A case study in who holds power over Bristol's development.
Councillors wanted to refuse South Bristol's tallest-ever tower block, officers said that risked a massive legal bill, so now it's going ahead.
The planning committee chair says it's 'demoralizing': www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bristol MP Darren Jones wrote to the council in mid-January about a constituent living with damp and mould so severe that their child has moved out.
More than five weeks later, he says he's still not received a response - and accused the council of breaching the law.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The Charity commission suggested the case highlighted a gap in its powers www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The West of England mayor is looking to invest in a huge warehouse inspired by Gordon Brown's @themultibank.bsky.social
Bristol city council has suggested van dwellers on a Lockleaze meanwhile site will be without on-site drinking water for at least a week while it works out what's going on
EXCL: Labour mayor Helen Godwin won't fund a 24-hour bus gate on Park Street in Bristol - so the Green Party-led council is going to try to find the money itself www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The Charity Commission is looking to suspend Easton mosque chair (and Green Party councillor) Abdul Malik for three years www.bbc.com/news/article...
Helen Godwin says she won't pay for free bus travel for asylum seekers out of the WECA budget.
But she has written to the Home Sec asking her to look at whether bus tickets should be issued:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
And as @paullewismoney.bsky.social says, we've had schemes similar to the youth guarantee before. Is this one really going to be different?
bsky.app/profile/paul...
'Abolishing' youth unemployment sounds great, but those who work with young people say it will require a lot of targeted support.
In the West of England, the youth guarantee pilot is aiming to reach almost 500 young people at a cost of £5m - around £10,000 per person.
On Labour's youth guarantee, what does 'a guaranteed paid work placement' actually mean? A week? A month?
The Bristol pilot scheme offers a two-week placement, but there's no guarantee of a job at the end of it (and it's too soon to know the results). www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
2. The council admits it has struggled to reach people living in vehicles. Now providing them with support is a key part of the proposed policy. There would be a couple more outreach workers, but can they guarantee the support will be meaningful and will genuinely reach everybody?
Quite a shift in tone here from Barry Parsons, but also some challenges:
1. The council only has 66 meanwhile site pitches, and is aiming for 250 by April. So people in the other 350+ vehicles are going to have to go somewhere else. How many will end up stuck on a meanwhile site waiting list?
With more than 600 people living kerbside in Bristol, the council is asking what you think about a new plan to bring numbers down www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“The flag represents all of us in England, regardless of our original heritage”, says Tony Dyer, the Green leader of Bristol city council.
“We are an English city… we are also a city of sanctuary, those two things are not contradictory.”
Bristol’s Green council leader Tony Dyer tells BBC Bristol he's “happy" to see flags being flown across the city.
Says some people have approached the council because they feel uncomfortable, but “it's time for us to reclaim the flag”.
Despite the focus on hotels, most asylum seekers are accommodated in housing - often HMOs. But the pushback against HMOs is growing, esp in the north. A series of councils has moved in the last 6 months to tighten restrictions, while Reform bang the drum locally and nationally
on.ft.com/41J5aGk l
"It's being used as a tool to whip up people’s anger"
Council of Sanctuary status is being put under the spotlight in towns and cities across the country.
In Weston-super-Mare, plans to join the scheme could be scrapped.
Helen Godwin told @johndarvall.bsky.social that a new Comms Director, paid more than her, will help WECA tell its story to residents and government
Bristol set itself a target to be net zero by 2030, and it looks unlikely to meet it.
But the city has made faster progress than others since declaring a Climate Emergency, according to a council report.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Chaminda's work on the disability cuts has been invaluable.
This shows that contrary to many media assumptions that PIP cuts are primarily around mental health - they would affect lots of people with cancer, heart disease, and numerous other physical illnesses and disabilities.
So we have a govt that is saying it believes in devolution, but then telling local authorities how to run themselves.
On the other hand, its not hard to find people in Bristol who think the committee system has made accountability much more challenging.
Bristol Greens describe the change as 'undemocratic and clueless'
People in Bristol voted to move to a committee system in 2022 - and the change only happened last year.
Now the government is telling councils they have to move to a leader-and-cabinet model, describing the committee model as 'unclear, duplicative, and wasteful'.
Spoke to a woman yesterday whose husband has a serious neurological condition.
He wears splints, has frequent falls, experiences daytime fatigue, sometimes chokes on his food - but under the proposed rules wouldn't qualify for PIP when he is reassessed.
She would lose her Carers Allowance too.
People would only qualify for PIP if they score ‘four points’ in a single category.
What does that actually mean? You could be at risk of choking, need help to wash hair or lower limbs, need prompting to go to the toilet - and not qualify.
Away from the politics of it all, what actually are the welfare plans that the government is trying to get through?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
