Bristol City Council Archives - Page 5 of 30

Bristol City Council

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?

Alex Turner

Opinion

Analysis: The national high-rise saga behind Barton House’s emergency evacuation

Housing journalist Peter Apps, who has written for years about Grenfell, explains how even the sudden collapse of a similar high rise block in London 50 years failed to spark enough action to make other towers safe.

Peter Apps

Reports

Exclusive: Council denies structural issues identified four years ago are root cause of tower block evacuation

Bristol City Council says 'new and intrusive' surveys raised questions over whether it could rely on its own records about Barton House, whose residents have been left temporarily homeless after the building was deemed unsafe.

Billy Stockwell and Alex Turner

Reports

Barton Hill tower block residents’ lives turned upside down by emergency evacuation

Told to leave their homes under chaotic and confusing orders by Bristol City Council, tenants of Barton House face an uncertain future after their homes were deemed unsafe.

Sean Morrison

Features

A rectangular tower block covered with scaffolding for fire safety works.

A year on from fires, delays to safety works are leaving tower block tenants shivering

While the dangerous cladding on some of Bristol’s high-rise blocks has been removed, it’s yet to be replaced – meaning residents face a winter without insulated homes.

Sean Morrison

Reports

Adult man in shirt standing by car occupied by driver at the wheel.

Bristol’s cabbies are being put out of work by council licensing delays and mixups

Private hire and Hackney carriage drivers have had enough of the city’s licensing department, with some waiting needlessly for months for permits to be renewed before they can get back on the road.

Sean Morrison and Matty Edwards

Reports

Bristol City Council is nearly skint: the local government financial crisis explained

The council’s budget black hole will rise to £32m in years to come. But as local authorities reach the brink of bankruptcy elsewhere in England, something needs to give.

Matty Edwards

Reports

Adult woman wearing headscarf, standing in front of open door.

Racial justice charity handed lease to create ‘new kind of community space’ in St Paul’s

Black South West Network successfully secured the long-term management of the Coach House, near Brunswick Square, via a community asset transfer. Now it can raise funds for an ambitious plan to turn it into a ‘centre for Black enterprise and culture’.

Matty Edwards

Features

Four years on from booting out bailiffs, is Bristol’s ‘ethical’ council tax debt collection working?

Bristol City Council's 2018 vow to stop using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax, after a Cable campaign, appears to be giving vulnerable people breathing space. But Covid and the cost of living crisis have seen debt levels spike.

Matty Edwards

Reports

Bristol councillor misconduct cases in line for shake-up as zero complaints upheld for six years

Democracy campaigners say they have lost faith in how misconduct allegations against councillors are being dealt with, and are demanding drastic changes.

Adam Postans (Local Democracy Reporter)

Reports

Metro Mayor vetoes Bristol Underground plans at key vote as progress remains uncertain

The future for the “Future4West” scheme remains uncertain after region’s political leaders failed to come to an agreement.

John Wimperis

Reports

Community standoff with council over eviction threat of beloved Kuumba Centre in St Paul’s

The space next to Stokes Croft has served the local community for decades but activists are now fighting to secure its long-term future.

Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins

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