Mayor Marvin Rees’ second term ended as of Monday, 6 May 2024.

Bristol City Council is looking at archiving the Mayor’s Blog, before it closes later this year.

Please refer to news.bristol.gov.uk going forward.

Marian Liebmann reflects on eleven years of working with the Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group.

I joined the Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group in the days when the City Council took a lead, but included volunteers to make sure it was a community event. My parents were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, and I have always felt very strongly about prejudice and racism of all sorts. At that point I was still working full-time, but felt it was an important cause.

A committed member of staff from City Hall once chaired the committee, and the Council also researched and printed a booklet of related events. Sadly, over the years the City Council had to withdraw most of their help, for funding reasons. We are very grateful that for the last few years the Council has waived the hire fee for the main hall, but we still have to fundraise for the costs of putting on the event (printing, website, speakers’ expenses, BSL signers, refreshments), and the committee is made up entirely of volunteers.

The first non-City Council chair of the committee was Valerie Emmott, who ably led us through several years. We met at St Nicholas Tolentino Church under the care of Father Richard McKay, who concludes the event every year. However, the traffic around the church became impossible, so when I became chair (for 2017-2019), we met in each other’s houses. During the Covid years we met on Zoom, with two co-chairs miraculously managing the whole process online. This year we were generously granted a free meeting room by Redland Quakers. There was a new committee but no chairperson, so I stepped up for one final year.

Holocaust Memorial Day was instituted as a national UK memorial day in 2001, and is widely recognised around the world. It is linked to 27 January, the day in 1945 that Auschwitz Concentration Camp was liberated. It commemorates the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews and others were murdered, but also more recent genocides (those recognised by international tribunals) in Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust provides a theme for each year, often reflecting current concerns. Here are some recent ones:

• Don’t stand by (2016)
• The power of words (2018)
• Torn from home (2019)
• The fragility of freedom (2024)

We try to follow this in our talks and activities.

Each year we have looked for a keynote speaker with lived experience of the Holocaust in some form, and we have been fortunate to find several extraordinary, wonderful people in their late 80s and 90s who have been generous with their time, even though travel has often been difficult for them. We realise that this won’t be possible in the future, and we will need to rely on ‘second generation’ descendants.

Alongside our keynote speaker, we have a mixture of other speakers. It is a non-political event and we try to include broad participation across all parties, groups and individuals. We are keen to include our local political leaders to introduce and conclude the event. We also welcome young people from local schools who have been on the ‘Learning from Auschwitz’ programme. We have had speakers and dance performances from Rwanda, though so far we have not had a Cambodian or Darfuri contributor. Prior to Covid, we had workshops where attendees interacted with others, discussing topics such as ‘The Ten Steps to Genocide’. More recently we have also welcomed Bristol refugee organisations to hold information stalls.

During Covid, for three years 2020-2023, we provided a presentation online, thanks to the web skills of one of our committee members and another member who made a video of their rich family history. We were glad to be back in City Hall for January 2024, but due to the Israel-Gaza conflict we had to institute security measures for the first time. In spite of this, all went well on the day, and everyone found it a very moving event.  

We have already fixed the date for next year – Monday 27 January 2025 from 11-1 – which will be the eightieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. There is a good, enthusiastic committee, and Oren Adani serving as chair for the coming year.

If anyone would like to get involved, sponsor, or donate, please contact us at: chair@bristolhmd.org

I have found my years working on the Holocaust Memorial Day committee very rewarding and sometimes challenging, bringing me into contact with a wide range of people and diverse communities – all working together to eliminate prejudice and hatred, to make Bristol a more tolerant and friendly city.

Situated at the heart of our vibrant city, The Cause Bristol CIC shines as a beacon of empowerment, creativity, and community spirit.  Dedicated to driving positive change, our organisation initiates transformative programs aimed at uplifting individuals and promoting unity within our community.

Empowering Creative Youth:

At The Cause Bristol CIC, we prioritise nurturing the artistic potential of the next generation. Our engaging youth sessions provide a supportive platform for young minds to explore and express their creativity, instilling confidence and purpose to guide them towards success.

