Cabinet – Tuesday, 5th March, 2024 4.00 pm
Papers: https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=135&MId=10645
1. Welcome and Safety Information
2. Public Forum
3. Apologies for Absence
4. Declarations of Interest
5. Matters referred to the Mayor for reconsideration by a scrutiny commission or by Full Council
6. Reports from scrutiny commission
7. Chair’s Business
8. Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (LEVI) Bid
9. City Leap Power Purchase Agreement
10. A4 Portway Strategic Corridor Outline Business Case (OBC)
11. City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) – Maintenance and Integrated Transport Block Allocation 2024/25
12. Bristol Street Outreach Contract Extension
13. Accelerating the Transformation of Temporary Accommodation
14. Parks and Green Spaces Strategy
15. Investment in Parks
16. Allotments Rents and Water Charges
17. Football Foundation Funding for Playzone – Ball Courts
18. Home to School Travel Support Policy Changes
19. Employment, Skills and Lifelong Learning (ESL) Plan 2024-28
20. Future Bright Plus – Phase 3 extension of existing programme
21. WorkWell Partnership – Specialist Employment Support Programme
22. Variation of Alternative Learning Provision Framework to cover Post-16 SEND Support
23. Bristol Holding Limited Group Company Business Plans 2024/25
24. Finance Exception Report (P10)
25. Transport Funding Bid – A432 (Fishponds Road)
26. People Living in Vehicles in Bristol
27. Goram Homes – Pipeline of Housing Development Sites
28. Co-production Policy and Process for Adult Social Care
29. Q3 Quarterly Performance Progress Report – Q3 2023/24
Who who we wa okay so welcome to cabinet members members of the public and councilors who were here as well as usual the agenda papers and the public forum submissions are available on the council’s uh website uh if I can draw your attention to the emergency evacuation procedure
Which should be on the screen but the screen doesn’t seem to be on so I guess we need to get up um and I think we have to have that up at some point um so essentially the fire exits are are are lit up and if you go out
Through the the back door make your way to the front foa onto the slope and I think the Gathering point is down this down the ramp outside um the cathedral uh the meeting is being webcast so can I remind everyone to speak into the microphones and Ure you to make sure
You’re all clearly heard um um in relation to the papers today agenda item 10 the A4 portway strategic Corridor outline business case and 23 Bristol holding Company Limited uh group company business plans for 2425 contained exempt appendix uh with commercially sensitive information and any discussion on the
Content of the appendix will need to be held in exempt session cabinet members have been given access uh to this appendix agenda item 27 gorm homes pipeline of Housing Development sites will now be taken under Part B of this agenda key decisions and agend item 30 safety valve program was added under APR
16 special urgency procedure with permission of the chair of um AUM agenda item two public form so uh we take statements and questions um at the time of relevant uh agenda item is being discussed and I will reply or offer it to the uh relevant Cabinet member we
Have a large number of public statements and questions today uh the Constitution allows for an hour for public forum so we want to P portion it out uh so we’re going to have 30 minutes uh for allotments 15 minutes for statements 15 minutes for questions 15 minutes for
People living in vehicles that’s 10 minutes for statements 5 minutes for questions and that leaves us 15 minutes for all the other papers uh around children’s care and all the rest that we um have today um everyone who doesn’t ask that question today will receive a written reply uh within 10 working days
Of the meeting on the agenda item three apologies for absence uh we have no absences uh uh notice of absence given but councelor cini is running late but we’ll join us as soon as he can if we get to his papers before he’s here we’ll move the papers down the agenda to give
Him time to arrive uh agenda item four Declarations of interest uh none have been given to me by oh actually Don you have two or three I I have three items on which I will be leaving the room because I’m a director of gorm homes thank you okay Z
So if you give me notice at the timeing then you can uh leave the room of the relevant uh paper agenda item five matters referred for consideration by scrutiny or full Council there have been no referrals from scrutiny or full Council uh today item six reports from scrutiny
Commissions there have been no reports from scrutiny commissions uh so let’s move on to item seven which is chairs business so I have four things to um uh four items to update people on uh today uh the first is um on Barton house uh which you will know is the uh Block in
Uh Barton Hill that we had to evacuate uh moving tenants into uh the Holiday Inn um the current state is The Works have been done on Bon house to bring it to you know a point where it can be declared safe uh both with confirmation
Of the engineers and with a um even fire rescue service which is incredibly pleasing that that happened on time um all the residents who were in The Holiday in have now left the holiday in six tenants um have made applications for homelessness rather than returning to their Flats um and those applications
Are being assessed five of those six are in temporary accommodation uh uh as they uh do when they apply for uh they have application for their homelessness we’ll continue to work with anyone who wants to submit an application and obviously their their application will be you know assessed according to their um
Circumstances um what I want to say about uh you know this whole challeng in time for the residents and our staff is that we have been able to to help move the majority of people back in uh to Barton house we put safety first as soon
As we had it you know that the report uh saying the building wasn’t uh safe at that moment in time we we moved people into the holiday in so we did the right thing moving people out did the right thing in putting people um in the hotel covering meals travel uh provided uh
Mental health support um and I think there’s been some great work done uh by um by our uh partners and uh in the City and and bringing the building into a a state of uh safety uh and also there’s been lots of support uh to people were
Moving back um into their Flats I would say it’s not been easy uh it’s not been an easy Journey uh some of the challenges that have been faced uh were not necessarily challenges that needed to be faced uh when our F when our Engineers first try
To enter the block to begin the work uh to of the deeper investigation into Barton House they were blocked from entering the stairwell uh by people who who ultimately delayed the start of that work to bring the building back into use uh we needed to access every flat in
Barton House to install the fire safety measures um every flat needed to be treated uh for fire and legionaires uh to before anyone could move back in uh and yet still we had resistance uh uh one resident in particular would not allow us into their flat to do the works
Which held up the whole block and then ultimately quite sadly um one of the measures we had to undertake on Barton House to make it safe was to install fire alarms and what we found was that um the fire alarms were actually stolen um someone was arrested um the
Thief was arrested and the thief was caught uh but it’s quite remarkable that in a building like that uh when we’re putting those safety measures in place place not just for those people returning but for those people that who against our advice had decided to stay in Barton House that that fire that
Someone went and actually stole the fire alarms um they were as I said they were subsequently caught um and the the police took um appropriate action um you know along with this uh we’ve been concerned about you know a fair degree of alarm Calla to Residents uh many of
Whom have been vulnerable uh with a circulation of misinformation um just about the the the state of the building and nature of the work we’ve done um and two things I’d add to that one is I I received it was really uh saddened to have to read a letter that
Was sent by the Bristol Muslim strategic leaders group to Acorn uh saying that a number of residents had reported feeling harassed and bullied uh by their activists so that was you know it’s it’s unfortunate that the Bristol Muslim strategic leaders group had to write to that organization in an effort to uh
Relieve some of the pressure that was being applied to uh residents um in the flats um and I was also incredibly concerned that the green group uh co-signed a letter uh with Acorn about reallocating housing or prioritizing housing which showed an absolutely no understanding of the
Scarcity of our our housing stock um and the pressures of the housing waiting list and and asking us to prioritize people cannot be done without deprioritizing others so it has to be a Citywide Fair system for everyone um in Bristol uh to to to maintain its legitimacy and for political leaders to
Sign up to that um is is is poor form um onto the household uh support fund uh there’s been some concerns raised on the national news as well uh you know about tomorrow’s budget announcements which may have significant implications for Bristol uh so we ahead of this spring
Budget have joined more than 170 other councils to call on the chancellor to extend an essential scheme to help protect uh vulnerable households across the country before it expires uh at the end of this month so this is being coordinated by the local government Association which is the cross party uh
Organization and it’s open letter calls on the government to urgently extend the household support fund which provided £820 million in Government funding for local welfare Support over the past year uh they want it we want it extended for at least another year um I mean in Bristol we’re talking about support for
Um free School meals during the holidays uh food activity packs for free School meals children local Crisis Prevention fund discretionary housing uh payments care levers and and Foster children’s payments in additional support for pensioners in receipt of the council tax reduction uh scheme uh for those uh in
The city with no recourse to public funds Bristol age UK older people there’s a whole range of areas in which we have made use of this fund that if it doesn’t extend if it doesn’t get that extension will be impacted uh over this next year and at this moment in time
That’s not something that we can uh countenance um the third item I’ll share actually is that last week we passed our budget um there’s a whole number of things could be said about that but let’s not don’t underestimate the significance of us passing an eighth balanced up budget uh the context in
Which that budget was passed is real and it’s this and this was a report from local government information unit 90% of residents Nationwide will pay more in council tax and fees and nearly 70% will see reduced Services more than half of senior Council leaders War their councils are likely to go bust during
The next Parliament and there was a report I read today uh said that one in 10 councils are are are very serious about the threat of going bust in the next year uh alone nine in 10 plan to increase fees in areas such as parking environmental waste at the same and the
Same proportion plan to raise council tax with one uh continuing to sell publicly owned assets the lgu uh chief executive uh Jonathan Carl West said that their report into local govern Finance for the first time demonstrates how widespread council’s desperate funding situation is that there is a structural funding issue is now
Impossible to deny uh so the the the context uh for bringing forward a a balanced budget against that when even today on the national news we’ve heard about Birmingham and and Nottingham facing major uh uh Financial challenges after their 114s filing 114s is is really relevant with actually with the
Birmingham’s council tax going up 21% um but on that as well as well as the context I want to talk about how we handled it here so I do want to thank the councilors and the parties who entered into negotiations to get us uh you know a balanced budget and and
Really it was you know it was a test of the the chamber’s ability uh to work together we presented a budget uh the amendments were put forward I sat back allowed all the councilors to debate amongst themselves didn’t make any comment on how they would handle the how
