Bristol City Council

Bristol councillors set to back rent controls and local database of rogue landlords

Councillors will vote next week on a motion setting out a range of interventions in the increasingly unaffordable private rented sector, including a database to name and shame the worst landlords, as highlighted by the Cable in 2022.

Revealed: Serious incidents ongoing at controversial south Bristol flats, despite council review

Minutes obtained by the Cable show ongoing problems at Imperial Apartments in Hengrove, with concerns being raised over tenants' mental ill-health, energy costs, the 'unwelcoming' environment and the behaviour of security staff.

‘I’m Band Four on the housing waiting list – how am I ever going to get out of here?’

Earlier this year, Bristol City Council weighed up converting Imperial Apartments from permanent to temporary accommodation, the Cable can reveal. Many families, backed by their local MP, would love to move on.

This week in Bristol: Parks budget cuts exceed existing budget

The latest council cost cutting plans include a £1.5 million cut to the council's £1.3 million parks budget.

Bristol councillors back bringing buses into public control amid cuts to services

Political pressures is growing on Dan Norris, the West of England metro mayor, to explore how a bus franchising model could solve the wider Bristol region’s bus crisis.

Councillors sign off 20-year deal aimed at decarbonising Bristol’s energy networks

Councillors this week approved the two-decade City Leap partnership, paving the way for hundreds of millions of pounds to be invested into heat networks, retrofit and other renewable technologies in Bristol.

Flammable polystyrene cladding used on Bristol towers: was the writing on the wall?

After two fires at tower blocks fitted with expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation, Bristol City Council is stripping the flammable material from all its high-rises. But experts say it should never have been allowed in the first place.

Lessons from Lille, as Bristol explores rent controls to tackle its housing affordability crisis

As Bristol prepares to ask the government for extra powers to bring in rent controls, the Cable investigates what can be learned from across the channel in France, and in Scotland where reform is already in motion.

The cost of clean air: how Bristol’s CAZ has left disabled people feeling forgotten

Disabled people can be badly affected by air pollution, and many support the aims of Bristol's Clean Air Zone (CAZ). But there are questions as to whether the council has done enough to consider the knock-on effects on their lives.

Bristol council was warned of polystyrene cladding dangers long before tower block blaze, so why didn’t it act sooner?

The Cable quizzes Bristol City Council's housing chief on the ‘urgent’ rollout of new high-rise fire safety measures, how much it’s all going to cost, and why the authority didn’t act faster.

Community support for Castle Park development was overstated, claim members of local group

Plans to develop the derelict site around St Mary Le Port in central Bristol were approved by councillors, but questions are now being raised about how the views of local residents were used during the process.

As nurses vote for historic industrial action, is Bristol facing a winter of strikes? 

Nurses have voted for a national strike over pay for the first time ever, joining Bristol workers across multiple industries pushing for better pay and conditions as the UK goes from the cost of living crisis into recession.