week’s rent as a holding deposit.

Acorn is a community union campaigning against poverty

and for better living conditions.

The union has achieved significant victories locally and nationally – from winning back thousands of pounds of unfairly held deposits, to forcing banks to stop discriminating against people on housing benefits in their buyto-let mortgage contracts, and playing an instrumental role in putting an end to Section 21 no-fault evictions.

On 1 June, when the letting fee ban came into force, myself and other Acorn members were dancing in the streets of Bristol celebrating our victory – but the fight isn’t over yet.

We also took part in a national day of action – visiting letting agents up and down the country, asking them to sign a pledge promising to comply with the ban. It may seem bizarre that these businesses would need reminding to obey the law, especially as any letting agency or landlord found in breach is liable to pay a fine of up to £5,000.

But this may not be enough of a deterrent. Despite the tenants’ fees being banned in Scotland from 2012, Scotland’s tenants’ union Living Rent have found many letting agencies are continuing to charge illegal fees. We can expect to see the same attitude to the law here.

In one letting agent visited by Acorn members in Sheflouiswood.com

field, there was a sign found on a noticeboard advising staff not to correct any customers who were unaware of the fees ban – effectively encouraging them to illegally charge people! The ‘Seize the Fees’ day of action on 1 June was therefore as much a warning to letting agents that we have our eye on them as a celebration of winning the ban.

Letting agents have of course protested, saying that the charges will have to be absorbed by landlords, and that might scare them out of the market. The services provided by letting agents are for the landlord not the tenant and so should be paid by them. Maybe having to pay for changing of tenants will encourage landlords to offer longer more stable tenancies!

Letting agents know that the real cost of the services they provide is negligible to a landlord. They are upset because they know that faced with someone in need of a home, they were able to charge the earth for whatever service they decided to call company policy.

I was once charged an additional £50 ‘handover fee’, which amounted to me walking into the office and being physically handed a set of keys before walking out.

What else could I do but pay it? I needed somewhere to live. I’d like to see them try to pull the same trick on a landlord whose business relationship with them doesn’t determine whether or not they have a roof over their head.

So despite this victory, the fight continues. With rents still rising while landlords continue to leave homes in disrepair, it is more important than ever to join the union, fight back and win.

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OPINION

Eye-watering sums paid to interim managers and opaque recruitment must change It’s high time for greater transparency in the world of interim managers at Bristol City Council WORDS TIN HINSON ILLUSTRATION JOE WATSON-PRICE

C

Eye-watering sums Besides Molton, Bristol council’s service director for care and support, Terry Dafter, was employed on an interim basis for nearly two years, with total annual remuneration of £215,000, before taking up his post permanently. Meanwhile, a democratic services monitoring officer was employed for three months at a cost of £93,000.

These figures are not included in the living wage certification which claims to hold maximum pay to 10 times that of the minimum council salary. They also would affect gender pay ratio figures – which councillors toldus are already particularly bad in the growth and regeneration department.

The council points out that some of these amounts will go to the recruitment agency, Penna, and that the figures also include provision for pension and other employment rights.

But these eye-watering sums are only part of the reason to be concerned. Several councillors, both opposition and Labour, told us they were concerned that using interim appointments allows the mayor to avoid the usual system of scrutiny over appointments.

“Making progress” The former chair of the oversight committee, Labour Cllr Jon Wellington told us Bristol council discouraged interim appointments for anything longer than a few months, and that the local authority “is making progress in clearing interim staff… from a peak of 13 in 2016”.

It is clear though there has been instability in the council’s senior management. Last year four out of eleven posts in the senior team were either being covered by someone else, an interim or acting appointment, or else had their job title changed.

But in 2017 the number was even higher.

This unsteadiness was criticised in an external report on the council which said that partners desperately needed “anchor points and stability”.

There is an argument to be made that although the council might have to pay a premium to get the right people into jobs, including by making interim appointments, the costs are small compared with its overall budget.

Moreover, the necessity of getting things done within a four-year term means senior posts cannot be left unfilled.

Potential conflicts of interest But the dangers of interim contracts go beyond the cash outlay for council taxpayers. There are also questions around potential conflicts of interest.

While there are no allegations of wrongdoing, such links can fuel speculation that on their way in and out of the council, interim managers are being paid for their contact books and inside knowledge as much as their competence – and that is an uncomfortable fit with public accountability. Greater transparency is long overdue.

joewatsonprice.com

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olin Molton works four days a week as Bristol council’s executive director of growth and regeneration.

The council’s pay policy says that maximum pay for a director is £165,000 per year. But, even part-time, Molton’s services cost the council £263,000, 50% more than that.

At four days a week, that amounts to around £1,450 a day.

And despite Molton’s ‘interim’ title, he has been in post since January 2018.