They would handle a budget with their amendments accepted or not amendments were taken on uh the budget failed at first time no agreement could be reached so we just I just said well I’ll bring back whatever budget you all uh work out uh for next time um a budget was brought
Back next time I will say and I won’t name but one of the groups refused to participate in the whole budget process didn’t put any amendments in uh but then subsequently voted against the budget which is remarkable so one of the first tests of the ability of the chamber to
Work together on a issue of huge significance uh one of the groups that has been most vocal in collaborative working just refused to participate in the discussions of the council’s budget and then voted against that budget which if we don’t pass a balanced budget we end up in all sorts of Financial and
Legal uh problems as an authority and it has massive consequences not just for the council but for our wider City uh Partners as well uh so that’s something that needs to be uh worked on if uh the the collaborative future that we’ve been promised um is going to is going to uh
Come about and finally I would say uh just add that the coulston statute will go on display from the 15th of March um at the mhed lots of work gone into that thank you to the history commission and all those people who contributed to the consultation around how best we uh we um
Display what what we do with the Statue and how best we tell that story uh within Bristol okay so let’s go on to agenda item eight now uh and we’re going to start with you Don and the local electric vehicle infrastructure fund bid thank you this paper notes the stage two
Bid for local electric vehicle infrastructure fund from henceforth called Levi fund and seeks to approval to spend this transport accounts for around 34% of Bristol’s carbon footprint and 177% of this is from driving as part of our commitment to improving our air quality we’re continuing Contin to support Behavior change towards
Sustainable transport options and drive the increase of electric vehicle uptake through the expansion of Bristol’s electric vehicle charge Point Network we’re addressing one of the main challenges facing the uptake of electric vehicles our approach has been finding the right charger for the right location including on Street charges charges in
Community hubs and car parks and Rapid charges through City leap which has given us an advantage in having a private sector partner in place already we’re able to accelerate the roll out of charge points under Levi and bring in additional investment to match the government’s Capital Grant a public site suggestion tool is
Being developed by wer as part of the Levi project to enable sites to be recommended by the public this is due to be released shortly this Administration is working hard to improve our air quality provide reliable sustainable transport options and push towards Bristol’s ambition to be carbon neutral
And climate resilient by 2030 thank you thanks very much Don so on this uh report we’ve received no public forum statements but we have had two uh Forum questions submitted the two questions from councelor James Crawford is councelor Crawford here no okay well that that um that’s it then
Can I um offer up to any cabinet members before I come back Kai yeah thanks Don for bringing this paper forward um oh sorry bit of a interference uh yeah just yeah just to say um I’m in the paper we moved last month um in relation to 188 new charge points got tremendous
Tremendous am amount of interest from the public um I’ve received many emails from people suggesting potential location so it’s good to see that this tool will be sort of developed to so people can go onto the is it the travel West website I think isn’t it and suggests locations um and obviously EVS
Are not the the only answer they’re an important part of the solution obviously um improving and decarbonizing public transport options um improving bus improving um the options around buses mass transit are also an important part in terms of meeting the Net Zero ambition as well which I think is often
Miss I think many people think you just switch what you’ve got now to an electric and the pro the problem solved but we also need to improve those public transport options as well thanks KY um yeah and I just just add to it’s a key part of our transition
They’re not the whole answer uh but having the infrastructure in place is incredibly important and importantly not just having a strategy but but beginning to raise uh Finance to make it real as well but Don let me hand back to you now to for your final words and to take the
Decision which I support and which will be displayed on the screen thank you in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you uh related to this now um K Kai we’re coming to you for agenda item nine City leap power purchase
Agreement yeah thank thanks Marvin and um obviously it’s um around the year now that City leap’s been going just over a year now um obviously had a year of the first business plan and then last week we had the refresh new business plan uh launched and um the the amount of
Investment that we should see over the next 5 years is now are looking like 771 million P of investment going into the city uh across a number of different projects it was good to be uh that me and you went up to uh brry wasn’t it um
Couple of weeks ago to see some of the projects on the on the ground actually being being delivered and speaking to the individuals in those Council properties where they’re getting those retrofits done about their bills coming down but also things you probably wouldn’t really consider about their
Homes being quieter so they don’t hear the traffic anymore so lots of lots of benefits but this particular paper deals with um um and seeks to establish a power purchase agreement to enable the council to uh purchase electricity from Renewable Energy Systems funded by Bristol City leap and other renewable um
Energy local Renewable Energy Systems so Community energy groups could be potentially part of this Bristol City Bristol city city leap’s proposal for new Renewable Energy Systems will be both large scale grid connected including wind turbines and and solar farms and build building Integrated Systems using solar on schools H housing
Blocks and other Council Council buildings this agreement will support the council’s carbon neutral targets by reducing our corporate carbon footprint such work will benefit the city significantly supporting economic resilience and local supply chain growth and job creation as well as a green recovery in response to the economic
Impacts of Co covid-19 it will support us to decarbonize the city support the recovery of Nature and lead a just transition to a low carbon future thank you thanks very much Kai um any we’ve had no uh public forum uh statement on this um which it would have been nice to
Have had certainly something from coun in the context of climate emergency particularly the the scale and the significance of City leap uh but um nonetheless um any cabinet members wish to comment Marley yeah thanks Marvin and thank you Kai for bringing this forward I think you know this is the centerpiece of what
We’re doing in Bristol to decarbonize the council and the city um linking back to what you’re saying previously marfin about the budget cha challenges councils across the country are facing in the context of that to be bringing forwards this scale of investment into decarbonization is huge what what was
The figure 771 million over the next five years over over the next 5 years it’s you know it’s a phenomenal achievement but it’s the sort of scale of ambition that we’re going to need if we’re going to um overcome the climate crisis um so yeah I just really Keen to
See this come forward and um also be Keen to sort of be involved in the conversations particularly about how Community groups can participate in this so thank you thanks Mary um so if there are no others let me come back to uh Kai to take the decision which I support and
Which will now be dis displayed on the screen thanks and uh just to say thanks to David Gray who’s uh pulled this paper together and he’s in the gallery today for his work on this so thank you um in terms of the decision to be made today I
Approve the recommendations that set out in the report let me extend those thanks as well because um we’re involved in a number of significant City networks uh looking at how cities need to be on the Forefront of of decarbonizing um as as the Secretary General of the UN say says
It will be one or lost in cities with most of the people living there now the big consumers of energy was we 7 70% of the energy use um 80% of energy use 70% of emissions uh through cities as well so there’s a huge opportunity and what’s
Been quite remarkable as we’ve uh been working with other cities around the UK um with Finance private Finance with government and with cities around the world is how many of them are looking at Bristol City leap as an example so it really has been a world first and one that has inspired
Lots of people and one of those uh city leaders that’s really been taken by this is Susan Akin the leader of Glasgow who hosted cop obviously famously and uh it’s been amazing to have her directly site the work done by um uh people in Bristol for for what they’re trying to
Do in Glasgow now so yeah really um it’s great work so so thank you for uh all that’s been done on this um agenda item 10 uh A4 port way strategic cdal outline business case uh this is with you Don thank you this paper seeks seeks approval for the submission of an
Outline business case to wer for delivery of A4 portway strategic Corridor improvements this is following on from the consultation that ran over the Autumn uh last year and earlier engagement with local residents businesses and bus companies around the scheme uh we’re developing some really um important infrastructure improvements
On key corridors around the city mainly funded as this is by the um crsts money we want to make public transport walking and cycling easier safer and more reliable plans for the portway include a new 24-hour bus lane wider paths for shared use between pedestrians and cyclists speed limit reductions Junction
Improvements and crossings Improv improvements it’s great to see this work coming forward on such an important travel route uh building on our recent work with portway Park and Ride station and the improvements which are about to happen to the portway park and ride entrance and egress which will enable
Buses to enter and exit from both directions uh these together will achieve a step change I believe in the uh quality quity of the bus uh services to Northwest Bristol through improving their infrastructure uh it’s sad that uh first is proposing withdrawing the number three which is the only
Reasonable uh public transport option to the uh Hall of Sev side from the East which is one of our major economic areas uh whilst we can’t anything about that we leave others to get that act together uh we as the highways Authority are working hard to improve bus
Infrastructure to all areas of the city and through that to improve the bus Network and bus services thank you thanks very much Don uh for bringing this so on this we’ve received four public forum statements the first is from Southwest Transport network uh Dave redwell yeah Dave and you do you have a
Minute Dave Tim keep very brief yeah just to say well agree with Don really I think the ghost in the room is wer and the issue is around it’s their legal responsibility to um sign up um bus service agreements uh through the bus service improvement plan um and if we’re
Putting infrastructure down as a highway Authority I would expect wer to be signing uh frequency agreements with first group and Stage Coach and I am disappointed that um we haven’t done that for the number three Don and I’m appointed that at the bus advisory panel
Mr Mayor that both Don and myself sit on we were not brought these changes and we’ve made that point to officers and the chief executive at wer uh I hope we can find a way of working closely with wer to make sure we get the bus services
The city region exists but in principle the bus LS we fully support we would like to see those bridges removed May at a mouth by the station uh sorry Shon By The Station a mouth because they’re not disabled access accessible and we don’t have at level grade Crossings to those