Curating Creative Workshops and Live Events:

We pride ourselves on curating a diverse array of creative workshops and live events that serve as catalysts for emerging talent in Bristol. By offering valuable learning opportunities and a platform for artists to showcase their work, we aim to cultivate a sense of artistic belonging and appreciation within our community.

Supporting Emerging Talent:

The Cause Bristol CIC is committed to providing steadfast support to emerging talent in our city. Through mentorship programs, networking opportunities, and resource sharing, we empower budding artists and creatives with the tools and guidance necessary to thrive on their creative journeys.

Creative Link-Up Events:

Collaboration is central to our mission. Our vibrant creative link-up events bring together artists, creatives, and enthusiasts to exchange ideas, forge connections, and cultivate a robust and inclusive creative community, enriching Bristol’s cultural landscape.

1-2-1 Mentoring Support:

Recognizing the value of personalised guidance, we offer one-on-one mentoring support to individuals navigating their creative pursuits. Our tailored mentorship programs empower individuals to surmount obstacles, set goals, and chart their paths to success in their chosen creative endeavours.

Radio Show:

Our dedication to community engagement extends to the airwaves. Through our dedicated radio show, we unify communities through the universal language of music and conversation. We highlight local talent and facilitate meaningful discussions that honour the diverse creativity within our city.

Together we can make a difference

As a musician myself, currently establishing a blog celebrating the wealth of talent in Bristol, I am deeply passionate about contributing to the growth of young creatives.

As we expand our initiatives, The Cause Bristol CIC remains steadfast in our mission to nurture creativity, support emerging talent, and forge a community that thrives on unity and collaboration.

Let’s continue to champion the transformative power of art and creativity, shaping a brighter, more inclusive city for all.

You can check out Olivia’s work here and more from The Cause.

We were honoured to recently welcome Mayor Marvin Rees to our Friendship Club on Tuesday 26^th of March, during Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. 

The Friendship Club is a weekly social club for adults with Cerebral Palsy, which is still going strong after 50 years! Around 25 people attend this Club regularly, and it is a vital source of support which combats social exclusion and loneliness, something that many people with complex disabilities like Cerebral Palsy face in their everyday lives. One of our members Graham has attended for over 30 years and describes the Club as his lifeline, saying it has given him the support and friendship that he desperately needed. He says the friends he has made at the Club over the years are like having another family.

Cerebral Palsy Plus is the charity behind the Friendship Club, we are the only organization providing specific support to individuals of all ages living with Cerebral Palsy in Bristol and surrounding areas. Our mission is to support our members to live as independently as they wish and to live life to the full. Living with a complex disability presents many challenges, from the pain and discomfort caused by physical symptoms to the emotional impact of living with a disability.

The Mayor was greeted by the Friendship Club members with warmth and enthusiasm, and there was a wonderful sense of connection established on the evening.  One of our members Adrian, was delighted that the Mayor remembered he used to live on the same road as him!

There was also a real sense of excitement in the room and the Mayor’s presence was appreciated by the group, who were pleased he took an interest and enjoyed getting involved.  He even took part in a game of Boccia alongside the members.  Our member Helen said “He was really nice to talk to, and even said we could go to sit in the Lord Mayor’s Chair!”

Another member Debbie shared that it meant a lot that the Mayor took time to visit the Club, saying  “I was surprised by the visit! It was really enjoyable to listen to the Mayor and it was so special that he came.”

As conversations flowed, the Mayor even extended a heartfelt invitation that the group could visit his office and sit in the Lord Mayor’s Chair at City Hall, an opportunity some of the members are excited to take up.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mayor Marvin Rees for taking the time to visit the local Cerebral Palsy community here in Bristol, his presence meant a great deal to the members of our Club.

Back in February 2020, standing in City Hall, Mayor Marvin Rees helped officially launch the Women’s Work Lab, a Bristol based social enterprise that supports mums on benefits back into work via a nine month training, work placement and coaching programme.

Back then, there was one cohort of 15 women; all of them united by their desire to get back into work despite facing multiple barriers. And it worked, despite the challenges of the pandemic and lockdowns, two-thirds of those mums landed new roles. Jobs that fitted around family life. With flexible employers who recognise amazing talent when they see it.