Policy states that all directors and executive directors have to go through a competitive interview process and face a selection committee of councillors. But the process for appointing interim staff is opaque, and runs via a private recruitment agency.

The above facts reflect growing concern at the use of socalled interim appointments by Bristol council. Conservative councillor for Bishopsworth Richard Eddy, a member of the council’s human resources oversight committee, told the Cable that the use of interim staff turned the council’s own pay policy document into “a tissue of lies”.

Showing that it’s not just those opposed to the current administration that feel this way, Labour councillor for Brislington West Harriet Bradley added that “all members of the committee had concerns about the use of interim staff on a longterm basis”.

OPINION

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It’s time to force supermarkets to reduce plastic waste

A Bristol plastic attack rebel says we must call time on corporate freedom to pollute, after Sir David Attenborough backs campaign to hand back plastic WORDS ALEX MORSS ILLUSTRATION SCOTT LUÍS MASSON

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F

irst they ignore our city’s little plastic attack rebellion – handing back unnecessary plastic wrapping to supermarkets in protest. But then our protests went viral. Soon, the naysayers were laughing at us. But now the masses are joining in.

Once again our city is proving that grassroots activism – people power – can be unstoppable. With a massive ‘Whoop!’ we can say Sir David Attenborough has just joined in with our #handbackplastic actions. But when will supermarkets and other big corporations listen?

Attenborough, probably the best known voice on plastic pollution since his Blue Planet II series, appeared on BBC 1’s War On Plastic series on Monday 24 June, writing his message on to a piece of single use plastic, intending to hand it back to the supermarket: “There is too much plastic on our planet.

For the sake of the planet, less plastic please.”

Presenter Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, filming here in Bristol, then pleaded with viewers to do the same for a whole week, putting more pressure on supermarkets.

This action is what we call a ‘plastic attack’. The movement was kick started 18 months ago here by a local team of us, quickly mustering a large and eager crowd of Bristol and Keynsham activists. Our #handbackplastic campaign rapidly spread around the UK, then Europe and the world, with regular peaceful events, involving thousands of shoppers in at least 30 countries.

Our message is that this should be the producers’ and sellers’ responsibility, not ours. The world does not have an effective system

that can cope with the overwhelming and growing amount of plastic being generated. As soon as plastic leaves the shop door the majority of it becomes pollution, the public are lumbered with around 90% of the bill and wildlife also pays a devastating toll for hundreds of years to come. It would be better if it didn’t leave the shop door, or was replaced with more sustainable alternatives.

But like most environmental problems, this is a story of us against the profit-hungry corporate machine.

We are still witnessing a growth in this largely avoidable, unsustainable, climate-changing, fossil fuel-based industry, when there should be reduction or avoidance.

.com

slmi

n ratio llust

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we are still largely being fobbed off by the supermarkets, and their slick and expensive PR machines.

Our hundreds of plastic attacks have typically engaged 200 frustrated customers per hour, per shop. Each hour, protestors typically collect up one or two trolley loads of single use plastic. About half of what we collect on plastic attacks is not even recyclable. And less than one third of Britain’s plastic waste leaving shops is recycled.

The shops’ proliferation of pointless plastic speaks far louder than their corporate words. I still despair at what I find across our city’s untouchable supermarkets. The obligation to buy five lemons in a plastic net so that four rot, when we only wanted one. The organic choice always being in plastic. Loose veg being more costly than packaged.

The two-for-one offers that drive low earners to buy wrapped food.

Black plastic for cosmetic reasons, even though the design teams know it’s the only colour that cannot be widely recycled.

It used to be the norm to carry our own containers to corner shops, buy loose fruit and veg, with reusable containers and paper bags that supported sustainable forestry – paper made from trees that absorbed carbon instead of generating it. Small greengrocers and farmers’ markets still manage to sell without single use plastic containers leaving the shop, and they manage to sell more sustainable goods much more cheaply too.

The world is sick of swallowing this rubbish, figuratively, financially and physically. Pathetically slowly, some shops are starting to unpeel a few wrappers and recognise there

“Now our campaigners say it’s time for the corporate machine to be made to listen, to finally be made to accept that plastic is their pollution problem, not ours” are alternative methods, but imagination and innovation seem to be hindered by a lack of regulation.

But it shouldn’t be voluntary like this. Change should be led from the top. We need a 100% polluter pays principle, comprehensive deposit return schemes and tighter regulation being forced upon the plastic chain by government. Instead, we have a weak, voluntary agreement from Wrap UK’s industry-biased Plastic Pact.

I hope everyone hands back their plastic and uses Attenborough’s new hashtag #OurPlasticFeedback – but our campaigners are saying please don’t stop after this week – keep on returning this beast of burden until it is slain.