Railway stations that might be another piece of work to through this CRTs funding but as it’s a jigsaw and we’re slowly putting it together I just urge you to all the new Council to keep pushing that issue to sort out the interchange of shampton RA station
Thanks thanks Dave and as other you know we thank you for your um contribution uh you know an insightful I I think you know there is something about the way we get things done as a City region and and one of our challenges as Bristol is to be the only city in quite
A rural part of the world and making sure that the interests of a dense City are are really understood and respected within the combined Authority that is so rurally uh uh characterized by so so much rurality um is is is one of the challenges uh that we face and actually
What that also means is we need things done faster in Bristol than perhaps some of our our neighbors do so but keep please keep the the pressure up next statement is from the Bristol Civic Society Alan Morris no okay uh Bristol cycling campaign Nicholas Davis no okay uh Bristol walk in
Alliance Alan Morris obviously not here okay turn into question we’re back to you Dave uh you have two questions uh from the Southwest Transport Network and rail future seven side you like to ask your first question Dave my first question I think was if I can’t see it
But I think my first question was about frequency really and was about what legal agreement we had in place with the West combined Authority as transport Authority and first bus and Stage Coach and others to actually make sure as we put down as Highway Authority um the bus infrastructure
Which I welcome but we should have a legal agreement which actually buys us frequency as part of that1 million pound of bus service improvement plan money and I’m not sure we’ve got that great legal agreement so my question is is that actually being worked through with wer as part of the enhanced
Partnership I think that’s a governance um question uh as a combined Authority if you’re working on infrastructure you’re working on capital projects and you’re also in charge of public transport those should be um integrated plans and integrated functions shouldn’t they so that one there are synergies and that one
Supplements uh the other uh I don’t always see that happening uh but there we are thank you for pointing out I suppose my supplement to that would be to the mayor asking the mayor and his final wer meeting whether he can bring this the attention again of
The need to work on the bus service improvement plan alongside the infrastructure I think Dave there we will um I I we we it’d be good to get your input to a kind of a a a Bristol must get from the combined Authority list as it were continue to do list uh
Mass transit be one of those things right we need a segregated solution for a dense City uh what we’re doing on housing delivery and certainly on bus connectivity and economic inclusion all the Regeneration we’ve got going on the work have the skills brief ‘re equipping people with
The skills they need to take advantage of the jobs that are going to be coming through from uh Temple Island Arena Western Gateway Temple quarter all that regeneration so um we’ll take your point and we We’ll add that to the list and of course you I’ll see you there as well so
You can make that that point in that that final wer for myself anyway but thank you you had a second question Dave my second question as always as a trustee of Bristol disability equalities Forum on South clusters equalities Network um it is about integration connectivity and making sure that we
Have public transport and infrastructure fit for purpose um and we’ve done a lot of work here pway park and rides fully accessible um but we’ve still got these two Bridges and I would be very grateful if there’s a way we can actually knock them down take them away there’s something out of the
1970s and they’re not accessible disabled people to access have a step-free entrance to um either portway Park and Ride uh station and interchange or to that matter shampton railway station and there a barrier and myself I have to be pushed across the road through moving traffic on a trunk road
To the southwest of England um I’m really would like to see those bridges so I know it’s not in this game but I would really think as part of integration having been with Andy Burnham last week if we can just make sure that integration approach is again
Taken forward at wer and that wer understand the purpose of interchange between Rail and bus in our city region yes I mean I I agree those bridges um I think I had one of them swept last week because they get leaves all over them so they’re actually quite
Dangerous um I think in terms of Finance they didn’t make it quite through we would have had to lose other elements of this the important thing is obviously to have the crossings more than to have the bridges taken away although I’d love to see the bridges taken away uh but we
Won’t forget about them and they are one of many many shovel ready uh projects with tremendous outcomes that Bristol has and is ready to present to wer any day they want which is is in law and by the way it’s in special measures in government today
In case haven’t picked it up um announc last few hours um the under the best value review um but the issue is um how do we get wer to integrate bus rail Ferry and services in the way we see in Liverpool City Regional I was done with the with the Western Gateway in
Manchester last week that it’s been on the agenda of the enhanced partnership for a while and we’ve got a working group starting soon which I’ve offered to chair in the hope of moving that forward because actually integrating the ticketing especially between the see of the other forms of integration but integrating the
Ticketing between the two main and the other bus companies and first uh and trains who are obviously owned by the same company so it’s particularly ironic um is a massive um part of encouraging people to use public transport it just makes it a whole lot easier for people a lot more
Understandable and coherent um so I do hope that work will um Pro proceed quickly it’s one of the reasons I put myself forward for chairing that working group thanks Don uh thank you for your uh questions Dave if any cabinet members wish to comment if not we’ll come back to
Don no okay Don let me come back to you then to take the decision which I support and which will now r displayed on the screen in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you okay Don we’re staying with
You for agenda item 11 City region uh sustainable transport settlement uh maintenance and integrated transport block allocation for 2425 thank you this paper asks for approval to accept accept and spend the maintenance and integrated transport block funding allocation from wer it’s part of the crsts um and it’s our maintenance money
For the year basically we’re committed to improving Bristol’s transport infrastructure and I’m thrilled that we’ve recently announced a big push on resurfacing uh areas of key roads across the city the funding in this paper provides essential works the Bristol’s Road Network improving public transport infrastructure vital Road resurfacing works and much
More this funding will achieve a lot but we’re faced by the reality that it’s a fraction of what is needed to do the necessary preventative work which which which we have to do just to avoid potholes uh we shouldn’t have po holes we have Pooles because we’re not able to
Do the preventative work that we should and uh we we know how to do that but we’ve got only a fraction of the money uh that we need in order to do that and that’s without uh signals um and other things our bill each year for electricity for
Lights is is for lighting is3 and5 million um that obviously take that and gritting uh Winter Road treatment takes a lot of our money doesn’t leave a lot for what people would consider to be road maintenance at all uh I was I visited a warehouse in
Aen mouth the other night where we are um the base for our LED lighting replacement for the city we’re now ahead of schedule on that program so we have 9,000 lanterns in the warehouse which is the last third of that plus a lot of the Heritage and historic ones which a
Little bit more complex to to to fit uh that will reduce our electricity bill massively it’s good for our finances and also good for the environment because it reduces our carbon footprint massively uh so when we when we repair roads with a little money that we’ve got we do use
A really comprehensive evidence base we have cars that go around and take a lot of photos of the road surface we also have uh operatives who go around and check it so we do have a good idea of our road services and their condition we also pick up 25% of our fault through
Fix my street and I do encourage residents to continue using that uh because it’s very valuable to us but at the end of the day um it it it we don’t have the money that we need to do all that we should and that’s true of every local Authority in
This country thank you you thanks very much Don um so we’ve received one public forum statement on this item but no questions and a statements from Ian Becky no okay okay so nothing from the public uh no councilors uh any cabinet members wish to comment on this just about maintenance of our
Transport infrastructure doesn’t sound very glamorous but it’s uh this is obviously essential Don let me hand back to you now to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen thank you in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the
Recommendations that set out in the report thank you Don uh so Tom we’re coming to you now for agenda item 12 Bristol Street Outreach contract extension thank you as part of the work to in the city to reduce rough sleep in and help more people move off the
Streets Bristol city council has funded an Outreach service for the last 20 years this service Works alongside several other services that are designed to prevent and relieve rough sleeping that are funded through the rough sleeping initiative from the Department for Le up housing and communities the main service that we do
This through is the Bristol Street Outreach service um who engage with people on the streets and work with people to link them into support services and to move into accommodation service also manages a multi- agency hub for services that prevent and relieve rough sleeping coordinates access to 47 supported Outreach access beds
Coordinates the Bristol severe weather emergency protocol to prevent loss of life coordinates bonly and annual rep sleep accounts in the city provides monthly data for returns to D and takes a lead in ensuring all services for people who are R sleeping work coherently and effectively it’s really
About that that wider join up that we need to see the levels of people sleeping rough in the city have increased marketly since 2013 because the impact of austerity cost of living crisis and the lack of affordable accommodation in the city last year 912 people slept rough a rise of 28% from
The year before an average monthly counts are up 26% and there has been a recent increase of people who are new to the streets despite the work and resources have been put into preventing and relieving rough sleeping the service itself has good outcomes and plays an integral operational role in connecting
People with different services including the specialist services to address needs around mental health benefits substance use physical health offending and domestic violence in addition we have service manager plays an important strategic role in the leadership of sector-wide approaches to reduce we sleeping in the city the contract for
The Bristol Street Outreach service was awarded for three years originally and ends in September this year and there was option to extend the contract for two further periods of two years this report is proposed to take up the permitted extension two years from October the 1st of this year and to gain
Approval for a further permitted two-year extension subject to service review I commend the report to cabinet thank you uh thank you very much for that time um obviously housing that you know the the crisis of our city in many ways um no public forum statement nothing from
Councelors on this item uh any cabinet members wish to comment before I hand back to you Tom to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen in terms decision to be made today I approve the recommendations are set out in the report thank you