Four years later

Fast forward to 2024 and the Women’s Work Lab is going from strength to strength. Over 300 mums have joined our training programmes and we now deliver training right across the South West of England; three cohorts that coincide with the school terms in Bristol and then other programmes in Bath, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Somerset.

The mums we work with face multiple barriers to employment; the majority are lone parents, many have survived domestic abuse, home displacement, have health conditions, English as a second language, or children with special educational needs. The list is endless. Demand for our programmes is so high that we always have a waiting list.

The bespoke classroom training, work placement and career coaching programmes focus on building confidence, ambition and employability skills to ensure all our mums are “work ready”. We support mums with whatever is the best next step for them; ambition is so individual and for some mums that may mean more training or volunteering and for others it’s that first role in a long time.

Working with businesses

We are also incredibly proud that more and more businesses are recognising that mothers returning to work are hidden talents; they bring transferable skills, life experience, and a new perspective. The word is spreading and we hear from businesses every day that want to work with our mums. Our job is to work with those businesses to ensure they are truly places where our mum can thrive. That might mean looking at barriers to recruitment processes, not least the unnecessary focus on previous work experience rather than the plethora of transferable skills many women possess. Then there is work culture, onboarding processes and progression to consider too. This year for example we supported 15 mums into a part-time entry level returnship at Hargreaves Lansdown.

What’s next

A new programme is starting in Bristol in April 2024 and we would love to hear from any mums (or referral partners) who may be interested; Apply now. It’s always best to fill out the application form as you can also join the wait list for September should the programme already be full. Interviews are happening right now.

We would also love to speak to businesses who may be interested in hosting our mums on work placements, sponsorship opportunities or telling our mums about roles. Do email on hello@womensworklab.co.uk.

And the last word goes to one of our brilliant mums who recently landed a new role;

“The training and placement taught me what was important to me in any job role; with teamwork key! I loved every part of the support I have had with the Women’s Work Lab. I have since been offered a role in a school and even had the confidence to negotiate 4 days a week.”

Our administration cares deeply about Bristol’s parks and green spaces. Over eight years, we have worked hard to protect and invest in them, despite national austerity, and just last week we launched our strategy to improve their accessibility for all residents. 

We also care about Bristolians’ right to bury and subsequently visit their loved ones, in the city they lived, close to the people they cared about.  

Making tough decisions is part of leading a complicated and diverse city like Bristol. Working with the cards you are dealt, finite land and resources, and then choosing what is best for the city and its population.  

The decision to expand South Bristol Cemetery was the correct one. Simply put, Bristol is running out of burial space – the eight council-owned cemeteries cannot manage the pressure building from one of our country’s fastest growing cities. 

It is the only appropriate option that has the necessary existing infrastructure and transport links, has the right topography and wouldn’t put additional pressure on green space in the city. A completely new development would result in larger carbon emissions and involve a larger area of green space.

It’s easy to make sensationalist statements about our intentions, trying to raise fear and headlines through a fictionalised conflict between burial space and nature. But nobody has the right to fail Bristolians in such a fundamental way by doing nothing. 

Protecting the SNCI 

It remains an absolute priority for us that we complete this work correctly. Protecting this area, as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), has been at the forefront of our plans from the beginning.  

The council has worked to establish a close relationship with the current licensed grazier, sharing information about best practice to ensure the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. Our precaution includes developing detailed clauses within the lease, which will allow us to take enforcement action if there is mismanagement in the future.

Enabling grazing with the right cattle will ensure the SNCI is managed effectively to maintain and restore the valuable species-rich grassland which characterises this part of the SNCI: something that has become sub-optimal under the current management regime. This means we can protect the site without needing to cut for hay every year.

A Landscape and Ecological Management Plan (LEMP) is also being prepared in consultation with the grazier and other relevant partners. The LEMP sets out the council’s practical measures to ensure the ecological mitigation commitments made as part of the planning application will be delivered.  

What work is happening? 

It is easy to exaggerate any work that has taken place, when publicising pictures of tyre tracks in a muddy field during a wet February, or contrasting pictures of shrubbery in summer with those taken in winter. 