Let’s call it what it really is: a war between corporate power and people power. Planet versus profit.

This summer, perhaps we edged closer to victory thanks to the power of one particular famous person.

So far we’ve been ignored, mocked and finally joined en masse…

Surely, if the old saying is correct, then the next logical stage on this war on plastic is that we must win.

Alex Morss is a Bristol writer, author and ecologist who has been co-leading the global plastic attack movement. @morss_alex

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OPINION

Electric cars are not the answer The popularity of electric cars looks set to increase as we reduce carbon emissions, but they are no green panacea WORDS ADAM REYNOLDS ILLUSTRATION PATRICK ATKINS

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Not so clean or green In the 1990s, everybody was told to buy a diesel to save the planet. Now everybody is being told to buy electric to save the planet. Yet there are growing concerns about tyre dust, a significant but less well known vehicle pollutant.

Some of the health risks of inhaling fine (PM10) and ultrafine (PM2.5) particles are well-established, such as asthma, lung cancer, and, most recently, heart disease.

But a growing body of evidence suggests exposure can also harm the brain, accelerating cognitive ageing, and may even increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Significantly, replacing only all UK cars with battery EVs would also require the next two years of the world’s environmentally costly cobalt. There are just not enough raw resources available to deliver this EV nirvana.

While we are decarbonising our energy supply mix (replacing coal and gas with renewables), we would need a 20% capacity increase to cope with EV energy demands. We will be lucky to decarbonise our existing capacity by 2050, let alone an increased amount.

Residents, particularly many of those in terraces and flats, will also find electric car ownership a struggle due to insufficient or inconvenient charging points – and the local electrical infrastructure cannot currently support the wholesale move to EV ownership. Imagine the neighbourhood charging wars just around the corner.

Where we live, how, and why we travel are key functions of understanding the role that EVs, and even autonomous cars, will play. We have had a century of cheap readily avail-

“The privately owned car is simply not going to be part of living in a low energy society, be it electric or otherwise” able fossil fuel energy where the costs have been externalised. The planet and your health are paying that price.

The answer is recognising we need to move people as energy-efficiently as possible: walking, cycling and mass public transport are all more energy efficient than private cars. EVs perpetuate a high energy movement of people.

This need is not reflected in the West of England Combined Authority (WECA)’s regional development plans. Many of its proposed sites for tens of thousands of houses are carcentric with little or no good mass transit links. WECA is enforcing car dependency, and not delivering low energy, human-scale transport solutions for people’s daily needs.

Should I buy electric?

If you have a charging point and are in the market for a new car, it’s worth buying electric. Your only running costs are new tyres, saving you a fortune in petrol and public transport.

But I foresee the negatives emerging as more appear on our roads: the mass abandonment of public

transport and a government scrambling to recover revenue and tackle increased congestion, which already costs us billions per year. It will abolish fuel duty and introduce dynamic road user pricing. Oregon, USA is already trialling this.

Expect road user pricing to punish any journey less than three miles when you could have walked or cycled, and woe betide you drive along a mass transit corridor at rush hour.

Driving will be more expensive than taking the bus or train. And once the health risks of tyre dust are proven you won’t be allowed into an Ultra Low Emission Zone with your EV for free. You will blame the government for telling you to buy an EV. As demand for EVs around the world skyrockets, expect raw material supply problems, with materials being reserved for electric buses, lorries and vans. Mass transit and human-scale, space-efficient transport solutions such as cycles and eBikes will become a priority.

Eventually, as local authorities get to grips with climate emergencies, they will design-out car dependency. Bristol has declared a climate emergency, but to actually address this it needs to become a low-energy society, moving people efficiently both in terms of energy and space used, and should be looking tocities like Vancouver and Copenhagen for answers.

If its answer is the car, whether electric or otherwise, Bristol is asking the wrong question.

patrickatkins.co.uk

the BRISTOL CABLE | ISSUE 20

ristol’s roads are congested and significantly degraded by transport pollution, our energy supply mix needs to decarbonise, and we exist in a high energy consumption society. Against this backdrop, we’re being told to buy electric cars – but they are not the green transport we need.

First off, they may increase congestion rather than decreasing it.

By 2050, Department of Transport modelling showed a 17% increase in UK traffic levels if we continue as we are, while 100% electric vehicle (EV) ownership showed a 51% increase.

EVs are extremely expensive to buy, but phenomenally cheap to run – meaning public transport would likely be abandoned.

On top of this, every 1% shift in car ownership to electric reduces tax revenue by £300 million. As EV ownership increases, dynamic road user pricing will have to be introduced to recapture lost revenue and tackle increased congestion on the UK’s roads.

This could mean charging people based on the length of their journeys or the time of day they drive.

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