Uncovering injustice and wrongdoing
Investigations
Bristol council paying huge sums of money to rent homes from banned landlord
Back in 2022, Bristol City Council obtained a five-year court order barring landlord Naomi Knapp from renting out her homes. Now, it’s spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to use her properties as emergency accommodation.
Revealed: how two Bristol men lifted the lid on their union’s failures to tackle racism
A Unison inquiry has found ‘compelling evidence’ Black members facing race discrimination have been ‘inadequately’ represented by the union and its solicitors. Two former Bath Spa University staff, who took their own claims to a tribunal, say their case shows how the system has let people down.
Racist and traumatising: inside a Section 60 suspicionless stop and search operation
Officers searched innocent children, disproportionately targeted people of colour and undermined their anti-racism reforms during a 48-hour police operation in February. Their narrative that it was an effective knife-crime deterrent, done with consent, is misleading.
Revealed: Building owner ‘abandons’ leaseholders trapped in unsafe Brislington flats
Orchard House residents took matters into their own hands to force the building owner to carry out remediation works, under powers brought in after the Grenfell tragedy. But as the legal deadline nears, little progress has been made.
Transparency matters: why is Bristol City Council failing on freedom of information?
Cable research shows that Bristol is worse than many other major cities at handling citizens’ FOI requests. Why is this a problem – and will the end of the mayoral system next year bring more open local government in the city?
‘A Pandora’s box’? What impact will Fishponds’ big new developments have, and who stands to profit?
Plans to redevelop three factory sites could see thousands of new homes along the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. Residents want to raise awareness about the potential impact of the schemes, which promise their owners lucrative returns.
‘Hollow victory’: a rape survivor’s journey through a broken criminal justice system
More women are reporting rape to the police but prosecutions are at an all-time low. As a new approach to investigating sexual crimes is piloted in Bristol, the Cable follows the story of one woman from reporting to the police to her attacker standing trial.