In reality, the only work undertaken by Bristol City Council at Yew Tree Farm this year has been soil information sampling to enable design of a drainage attenuation basin. This is a pond which stores excess rainwater during storms, releasing it more slowly to reduce downstream flood risk. The soil sampling involved digging six small trial holes in the area designated for this pond. 

The main scrub encroachment clearance work is yet to happen. This includes cutting back isolated, overgrown patches of bramble in the centre and edge of the field, with no hedgerows or other established vegetation clearance included. 

Bramble scrub encroachment clearance is an essential part of maintaining and restoring the species rich grassland of the SNCI. The cemetery expansion is enabling a significant investment in preserving and restoring the natural biodiversity of the SNCI. To leave the bramble scrub encroachment untouched would lead to the loss of this grassland. The Ecological Management Plans leave ample valuable shelter for birds, small mammals and insects, while ensuing grazing will maintain the future balance of scrub and grassland.

When the council was given latest information about dormice potentially being in the southern part of Yew Tree Farm, we immediately started work to undertake a dormouse survey, using suitably qualified and licensed ecologists.  

The council will only commence scrub encroachment clearance here, once it has been confirmed that the risk of harm to protected species in the area being cleared is acceptably low and when weather conditions permit works to take place in a considerate manner. 

Last month the council’s ecologist, tree and enforcement officers visited a separate part of the site, not connected to the cemetery expansion, and observed hedgerow damage in adjacent, non-council land. They immediately passed their findings to the police to investigate. 

We raised the case with the land’s grazier, enforcing that any future works undertaken on this site should be informed by ecological surveys where required. Council officers have also shared best practice to prevent this happening again.  

South Bristol Cemetery  

The land leased by Bristol City Council to the farmer at Yew Tree Farm for grazing, had been earmarked for cemetery expansion since the 1960s. All parties had understood the agreement, with the farmers’ children growing up back then calling the area the ‘cemetery’. 

The benefits this will bring are huge, including over 1,700 burial plots, new memorial plots, associated roads, footpaths, and more key infrastructure to support this. 

This amounts to 25 years of ongoing burials in Bristol, including vital space for a diverse range of faith burials to address community needs alongside an adjacent area for infant burials. 

We already have immense pressure building on the capacity to bury people in our city. A new area for Muslim baby burial is essential, which is why we have worked with Bristol’s Muslim Burial Group to design the baby burial area to have up to 275 burial plots, divided into sections with hedging and access paths, trees, and seating area with planting. Solving these issues now and preparing for the future is absolutely essential.

Protecting the SNCI at Yew Tree Farm and providing Bristol families with necessary burial space are not issues in conflict with eatchother. We can, and we will, do both to ensure we have a well-considered, beautiful place to bury and remember our loved ones, in a space that is also rich in nature and wildlife. We will continue to work hard, despite the noise of those who excel in creating heat rather than light, doing everything necessary to get this right.  

A year after our project got underway, I went to the LED street lighting upgrade headquarters to find out more about the £12 million project and to see where we are up to.

The Centregreat depot is in Avonmouth and here, amidst the hum of activity and the sight of 9,000 LED lanterns awaiting installation, I was struck by the sheer scale and efficiency of the project.

The transition to LED street lighting could save council taxpayers up to £2 million a year in energy and maintenance costs as well as saving an estimated 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year within 10 years. Not only are LEDs more energy-efficient but they also last much longer without needing to be replaced, reducing maintenance costs as well as carbon emissions, which is a win-win for both the environment and our budget.

On the day of the visit, I met the team, including council engineers, Mark from Centregreat, and Gary from Urbis-Schreder, who make the LED lighting. I was shown all the systems, the standard LED lanterns plus some heritage ones which are more complex to install.

Work to convert around 29,000 street lights to low-energy LED units underscores our dedication to modernise Bristol’s infrastructure. The three-year project is ahead of schedule and has already seen 19,270 LED lanterns installed throughout the city, with the remaining standard lanterns and the new LED heritage-style lanterns to be completed before the end of March 2025.

The heart of this upgrade lies in the LED lanterns themselves. Each unit boasts a node on top, seamlessly integrated into a radio mesh network that enables real-time monitoring and adjustments from the depot. This innovative technology allows us to remotely manage the performance of each street light, ensuring they are working as they should while swiftly addressing any faults that may arise.