Tom uh staying with you for agenda item 13 accelerating the transformation of temporary accommodation thank you temporary accommodation is a huge financial challenge for councils across the country the local government Association says that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has risen by 89% over the past decade to
104,000 households nationally at the end of March 23 this is the highest set of figures since records began in 1998 costing counil at least 1.74 billion pounds in 2022 23 but there’s also a massive toll for every individual and family that we have to place in temporary accommodation
Disruption the uncertainty and just the impact on people’s lives severe shortage of social housing means councils are being forced to pay to House people in private temporary accommodation including hotels and bnbs while they wait for a permanent home some of the organizations making this provision available charge rates that mean there
Is significant subsidy loss to the council with two companies being responsible for in the region of 7 million pounds of this in the last Financial year earlier this year I attended an emergency Summit on the temporary accommodation crisis which saw councils from across the country tell the same story fuel by the housing
Crisis the cost living crisis and the failure of national government to deliver on renters reform which would give people the protection so desperately needed because after all a safe secure and warm home should be seen as a right not a commodity to extract the highest price from the focus of this
Particular paper is to try and take another Innovative approach and looks at bringing forward the establishment of a new Council owned housing company to help address these ch challenges the council establishes its own registered provider and directs its activity towards addressing the subsidy loss issue incurred by placing households in
Private sector tempor accommodation the levels of potential savings would be substantial a program of temporary social housing commissioning that replaces the spot and block purchase Arrangements we currently have in place could save the council up to 12.2 million a year in subsidy loss although would incur 2.6 million in support costs
Leaving you with a potential net saving of 9.6 million a year the vision of new exempt rent supported housing for clients with a care requirement via the development of adapted accessible and specialist housing will also generate significant savings for the council there are over 400 adult social care citizens living in residential care
Settings who could be better accommodated in supported housing for example the council currently supports the com the cost of accommodating 16 young adults in the preparing for adult transitions cohort saving around 935,000 would be made if these young people lived in supported housing setting accommodating care levers in supported
Placement instead of external support accommodation could save the Council on average ,500 per person per week there are significant savings to be made and it’s also going to be a huge Improvement to those people’s lives if we can pull this together Council loaned registered provider would deliver significant financial benefits to the council
Households who are homeless and living in supported housing will benefit directly from the support to recover from homelessness and move into permanent housing people living in specially supported house will benefit from having an independent home with targeted personal care and support a new Council loan veg provider will have the
Potential capacity to deliver more than just that special supported hous I’ve talked about so far too there’ be opportunity to deliver a ride range of tenur and affordable housing products for example rent to buy homes that address the needs of the city’s key workers and generally intervening to approve affordability in the private
Renting sector of which we’ve set out those challenges in the report produced by the living rent commission and this would complement the council homes delivered by the H and the social housing that’s being delivered by the council’s partner RPS ultimately the solution is for more genuinely affordable homes to be built so that
Everyone has a decent safe and secure affordable home I commend this report to cabinet thank you uh so much Tom uh uh for bringing this uh paper forward uh and again not it is about the justice of housing or the Injustice of housing in security uh you know in our city in our
Country uh but it’s also about the the contribution this can make to the stability of sustainability of our our own financial situation as well poverty and Injustice does cost us money uh and uh we can take action on both fronts there um we’ve had nothing from
Uh for public for nothing uh from any counselors uh on this item um before I move come back to you can I offer it up to any cabinet members um Helen thanks very much Marvin and I really welcome this report because the council knows what the needs of those
People who we’re trying to accommodate is and although we have had some very good work with some of our um RPS about delivering supported housing particularly with my portfolio that’s of particular interest nevertheless it would be much more straightforward if we can do it ourselves and we know that every
Development that comes forward there’s a call for more affordable housing for for um that that mix and and in big development certainly being able to accommodate the needs of our children and and um adults of working age with disabilities and so I just think that this is a really good step for us
To be able to deliver those needs ourselves which um is bound to be more efficient or or more responsive than it is with working with um our our RPS although as I say some of them are very responsive but not all thank you Helen KY you want to come
In yeah fully fully support this um I mean maybe we should you know we should have done this um a bit sooner but it’s you know it’s great that it’s great that it’s here now um obviously from the headline of the paper it’s um uh you know it’s focused on ta but obviously
What you said about this company be being able to interfere in the private rented sector both to improve standards and um make it more afford affordable as as well as a really important tool that we don’t don’t really have at the mo at the moment so it’ll be really uh good to
See how it program within that within that sector and Market thanks very much Kai thank you Helen if there’s no more let me hand back to you Tom to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the in terms of decision to be made
Today approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you very much so let’s go on to agenda item 14 now parts and green space hearts and green spaces strategy and Ali this is with you thank you I am delighted to welcome this paper to Cabinet today that sets out a
Strategy for Bristol’s parks and natural spaces and our approach to food growing in the city over the next 15 years our mission states that by 2039 all of our communities feel that parks are accessible inclusive safe fun and rich in nature and Wildlife we want more people than ever before to visit our
Parks and stay for longer and to take part in activities which make them healthier and happier our Parks provide peaceful relaxing and beautiful spaces for us to play exercise socialize and support our health and well-being in a nature Rich environment and we are very lucky to live in a city with such a
Vibrant cultural offer some of the key priorities that have steered our focus and differentiate this from the previous strategy stem from National and Global impacts that we need to respond to whether that is austerity which has led to around 2third of a reduction of our Parks budget since 2010 the
Opportunities to mitigate the climate and ecological crisis and also the impact of covid and the cost of living SL operating crisis on the residents of our city and of the park service and The Wider Council our response to these challenges have have to have Equity at its heart
Put simply not all residents access our Parks equally gender ethnicity physical AB ability and coming from a disadvantaged background all influences how often a person visits a park how welcomed and included they feel which in turn informs their sense of belonging we have to take positive action around this
And ensure our parks are welcome to all I would hope that the overarching equity lens in which this strategy is framed is clear our embedded food growing and allotment strategies intrinsically connected to our partnership work on the food equality strategy and action plan and the Bristol good food 2030 framework
Which are important one city strategies that are country leading in the ambition they show for good food in our city in collaboration with our food Partners we will work to create more Community Food growing opportunities across our city bringing access to education skills and employment connect contivity to local
Residents in our most disadvantaged areas and access to healthy sustainable and locally produced food the paper also seeks to approve proceeding with a full and ambitious bid to the wer green Recovery Fund to enable the delivery of a million investment a million pounds of investment in accelerating our Ambitions to manage 30%
Of green space for nature by 2030 I want to thank officers in our parks department our policy teams and our planning teams as well as the mayor’s office for the considerable shift that they’ve collectively pulled in making this strategy happen and for it to be the best it can be ambitious
For Bristol’s parks and for the huge benefits they bring to our people and nature I would also like to thank the stakeholders that range from advocacy voluntary and Community groups as well as partners in sectors ranging from food to environment to planning to sustainability the good news is that we
Have an incredibly strong base to be working from with over 400 beautiful parks and natural spaces in the city and the work Starts Now in both this paper with the wer fund and also in the next item which illustrates how we will begin to address some of these challenges in the city thank
You thanks very much Ellie and for all your your work on this so we we have public forum statements and questions on this we have two public forum statements uh the first statement is from Len Wyatt Len you you have a minute Tim can you keep track there thank you
Very much um it’s going to be quick the PA for welcomes the finalization of the strategy we’ve made a couple of points but you know we can work with those as we go along we suggest improvements to the council’s consultations generally we found ourselves working very hard um to
Get our members interested and being able to find their way through the information we welcome the bid to wer for the fund for the nature related work and basically the Bristol parts for and thank thanks the current Administration and Council for engaging with it and we look forward to working with the next
Administration and Council so our vision for parks in 2030 and the council strategy can be achieved thank you thank you very much Len and and I’m sure the seeds have been planted to to make sure that that relationship uh continues uh uh the next statement is from Dan
Akroy Dan you have a minute it’s great that this council is applying for money from the west of England green Recovery Fund but what’s the point of saying your proactively form relationships with Stak holders and communities across the city why would anybody engage with this Council I mean you have forums and
Consultations to communicate with the public but you just ignore them when they don’t go along with your plans this Council has a real problem with only talking to people who will agree with what you want the council to do and talking about things that make you look good you had a farmer who
Cared for a site of nature conservation interest but it appears you don’t like to hear about protected species instead you’ve put someone in charge who has a clear desire to develop on that land we can’t even expect the cabinet member for Ecology to speak out about what is
Happening at you farm because the company they work for has retro for a client who have expressed an interest in building on that land why would anyone talk to you when you only do when you only talk to people when it’s convenient for you [Applause] yeah thanks very much for your statement
Uh Dan uh before we go on uh come back to you um Ellie any cabinet members wish to comment on this Marley Thank You Marvin and thank you Ellie for bringing this forward I’d also like to reiterate your thanks to the officers and everyone involved in this it’s really positive to see particularly
