Dear reader,

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

In this local election special, we explain what is up for grabs and the key issues at play. But if you’re no expert on local politics (not many people are) we’ve also got the basics covered: What does a councillor actually do? How does the voting system work? What on earth is WECA?

You can also check out more election coverage, including in-depth interviews with the mayoral candidates in our Bristol Unpacked podcast, and our Citizens’ Agenda of priorities chosen by readers.

The recent protests in Bristol against the Police and Crime Bill have shown the importance of local media. On-the-ground reporting is vital to prevent events being mischaracterised and politicians from capitalising for their own purposes. More than 100 people have become Cable members off the back of our reporting on the protests.

To support this reporting and to help our journalists hold politicians’ to account over the next four years, you can join the 2,500+ members who have already chipped in to make a better local media: thebristolcable.org/join

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

The Cable team