I am excited by the transformative potential this project holds for our city. By embracing LED technology, we’re not only illuminating streets, but we are also paving the way towards a brighter, more sustainable future.

Find out more about our LED upgrade.

You can watch Kat Lyons’ brilliant new poem above from 0:12:56 on the event livestream.

Our City Poet performed it beautifully, ahead of my final major speech as mayor of my home city.

The Builders

Those who build houses
make something greater than the parts,
more than bricks and wires and glass. The footprint of a home
is a complicated sum where 1+1+1=
unquantifiable. Where to start. How to measure
the span of a roof that shelters a childhood,
the breadth of ambitions seeded by security,
the volume of lungfuls of long-held instability
exhaled
into community’s foundations.

Those who build communities
create an interlocking lacework, the pattern
finely woven in a mesh of give and take.
This is delicate work. It needs a close eye, careful hands
and patience. Threads unspool behind closed doors.
Tiny interactions stich a seam
through corridors and driveways,
shops and schools, bus-stops and libraries.
Neighbours knot their lives into tapestries of shared experience.
Connections flare like beacons in the night.

Those who build beacons
spark songs of warning, of celebration.
Voices bright as torches, proclaiming
we are here!
Those who become beacons,
stand storm-wreathed, tall as lighthouses;
place the lamp of their conviction on a windowsill
to guide our way. When mists close in
we find hope burning, a welcoming space
still open in the city’s heart.

Those who build cities,
tend them over years. The work is hard
the progress slow. There’s always more to do,
they learn to let it go. They pass their tools to other hands
to plant connections, seed new houses,
help communities expand. They watch
as life by life and brick by brick
the future city grows.
The builders change, the work goes on.
The beacons that they lit still burn.

Professor David Olusoga OBE spoke powerfully at our event on Wednesday at Bristol Beacon, which saw my final major speech as Mayor of Bristol.

Watch his introduction from the start of this video, and read below. After the city poet’s new poem and my speech, David and I were then in conversation at Bristol Beacon.

2016-2024

Good evening and welcome to Bristol Beacon. My name is David Olusoga, and I’m here to introduce the evening’s events and to offer some of my own thoughts.

One of the depressing things about being an historian is that you discover that almost all of the best historical quotes are made up.

One of the best made up quotes, that almost certainly wasn’t said by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is this: “There are decades where nothing happens; and then there are weeks when decades happen.”

Well, it really feels like we’ve been through a lot of those sorts of weeks over the past eight years.

As many commentators and philosophers have noticed, it does really feel as if the pace of change – the sheer velocity at which economic, political, global, military events impact upon our lives – has suddenly accelerated.

The eight years since Marvin became mayor have been years of astonishing, bewildering, disorientating change. Indeed so much has happened that, since 2016, the Britain of just eight years ago almost feels like another country.

Let me give you some statistics.

Back in 2016, the UK had the world’s fifth largest economy. It is now sadly recognised that we are either in sixth or seventh, depending on how you calculate it, in those rankings.

Goldman Sachs estimate that the UK economy grew 5% less over the past eight years than other comparable countries – and for millions of people, what this means is that, in effect, they have not personally financially recovered from the great recession of 2008/09.

And there have been other worrying developments. Before 2016 you had to go back to the year 1812 to find a British politician killed in office – other than by Irish Republicans. Since 2016, two British MPs have been killed in office – both by extremists: a white supremacist in one case, a jihadi in the other. And I’m speaking to you in a week in which Diane Abbott has been the victim of words that I just can’t quite believe have emerged from a senior political donor, words that have not been condemned as rapidly or as fulsomely as I believe they should have done.

Since 2016, Britain – the nation that very recently was regarded as almost stereotypically stable and almost boring in its politics – has seen political chaos. We have had five Prime Ministers in the past eight years: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss briefly, and Rishi Sunak.

Over the same period, we have had seven Chancellors of the Exchequer: George Osborne, Philip Hammond, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi – for 63 days – Kwasi Kwarteng – for 38 days – and now Jeremy Hunt.