Like to commend the the um green Recovery Fund bid managing more green spaces for nature it’s um really positive to see that this is the first pilot project for us to reach our Ambitions in the one city ecological action plan of a really ambitious Target of managing managing 30% of council land
For the benefit of nature that’s not an easy task but it’s something we you know we see the importance of I think it was the state of nature survey um recently showed that over half of speak wildli species in the UK are in Decline and the need for this can be clearer um
I think it’s quite apparent as well from from the papers that there’s not a conflict between managing green spaces for the benefit of people for recreation and nature people who visit their parks and green spaces want to see vibrant natural habitats it’s you know to them their connection with the natural world
So it’s really positive to see how we’re going to support Wildlife grow um habitat creation in these parks and green spaces so I just completely commend the report that been brought for today thanks very much Marley okay so if there aren’t any more uh cabinet
Comments let me hand back to you LA to make the decision uh which I support and we now be displayed on the screen but just thanks for your leadership on this these are a a real City asset uh we know it’s one of the reasons so many people
Are migrating to Bristol adding to our population pressure that we have to house uh but uh there uh City asset we we don’t maintain them as an asset simply by having a statement it takes very real Financial discussions for the staff that need to maintain it and everything which actually adds cost
Pressure to us as a ccil because we do have so much Green Space compared to um other cities and core cities in in particular uh so uh you know safeguarding uh the service the expertise and the finance is absolutely you know essential so let me hand back
Back to you Ellie to take the decision which I support and which we which will be displayed on the screen thank you thanks for the comments um in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report and picking up on that point
About Finance agenda item 15 investment in parks and this is still with you Edie thanks the previous Parks paper that I just uh brought through outlined the benefits and opportunities um are parks and green space providers valuable assets to Residents and the city as the city grows in the number of people
Needing to benefit from local parks increases there is a need for us to respond by investing in quality and new facilities particularly in those green excuse me spaces close to where we are tackling the housing crisis by building more much needed homes this investment program will deliver both new and refurbished
Facilities and Parks enabling them to continue to be attractive to visitors we’ve identified a number of exciting priority investment themes including creating more food opportunities new allotments and bringing back Li to life a historic kitchen Garden nury courts an exciting project that has the potential to deliver significant and enriching
Healthy and sustainable food growing opportunities there’s also investment in improving community-led sports facilities and a focus on accessible parks and play experiences in recognition of the EUR Parks report on not just a checkbox that surveyed the experience of our disabled Comm unities and carers in our Parks this funding
Will also look at the experiences of our women and girls in recognition of the Mak space for girls work to ensure that our parks are welcoming to all this investment will support our parks to continue to play a fundamental role in the well-being of every community and neighborhood across the city ensuring
All residents can access their benefits thank you thanks very much um Ellie for that so we have received one public forum statement um on this item and it’s from Bristol Parks Forum Len Wyatt pass pass okay all right thanks Len okay so tur into questions we’ve had four public forum questions submitted
Between three people the first is for councelor um Amal Ali am hi um I welcome the 500k investment for OB court on top of the funding it has already received taken the investment to 1 million this funding will help H improve important uh Heritage assets and will impower people
To take part in the management of this Community Asset the 500k to spend on accessible PL equipment would be very welcome in Lawrence Hill H nothingham nothingham sorry Park would make a great candidate for this investment as it is an area with a growing population and as
It is close to the temple quarter and it is used by people from many different communities and does not have an accessible play equipment or nor is near near Parks how can we decide and influence where the funding would be spent thanks samal um I’m I’m hugely excited about the investment in elbury
Court so I I share your excitement about that um that total investment bringing that to a million pounds into one of our destination Parks is going to go a long way to serving the people of East Bristol um people you know we have several destination parks in the city
And these are the parks that are defined by the quantity of people that go and visit them and that park has um needed significant investment for several years so I’m very excited about that it’s going to have a whole new playground by the end of this year as well um but this
New Heritage kitchen Garden um I don’t know if anyone’s s it it but it’s you know overgrown dilapitated completely misused at the moment and that’s going to bring community-led food growing into the ward and help regenerate that entire park so I’m really excited about that um
The park service will begin a process of learning and engagement in um in after this paper to identify candidate projects they’re going to start by speaking to um our disability support organizations such as wesle a lot of our community organizations that have vested interest in in what this paper wants to deliver
And we’ll quickly assess what uh what we’ve already got in play areas that are eligible for S spending to understand where the the the need is the most um and then of course there will be opportunity for conversations with members um as it has been in our in in
The investment paper that we brought through last year um and then Community groups in WS where there’s areas of housing growth to begin to identify need at a local level um to meet the purpose of strategic sill we’re looking for prog projects where there’s a sign significant um impact and benefit that
Can be realized so we want transformational projects um rather than small improvements which perhaps would not qualify um we very much welcome working with members and communities to combine decisions on devolved sale with strategic sill as well to help um uh improve the opportunities even more so
And to expand the project scope impact and benefits did you have a supplementary your M I do yes um okay I’m pleased that the preference for the funding to be spent on major improvements for a few Parks rather than a lot of small in improvements across a
A lot of them as it is close to Temple quarter I think nethan Park is a fantastic candidate for some of the investment and and would you agree with this uh I’m hearing your advocacy for NE loud and clear I think it’s a great part my kids play football there um
Absolutely you’ll have to be part of the conversation and you know I’m sure there’ll be members from all over the city buying for their for their areas and where they think that the investment will be best placed those conversations will have to be had collectively um so
We we’ll have to see how that goes but I appreciate your your support for netham I agree it’s a really good site next temp quarter and in desperate need of um inclusive play in that area as well thank you thank you em and and just while you are here when we thinking
About Green Space just just want to acknowledge your B in planning and thank you for the work you did to make sure the city has Muslim burial sites uh for the community this is a diverse uh City and people are born here uh they should be able to live here inclusively and
When they pass away their families should be able to bury them here too uh and it’s something that’s been lost in some of the recent works but your your leadership and that of Farah Hussein on that against what I might politely call headwinds has been incredibly uh uh
Welcome and is must be held up as a key part of what it means to build an inclusive C uh the next question now is from councelor Martin fodel he’s given last minute apologies but asked if I could read it out to Marvin okay okay thanks uh so councelor
F’s question is in the budget debate councelor King proposed a more collaborative approach to allocating strategic seill to ensure all members can take part in the cross party discussions given that all members voted unanimously in full Council last February for councilor foda budget amendment which created this2 million
Pound sill why has it been drawn up with no cross party discussion can I can I just come in here just an internal contradiction I I have this and I say this incredibly gently the the the question points to the need for collaborative work it points to the fact
That that amendment was accepted last year by full Council and we we voted for it but then you didn’t support the budget so this the the whole kind of the whole mythology around an a willingness to be collaborative you you cannot you cannot Advocate collaboration but then object
To every budget that comes through even when you’re members and I know it’s not your question it’s councelor fodor’s question but the budget is possibly one of the single most significant moments uh in the you know in our annual calendar and every year we accept the budgets and every year your party
Refused to to support the budget and and and that’s not a collaborative approach to City leadership particularly when your amendments are being taken into the budget but let’s Ali please ask your questions and allow you to come back after that you’ve made a point that I was also
Going to say um I also think it’s interesting that it’s fodor’s Amendment not the green party Amendment you know yeah that’s an interesting perspective perspective but you know last week we had the green party leader complaining that none of the Amendments from previous budgets have been brought forward and now this paper clearly
Demonstrates how untrue that is so it’s it’s disappointing that there can’t be more welcoming of this um and I I did meet with councilor Fodor actually to discuss the investment in the water shed over a coffee and we agreed on many of the priorities so um I take umage with
That um but yes I I ultimately don’t think you get to take ownership of um investment approved if it sits within a budget that You’ voted down if you choose to opt out the process as we saw again last week then you leave leadership to the rest of
Us um there will be of course opportunities for people to get involved though like I just said to councelor ali um and that’s why deliberately 900,000 of it are projects that have not been identified and that was deliberate um I’ve got no wish to um you know decide
Where every single penny is spent in this in this Council and that’s because it’s more important to me that not only members get involved but our um Community groups um with that lived experience and lived expertise of what they’re dealing with you know if we want to improve our parks for disabled
Children for disabled communities for girls um for our minoritized communities in the city then we need to work with those groups those are the voices that I’m Keen to have um brought into those conversations um but yeah that will be uh an important essential part of the engagement work that will begin once
This paper’s taken through cabinet did you have a supplementary not supplementary Marvin but just I think one of the reasons around the budget was this is an amendment that didn’t quite play out how how it was proposed and certainly the Second Amendment around um low traffic neighborhood second one of
Those didn’t didn’t roll out so that was one some of the reasons the green group less I don’t know I mean I just think it’s it’s it’s asking everyone to collaborate and then when the opportunity comes to collaborate your party withdraws from the whole budgetary process and refuses to put any
