FEATURE
ce for Bristol Actions may not be the city’s strength but words clearly take up a lot of officer time and the piazza now enjoys mentions in Bristol’s Core Strategy report (2009), the City Docks Conservation Area Appraisal and the Public Realm and Movement Framework - all of which concur with our analysis of the importance of the site.
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3D visualisation of the plans
So here we are three years on and still talking to the council. There is nothing to show on site apart from a few temporary planters installed by our supporters. Our attempts to persuade Tree Bristol to initiate some tree planting have failed for a second season, in spite of our £10,000 fundraising target having been fulfilled. Some, but not all, council negotiators dealing with ‘outsiders’ seem to delight in finding problems, rather than working to facilitate strategic outcomes that have been agreed. The benefits of genuine partnership with community groups are not really appreciated, in spite of all the fashionable rhetoric around ‘localism’. In enduring all this bureaucratic bumbling we are not alone. Groups with ideas for the space under the M32 at Easton and the Bearpit roundabout, too, will recognise our experience.
Cumberland Piazza in context of entrance locks and gorge
So what is my advice for breaking the log jam? To council management – Officers’ time is wasted and initiative suppressed by the lack of clear leadership. Projects like this will flounder without identifying a single point of responsibility. To council officers - Stretched to the limit and demoralised by spending cuts, you need all the help you can get. So think positive and don’t bite the outstretched hand of friendship. To the citizens of Bristol – Stand up and be counted. Cumberland Piazza could be a superb asset for the whole city.
Site lost to flyover (All images courtesy of Ray Smith)
Ray Smith Hotwells & Cliftonwood C.A. Email: ray.smith@gmx.com www.hotwellscliftonwood.org.uk facebook page: Cumberland Piazza