For anyone running a city there have been additional challenges – on top of all that background chaos. Over that same eight year period, there have been eight Secretaries of State for the government department covering local government. They are, in case you have forgotten: Greg Clark, Sajid Javid, James Brokenshire, Robert Jenrick, Michael Gove, Greg Clark again, Simon Clarke, and Michael Gove again.

Not only have there been eight ministers for the government department covering local government, that department has itself changed its name three times.

On top of that political disorientating change and chaos, we have also – of course – been through a global pandemic, for the first time since the first years after the First World War. We have seen the passing of the longest serving monarch in British history, and for the first time in seven decades the funeral of a monarch and a coronation.

And for the first time since 1945 there is a major, protracted conflict on European soil; indeed a war that is being fought, right now as we speak, on some of the same battlefields on which the titanic battles of the Second World War were also fought.

Now, to have been a political leader, whether in Westminster or in City Hall, and to have navigated through that period – to have lasted eight years in that period, to have had the resilience to last eight years through that period – in itself feels like an achievement.

Because local government and city administration have certainly not been a place within which political leaders or would-be political leaders could have sought shelter from the political and economic storms of the 2016 to 2024 era.

We are now increasingly aware that this has been an unique and uniquely troubling time for anyone involved in the administration of British cities. Since 2010, local councils in England have experienced an age of constant diminution of their funding.

The Local Government Information Unit – just a few weeks ago – revealed in its latest report – the true scale of what I think we have to call the crisis facing local government and local government leadership. Once inflation and other factors have been taken into account, the funding shortfall now facing UK councils equates to a reduction in their spending power – from 2010 – of around 50%.

And, according to the Local Government Association, councils are spending £1.74 billion supporting 104,000 households living in temporary accommodation, the highest figures since records began.

Right now – in March 2024 – according to the Local Government Association, almost one in five local authorities may – over the course of 2024 – have no choice but to ask their chief financial officers to issue section 114 notices: statutory notices issued by councils who are unable to meet their expenditure commitments from their income.

This is exactly what happened late last year – just 90 miles from where we are tonight – in Birmingham. That situation has forced the council there to recently announce cuts to its arts and culture budget of 100%.

This in a city that is regularly a contender for the title of the second city of what is after all still the sixth or seventh richest nation on earth. It was reported that, at the meeting at which that decision to cut the Birmingham arts and culture budget by 100% was made, councillors were literally in tears.

Where does that leave Bristol in 2024? Well, the Chancellor’s Budget saw another one-year settlement – the sixth time this has happened in a row. That means the council has little certainty and therefore little capacity to plan and think longer term.

And that one year budget included no new investment for adult social care – a cost that currently represents almost 45% of Bristol City Council’s revenue budget for the coming year. And no new investment in temporary accommodation – another huge pressure.

We tend to use the phrases ‘local government’ and ‘local politics’ almost in pejorative ways. As if the choices facing local leaders and city administrators are somehow small, somehow petty.

But most government is delivered to most people, most of the time through local rather than national government. Our encounters with the State for the most part take place in the domestic, community level. Government – as it impacts upon our actual lives – is more than often local government rather than national government.

And the running of cities is anything but small or petty.

The city of Bristol has an economy of £15 billion. That economy is fuelled by the 479,000 of us who think of ourselves as Bristolians. Who live across a city district that covers 42 square miles. A city that contains two universities both recognised as world class. A city that is home to numerous established businesses as well as a growing number of dynamic start-ups. A city that is a centre for aerospace, banking, media. A city that has the highest graduate retention rate of any city other than London.

But there are of course two Bristols.

Over recent years, you can’t have failed to notice, there has been a constant stream of newspaper articles and Sunday features describing a mini-exodus of people leaving London in order to move to and settle in Bristol. This was particularly so after the pandemic and the lockdowns. Bristol is said to be the number one destination for those seeking an escape from the capital.

But those articles – that offer tips and guidance for people leaving London and setting up in Bristol – tend to be illustrated with the iconic images of Clifton, the harbourside or Redland.

And they make no mention of the other Bristol. That city, in which there are over 20,000 people on the housing waiting list and 1,500 households – 1,500 families – living in temporary accommodation.