Amendments in that’s that’s in contrast to previous budgets in which obviously I get yes is part of the challenge because I know last year it was a challenge that you put the amendments in they were accepted and then people saying well if you had your amendments accepted why did
You still refuseed to support the budget so this year no amendments came forward so I guess some sense makes it feel easier not to support the budget but clearly and I won qu Mark Weston every time clearly when you’ve had months to engage in the process then to turn up on
A day say we haven’t had the chance to engage and we’re going to oppose the budget anyway is you know is a bit you know it’s a bit of a bit of a challenge to this whole mythology around a collaboration been advancing but let’s let’s pick this up outside because you
Got plenty of time to uh to pull that okay um so the next two questions are from counselor Gary um Hopkins would you like to ask your first question councelor Hopkins yes your microphone coun Hopkins well welcome the grunting of planning permission uh by this Authority for the red cat quarter development and
The majority of people in our part of the world actually want that to go ahead despite that there’s been a potential uh legal challenge put in by a resident which has held things up and I wanted to check as we’ve been told that uh uh investment for strategic sill in Parks
Is dependent on a a growth area which is temporarily halted whether red catch park at the moment qualifies to apply for Str so uh yep red catch Park continues to be in an area of growth and regen so it’s um therefore elgible for investment from strategic s funds so despite the
Challenge it can apply at the moment yeah right okay um and question two then uh really is saying if there is a temporary hold up uh will uh given that4 Million worth of sill will be generated from this development which is about 20 yards from
The park would you regard it as a good candidate for strategic s investment um broadwalk is the only substantial source of investment in nol I think we’d welcome the potential impact of Sil but there’s going to be a lots of great projects that are worthy of of
Investment so I’m not going to State a preference of one place over another right now I didn’t ask you to P off the list I said is it a good candidate well yep I’d imagine most parks around the city would be good candidates uh and most councilors would Advocate that
Their park is the best candidate uh that’s why we we need a Citywide uh Fair system to uh to judge between the two with with finite resources good the way so we’re not going to we won we can’t Prejudice the decisions you know on that on on that I put just supplementary well
Yes if you like I I put in a uh first TR of petition calling for investment in red catch Park uh last full Council I haven’t had a reply to that yet could that be looked up please so I I guess my my point would be
That we have to look at the city the whole of the city not just at one Ward and um like I said it’s really important for me to work with a lot of the community groups in the city and and I know that there are some members that are very powerful advocates for
Investment in their Wards but I need to have them we need to kind of take a really a step back look at the whole of the city look at all the elgible projects see where the need is and also see if the prior prorities for those Parks align with what we’re saying in
Our strategy and align with the um strategic aims of what we’re talking about with sort of accessibility making space for girls looking at disabled play um and making sure that it aligns with those but welcome the conversation when when the engagement begins I mean and and as it falls out
There’ll be a committee of counselors uh working amongst themselves to make decide on how the process will will work and where the money will go so so it you know that it’ll be in your hands okay uh so uh let me ask if any cabinet members what’s com in
Helen thanks Marvin and just very briefly I just wanted to reiterate the point that sill decisions for the last many years have been made by area committees and before that neighborhood Partnerships so those are cross-party committees by the very nature because they’re made of of the members of the
Wards in those Partnerships or in the those area committees and we’re moving as as you know Gary from six area committees to nine in the new um in the in the new structure and so those will reflect the Ambitions of those members and people will be able to advocate for
Projects in their Wards but I think some of the conversation in the last 20 minutes or so has made it sound as if there’s some kind of an all controlling interest in how sill is spent and we know that that isn’t the case thank you Helen uh
Tom it’s really brilliant to see this coming forward and you know again it it proves that we’re focused on more than just housing as well you know we’re doing a lot on housing but also we’re investing in the in the community infrastructure and the facilities um
That we need across the city and you know we can see that reflected there and actually there’s a huge focus on accessible play here for disabled children which you know we know we need more of in the city so you know with another 1,000 750 homes plus going in at
Hrove um you know it’s it’s going to be really good to see those enhancements in particular thank you Tom okay uh let me hand back to you now Ellie to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen in terms of the decision to be
Made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you Ellie so on to agenda item 16 allotments rents and water charges Ellie going to introduce this report Thank You Bristol is a leading City in terms of our approach to sustainable food growing and food equality everyone recognizes the
Importance of a thriving network of accessible spaces for local people to grow healthy and sustainable food a key focus of the parks and green spaces and food growing and allotment strategy is to expand opportunities for Collective and Community Food growing in the previous Strategic investment paper we are pledging considerable money
Towards food growing opportunities fees have not been raised for over 5 years the mayor Drew out the financial pressures faced by local government at the start of the meeting and these pressures are real and are having an impact on every area of local government activity from adult social
Care to Children’s centers the work we’re doing on climate change to libraries waste collection road maintenance and they have a pressure on the Park service including our allotments current allotment rent does not meet the cost of running the current service let alone deliver the service that we all want to see currently the
Park Service covers the shortfall in allotment revenues reducing our Citywide offer this means allotments are effectively subsidized by other Council Revenue which is not financially sustainable or Fair these proposals still don’t break even but allow us to invest in the service and improve our offer while reducing pressure on the
Parks budget so that all residents can benefit from quality parks um and green spaces that we maintain the increased income from rent Rises will improve the service by funding additional staff bringing more land into food production new Collective growing opportunities and a more frequent preventative repairs program
Any rent increase comes into effect in 12 months time we listen to feedback and have staggered the increase meaning the full increase will not be in place for several years allowing tenants even longer to prepare for the changes and a full eight years after our last uplift
In 2018 in the face of austerity the cost of operating crisis and increased demand we are expanding discounts so that now those in receipt of council tax reduction housing benefit Universal Credit and pension credit will be able to access a 50% discount for their allotment groups offering social value
Will also benefit too with a 50% discount we had over 3,000 consultation responses and we’ve listened to the feedback demonstrated by not taking forward change es to the tency rules and with staggered uplift thank you thank you um Ellie so uh we’ve given 30 minutes to this public forum because of
The the number of contributions so we’ve had 31 public forum statements so one minute per statement to fit within our 30 minutes and I’ll just go through the names and Tim will help me keep time okay Sarah Freeman can you wait for the microphone there
S and I’ll put my hand up when you’re at 50 seconds this you’re aware okay the council is looking at staggering a 100% rent increase over two years this is unacceptable the council keeps stating there’s been no rise in rents since 2018 that is their fault the 1950 allotments act section
101 St States an allotment shall be let at such rent as a tenant May reasonably be expected to pay for the land what the council are proposing is not reasonable the council mentions it needs to bring more overgrown plots into cultivation I hope they do not expect
Allotment holders to do this for them if allotment rents Rise by 50% the council risk the good willll from allotment holders that currently exists you should be asking yourself what the conse quence consequences will be of the above inflation rent increase I urge the council just one
Moment one minute I urge the council to rethink their proposed changes to the Bristol allotment rent Rises thank you for listening okay thank you Debbie Wyatt Debbie Wyatt okay Holly Wyatt okay Holly I’ll put my hand up when you’re at 50 seconds okay thank you um alongside the council’s online
Consultation process I began an online petition via change.org which has been submitted to democratic services at the time of submission this petition had reached over U sorry 6,414 signatures of support with 3,965 being verified as from Bristol residents and such this petition will be going to the next full council meeting
For debate but I felt it was important to highlight at this cabinet meeting the volume of support this petition has received one of the core demands in this petition was that access to space to grow your own food should be for everyone and not the reserve of more affluent households over 6,000 people
Agreed with this statement and I would strongly urge the council not to ignore the voices of those they have been elected to represent these rent increases will absolutely make allotments unaffordable for some of those who can most benefit from access to space to grow their own food and the impact of these proposals
Will disproportionately affect the poorest residents of our city thank you thank you Tom banet Tom bosen no okay uh Sue Allen uh Ruth he um in your parts and green spaces strategy you say you want a fair approach to tency fees yet clearly the proposed rental increases which mean
People will pay anything from 7% to 492 per more at anything but fair your figures are completely illogical and no explanation has been given as to how these random sums were arrived at in your strategy you say you want collaboration and an open dialogue with stakeholders and communities I’ve
Emailed both councelor King and Jonathan James on behalf of the Bristol laners resist campaign for a meeting to discuss Solutions I’ve had no response this doesn’t feel very collaborative I fully support rent increases however the current proposals are not the way to do it instead you could raise rents by
Inflation which is fair and logical or you could charge per square meter so people pay for the actual size of their plot which is what many local authorities 50 seconds or you could charge people in line with council tax could you tell me if you considered any of these alternative options to
Increasing the rents before you made the current arbitrary [Applause] proposals Christopher fauler Gibson yes I fully understand that allotment rents need to increase the fact that previous agreed increases have not been implemented is the fault of Bristol city council and not the allotment tenants who are now facing punitive
Increases to compensate for this failure however we want to work constructively with the council and we all agree that improvements are needed and must be paid for the current staff levels are totally insufficient we do not agree however with you on the principles but on the soorry we agree
With you on the principles but not on the detail and the means of implementation your decision to phase in increases over two years is welcome as is making monthly direct debit payments available but this this does not go far enough 50 seconds 79% of respondents to your consultation many who live in most
Deprived desiles of the city said that they either disagreed or disagreed strongly with the rent Rises I think I’m going to be out of time yeah thank you so Joe pen penil pangil okay Mara Norine Ratcliffe Elise hunger Tina Holmes Ian mcgreg Anna Sanchez Joanna Melo I wish to speak specifically about
The community groups I’m very worried that the legal basis for the decision on them is not safe this afternoon the consultation did not reach many of the members of the community groups because they’re not local Authority tenants the uh equalities impact assessment doesn’t address the question of the community groups particularly and
The benchmarking exercise which is an essential part of this process there has to be evaluation in accordance with um Court decisions doesn’t deal with the larger plots I’m therefore very concerned that any decision about the larger plots that’s bands uh EFG andh would be unsafe this afternoon okay thank you Caroline doog Caroline
Dook uh Kirsty Foreman Vanessa Harvey Samuel I’m uh a tenant at Speedwell and I’ve had my plot for six years I urge you to reconsider and withdraw the proposed rent increases I support the case for a rent increase but not for such a significant amount with no information
As to how the money is to be spent your legal advice on consultation underlines the requirement to provide sufficient reasons for any proposals to permit intelligent consideration as a consult I certainly do not feel I have sufficient information to permit intelligent consideration of these proposals and I
Wonder whether the cabinet has we have been asking all through this process for information on past expenditure and plans for proposed new expenditure to no avail even last week in response to an foi seeking the breakdown of expenditure for 2223 the council replied saying these figures were unavailable in the paper before you
That’s a minute you have uh building an infrastructure costing £300,000 um we don’t know where that comes from what evidence of surveying sites prioritizing work or costing work has been undertaken how is this money to be spent surely this should be found out before you impose these rent
Increases I just say because the reason we do give people a finite amount of time on the statements is because we have a 15 minute we have an hour long bit and if someone overruns that means someone else doesn’t get to speak so we are I’m not going to interrupt you but I
Will give you an indication is your your minute is is now eating into another one um so that was that was Vanessa right um Harriet Buckland whil I agree there’s a need for um rent increases I strongly disagree with the approach to um the current increases and the magnitude of those
Increases um the value of allotments is undervalued in terms of health and well-being um and um I’m really concerned at the um longevity of community groups which um will be really hard hit by these rent increases and which other strategies um claim to um be offering support um that’s that’s it for
Me thank you Lor Lindfield okay so this is um statement by Lor Linfield who’s attendant at thing Park lments I have cancer and chronic fatigue I’m a part-time NHS employee and I’m currently unable to work I’m managing alone living in a flat I already fund my alotment rent out of household food and
Fuel budgets cancer had a huge impact on my mental health the allotment is the only thing in life that I positively want to get out of the flat 4 the allotment means I can eat a wider range of fresh vegetables that I can’t buy get
Out in the sun and fresh air do an activity without spending money and meet likeminded people I’ve already adapted my methods to my disability and low income by doing things like building irrigation channels using no dig accepting help from friends and growing lower effort produce how does the
Council suggest I keep my plot given the proposed rent Rises will mean I will no longer be able to pay the rent thank you Sally Wyatt no Sally Wyatt okay Tessa price this is a joint statement written together by 14 Community projects and groups based on alotment sites across the
City far from bringing new opportunities for Collective food growing these rent Rises will be really damaging for our projects and they risk closing some of us down partly we some of us may be financially not viable anymore we simply can’t cover our costs some of us um will
Have a huge amount of extra admin work created by the discount scheme that won’t be manageable for us collectively our projects bring huge benefits to the people of Bristol giving offering a sense of community mental and phys physical health benefits connection with our food and with land I think we
Probably also save the council collectively huge amounts of money across other areas things like the reduced need for send provision the reduced need for mental health support and drug and alcohol support um probably dwarfing the increased income that’s going to be created by these rent Rises
Most of us most of our projects don’t take a penny in funding from the council we really don’t ask for much help from the council all we’re asking is that you don’t wreck what we’re doing by forcing through these ill-considered proposals please please don’t put through these
Rent Rises they are going to do so much harm to our projects Sue Edile Sue edile Elizabeth gold Harry Mack Dr Steven pill volunt voluntary site representatives are vital for the functioning of the allotment service and I’m among a group of 35 half of the site reps in Bristol who believe that the consultations on rents and rules have not been handled
Well the rushed circulation of immature and ill-thought out proposals has predictably produced needless anxiety and anger across the allotment community in Bristol among the consequen of this mishandling will be a scar on relationships between Council and tenants lasting long into the future in addition cabinet members who normally
Spend no time thinking about allotments have been dragged into the fuori and are now forced by an arbitrarily imposed time scale to make an invidious decision either to starve allotments of additional funding by refusal or to bring a host of other problems that others will allude to by approval
So I urge candidates when faced with a binary decision to choose a Third Way approve and implement the 25% increase already agreed by full Council in March 2022 and require A Renewed engagement with site reps and tenants in the coming months to settle the terms of a rent
Escalator for the coming few years okay thank you so that’s our 15 minutes for statement so let’s move on to question questions uh we had 45 public forum questions submitted between 27 people we have 15 minutes uh for this section as well I’ll go through the names in turn first question from Harry
Mack Kirsty Foreman Tamara Evans Brawn Ruth h Jillian Skinner oh Ruth H okay do I ask both at once got two I’ll ask one um in your parts and green spaces strategy you state you want to implement a fairer and more sustainable approach to tendency fees and that your proposed new fees
Approach will take into consideration the variation in size of plots and the variation in on-site facilities EG toilets and car parking however your new fee structure uses the the same banding system as before and there’s no consideration of on-site facilities other than in relation to water and flooding discounts which already exist
How can you explain the anomaly between what you say in your strategy about new approaches and the lack of these in your proposals o so I I guess the interesting word there for me is fair what what what what does fairness look like um because it’s not just fairness towards allotment
Tenants that we need to think about I I don’t have the privilege of only thinking about that I have to also think about fairness to the council fairness to the staff that work in the allotments team and also fairness to the rest of um Bristol because what is happening right
Now is the park subsidizes as you all know the the park subsidizes the allotment service to a significant amount and where that shortfall is met by the park service that means that something isn’t delivered in our park services and our park services are open to all they’re open to every resident in
The city and we have an obligation to make sure that those people who are our taxpayers as well are catered For and I don’t have the luxury of just catering for what is a gated community as much as I appreciate and care about what a lot
MERS do um so I guess what is fair is is an interesting word for debate in that in that context because it means looking at a whole range of things thank you uh did you have a supplementary or did you like to go on to your second question second question
Relevant um so we’ve just been talking about fairness the rents you’ve proposed are totally logical and unfair the percentage increases are completely random and not connected to the size of the plots in any way they’re not connected to anything for example the percentage increases for tenants on
Sites with water from the smallest plot to the largest plot are going to increase in these percentages 140% 78 123 109 66 88 136 220 for no apparent reason some people’s rents will double some are going to Triple some are quadruple some are even going to sex
Duple can you explain how these random and illogical increases can be described as fair so I’m not talking about being fair where the rent increases are made I’m talking about these increases that you’re proposing which are completely Bonkers I would just encourage to keep the questions tight so we can fit more
Questions into our 15 minutes right uh because we will get to the end of that 15 minutes at some point okay uh yeah Ellie uh we we had to look at a lot of things so we had to compare with some of the other um authorities that are that
Have a similar land value to us um Baines Sheffield some of the London burs those are our comparable Lo local authorities and pth as well um amongst others to see what they were doing and also what they’re projecting to do over the coming years um so that’s where a
Lot of our prices were compared against and rationalized against and we also start to look at some of our most popular banding um and also what we needed to achieve in in terms of um the the target for the income that we would generate and how that would be cut
Across our different bands because um for example bamb B is our most popular plot size that has over 50% of people are on excuse me Bambi um so we needed to sort of consider that but you know a lot of the percentages that have been
Used in a lot of the figures that you’ve given us are you know when you say between you know a small percent to hundreds and hundreds of percentages but in reality a lot of these are the price of a coffee a week you know the these aren’t these aren’t um they shouldn’t be
The barriers that you’re suggesting they are and just in terms of the Community Food growing someone’s obviously had a little word with some of you because that is a particular passion of mine is Community Food growing I think it’s one of the key solutions to food growing in
The city but um they’re legible 50% discount as well and if there’s any spec specific ones that are struggling I’d just encourage you to get in touch with those get in touch with officers and can deal with it on a Case by case basis yeah I mean and I please ask
The I will not go if we want to shout out I’ll just stop and we’ll use out to 15 minutes I think the point I make is if we want to enter into a discussion and the gentleman earon talking about informed intelligent discussion throwing words around like
Unhinged whatever we just Ed that these are not attached to anything that’s just not true they are attached to a thought process it may have produced a conclusion that you don’t like but they are attached to a process uh and to suggest they’re not it does not help us
Move forward the argument and you know again as Ellie said the point of fairness is one about a finite Council budget in a city of increasing need uh in the increasing cost of Meeting those needs means that we’re in a precarious situation and there’s not an area of local government activity that’s not
Been impacted of our financial situation uh we are in so addressing that context as well and and at least a knowledging it is incredibly um important but please ask your supplementary or uh we can go on to the next question I’d like to ask supplementary thank you I completely