To be mayor of Bristol, to hold that office for eight years, is to be mayor of both of those cities.

It is to have to face competing demands and to have to do the most difficult thing that there is, which is to leave a room having made a choice when none of the options are what you would want to do and all of them will upset someone.

And never more so when it comes to perhaps the greatest social issue of our age in this country – the housing crisis and the desperate need to build more homes.

For eight years the person walking into those rooms and making those decisions has been Marvin. The person trying to find some balance of interests between the populations of those two Bristols has been Marvin.

Among other things, I work as a newspaper columnist. I am invited to critique, to analyse, sometimes to make fun, of the decisions and the statements made by politicians. What I am never asked to do is to take responsibility for decisions that I make myself.

In watching Marvin over the past eight years I have been reminded of something that it is too easy to forget – and that too often we do forget – which is that leadership, government and administration of cities or countries is just about the hardest thing that we as human beings do. Just about the hardest thing that we can ask anyone, any of our fellow citizens, to do.

It is of course right that political leaders are held to account. It is right that we ask them to explain their decisions and justify their actions. But in doing so, we do also need to try and remember just how extraordinarily challenging such positions, such roles are – even in times easier than our own.

Bristol is a city which was planned, developed and built with cars as a priority. But this approach, as well as our city’s rapidly growing population, combined with the lack of alternative options, often results in congestion and poor air quality.

This administration has worked to tackle this by providing residents with improved transport alternatives. At a strategic level we’ve improved bus prioritisation, secured Clean Air Zone support and even opened new railway stations. At a local level, we’ve looked to take a Liveable Neighbourhoods approach that improves walking and cycling choices making spaces safer.

Retrofitting changes to car dominated spaces can be a challenge, and can have negative consequences for some people – but it can also positive benefits for areas by making other transport choices better, more green space or improved air quality. Acknowledging that tension has been a core part to our approach to community engagement over several years to design a scheme.

We’re proud to announce that, after this extensive co-design and consultation with local residents since 2022, we will be moving ahead and trialling a liveable neighbourhood scheme in parts of St George, Redfield and Barton Hill. The trial scheme will likely be installed later this summer. In the meantime, 15 cycle hangars are set to be installed on 14 roads across the project area.

This will see measures, such as modal filters, traffic calming, pocket parks and bus gates, installed as part of a trial. If successful, the trial measures would be replaced with permanent infrastructure that would also include extra street lighting, new crossings with traffic signals, sections of cycle track and street trees. 

The trial will aim to deliver a safe, healthy, inclusive, and attractive environment where everyone can breathe clean air, have access to better quality green spaces, and feel a proud of their area.

Community feedback, gathered during two rounds of public engagement, sits at the heart of the plans we’ve developed. Many people said that they love living in this part of east Bristol but some worry about road safety, air pollution, and want more places to connect as a community – we ran a second engagement exercise.

This involved presenting a range of measures, such as pocket parks, street lighting, cycle lanes and new road layouts, in a design toolkit that could be used to address some of these concerns.

By hosting workshops and online interactive maps, people plotted where they would like to see these measures introduced on streets across the pilot area. The results are available in the engagement report. We have now completed the statutory Traffic Regulation Order process which allows us to move forward.

It was disappointing that a local opposition councillor could not publicly endorse the pilot project and investment in the area. It’s always easier to support things in principle rather than delivery in practice.

We know that making a scheme like this happen requires ambition to get things done.

Other British cities with liveable neighbourhoods have seen positive results. While not every scheme worked, the vast majority are still in place. Other cities such as York and Birmingham are seeing high level of support for schemes already implemented.

The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood pilot sits alongside eight years of work to improve bus journey reliability and encourage walking, wheeling and cycling, creating a healthier and connected city.

This includes our work pedestrianising the Old City and Cotham Hill; completing Portway Park & Ride, Bristol’s first new train station in almost a century; delivering Ashley Down Station; and segregated cycle paths on key travel routes across the city.

However, to completely meet the challenges Bristol faces, our city needs a mass transit system that is segregated and reliable, with underground sections where necessary to avoid major road closures. We have paved the way for others to get this done.