Accept the council need to raise more money so um are you saying that the Apparently random increases are actually based on a sort of logical sort of way of working them out which you haven’t told us about but which you could tell us about if necessary okay so to look at the
Calculation of rents we looked at the saving applied at full Council in 2022 U the cost of covering CPI since 2018 when allotment fees were L raised the cost of an additional allotment officer the minimum Administration cost that should be applied the cost of Grounds Maintenance and the cost of in
Infrastructure repairs these were cross analyzed with a fee rate per meter squared approach and an approach based on the relative popularity of allotment plot sizes the cost benit benefit was then calculated for a number of scenarios the scenario that met the income threshold required to meet a minimum service and service investment
Cost level was put to public consultation okay uh I’ll go to the next question a Jillian Skinner no Lauren Mason Troy tansa hello Marvin and Ellie King with regard to the proposed allotment rent increases and with reference to Bristol City council’s recently released equalities impact assessment which should look at how the
Proposed increased allotment rents of between 7 and 492 per and we don’t know why there is that variation as my colleague mentioned may impact on Bristol residents in including those living with intersectional disadvantages such as poor health isolation in I in outlying areas low incomes poor local access to
Facilities and amenities we need to know more about how these allotment rent increased proposals May negatively impact on take up of allotments in the city’s areas of greatest deprivation in the future particularly on those residents with low incomes for example with minimum wage or low-paid jobs such as nurses care and child care
And teaching assistance cleaners Etc who do not receive Universal Credit pension credit and maybe not toil council tax credit and will not benefit from the proposed mitigating rent relief measures and how this in turn could have a major effect on food poverty in these areas where fresh fruit and vegetables is
Often a poor quality more expensive or not available locally my question is Bristol City council’s own mapping shows that most allotment sites are in Wards with the greatest food Pro poverty and greatest social deprivation why has this information not been included in the equalities impact assessment I just want
To stress as I said at the beginning there’s 15 minutes public forum because we have items coming up with around children’s services on later on agenda we’ got housing uh papers coming up as well if you ask in a very long question it will consume that 15 minutes I’ll say
No more but I’m going to leave it in your hands I will not interrupt your long questions but you will consume your time um Ellie um so just just from a a factual perspective of the 56 um th000 square meters that our allotments covers only nine square meters sits in the top 20
Indices of deprivation but again supporting food growing amongst our most disadvantaged communities is a very clear priority as evidenced in our approach to food Community Food growing and the discounts that we’re offering um we I mean I’m a trustee of a community garden and have been for years
That this is a this is a passion of mine this is something I spend my weekends my spare time working on getting more Community Food growing in an area of high deprivation in hillfields in Bristol in East Bristol um so and the last paper I’ve just brought through is
Brought you know 500 Grand into which dwarfs only that we we’re getting from the service into a new kitchen Garden to again grow Community Food growing uh community-led food opportunities so I think our commitment to that is um is pretty clear um but providing these allotments comes at a cost we can’t get
Away from that you know the the council is subsidizing this cost our Park service is subsidizing that cost we’re not immune to the cost of living the cost of operating crisis and that point just needs to hit home somewhere okay it has to be realized that you know there
Are councils up and down the country um who are applying for uh effective bankruptcy and uh that that just can’t be taken for granted so we’ve yes we’ve Frozen fees since 2018 because we wanted to protect the opportunity to grow food for people and um you know I didn’t hear
Any objections to to that that that seemed to be well supported um and but we’re not in a position to be able to do that anymore and if we want to see any quality of service at all this is what needs to happen um if there are specific
Individuals who are struggling and I’ve heard a few examples of people that might need to just get in touch with us and have a chat about how their personal circumstances need to be mitigated and supported then please just get in touch and we can work through that but for the
Vast majority of people um you know the there are is almost three years before these will be fully implemented there should be time there to adapt to adjust and um just you know to to realize that these are you know very special spaces and and I appreciate the passion that’s
Been shown I I really do I do think that activism is something to be celebrated and encouraged and I do wonder what you know what what amazing things you your group of activists could achieve on our allotments um with that sort of new new uh voice that you’ve found um but it is
An impossible situation to to be in in local government right now when we’ve got uh you know household support funds which we don’t know you know what is going to happen with that tomorrow and the consequence that will have to our residents you know that we’ve kept aot
Libraries open our council tax reduction scheme is still at 100% these are not easy things to do and they are not things that are happening in any other well hardly any other Council in the country so I just I I really hope that people can see outside of um the
Allotments and just take on board some of that that holistic picture that we’re really trying to Grapple with thank you thanks earie did you have a supplementary uh to your question I actually this is really about us beinged this being a transparent process I would encourage you to make it a
Question not taking from the next question do you recognize the fact that actually 25% rent increases were passed and weren’t actually implemented that this isn’t about 2018 you’ve already passed that and implemented it why not do that now and then look at a a wider consultation and a more transparent way
Of informing that consultation um simply because of the amount of time that’s passed I think it’s a we we have to reckon with that and and recognize that you know by the time these will be implemented it’ll be around eight years you know it’ll be 2026 before we get to
The the proposal that we’re at and it was 2018 so you know by that point that’s a significant difference of time that 25% um just won’t be enough and I cannot ask the the park service with the mitigations that they’ve got to have to to subsidize um uh your your private
Food growing opportunities and we I mean I we’ve run out of time but what I will do is let’s take one more question I think it is important to recognize as well I mean we we talked ear right about the pressure on Parks parks are for the
Whole city as well um and and that and and equality of access to Green spaces quality green spaces investing in those green spaces is absolutely essential and if that’s being impacted we do have to look at of ways of meeting that need and and our and our challenge as city leaders is
That sometimes we don’t get the opportunity to tell people what they want to hear we we tell them about what they need to hear and we have to talk about the financial context we’re in and that’s one that brings incredible pressure onto every aspect of of local
Government um activity uh and and that’s where we are today so we have to find a way of being uh of of really prioritizing uh as being as fair and just as possible in the face of uh uh of finite Financial Resources in the face of growing need and a growing cost of
Meeting those needs and it is a wicked situation for for for us all um let me go on to the next questioner and I will just add this one in um just to break our 15 minute rule but I I think it’s okay for today there so much passion here um Alice
Hasty Christopher Faulkner Gibson Mark James Martin KT ladbrook okay thank you there’s been a lot of talk about how the allotment service is being heavily subsidized by the park service I’d like to know how you know because there are no Financial accounts since 2022 what is putting us in the red is
The £300,000 a year recently vaguely explained expenditure which was pulled up in front of scrutiny last week this is what’s putting us in the red how do you feel able to pass a decision about this rent increase based on such patchy [Applause] finances so there there was two sets of
Figures that were released which I agree isn’t very particularly helpful uh the first set showed you the income and expenditure that is currently going on in in the service and the second set was um the income and expenditure that we want to um achieve over the next 15
Years I’m not sure why you’re shaking your head but that is what was released okay um but so the the difference between the two is that um that second lot of figures is the is the maintenance program is what we want to achieve over the next 15 years with investment from
The service in no way shape or form is the income from uh the allotment tiers designed to fund that um as you know you’d be several hundred, short that is some that is money that we’re going to have to either um fund through our Capital program or not depending on how
The committee system decides to deal with that um so that’s what those two different sets of figures were for and one is for the current service in which we’re managing which is in Decline going seriously downhill which no one is satisfied with and no one happy with the
Second lot is what we should be aspiring to do if we want to be ambitious and if we want you guys to have some good quality allotments and a good quality service um that’s the funding that we needed to do it you won’t be paying for
That you you know you’ll paying for an additional lot officer and and a tiny bit of Maintenance and that’s about what the the funding increases will do the rest will be Capital um expenditure that will have to be acquired from the rest of the council service um in our Capital
Schemes thanks Edie now because I added a question there I won’t take a supplementary but allow me to uh go to councelor Chris Jackson I think you had a question on this Chris thank you mayor yeah um I’m glad the allotment rent Rises are being staggered over two years to give people
Time to adapt to change we also get in the age of the tourist continuing to cut our budget we need rents to rise after they have been frozen for some a significant amount of time could counselor King please outline what rents will be spent on uh yeah the allotment uh the the the
Re fees will be uh to deliver um to bring additional staff into the service um and to um to take out carry out maintenance to bring our some of our overgrown plots back into use to work on Community Food growing initiatives um to address some of our um ecological
Ambitions with with with tenants um and to work on our Capital program and to support the rest of the allotment team who have been uh much reduced in the last uh 10 years and so it will bring a welcome additional support into that service thanks s did you have a
Supplementary Chris I do have one it was great to see the discounts for people on benefits but what would have happened if we wouldn’t have put these um fees up well if we didn’t put the fees up we continue to manage a service in Decline as I’ve said several times so we would
Continue to have um an increase in overgrown plots that are not um tenantable um an increase in waiting times and frustration for people trying to contact elopment offices and not getting a timely response an increase in maintenance um challenges an increase in Risk um in in some of our um paths paths
And walls not being maintained properly and um uh we would be behind schedule in achieving some of our Ambitions around um working with allotmenteers uh to to grow for the benefits of Nature and and Wildlife as well thank you very much for your answers thanks Ellie um can I off any
Cabinet members uh to comment on this item as well uh don thanks yes uh I mean I’ve I’ve managed a lot site for about 15 years now and I’ve seen probably three generations of lotman’s officers um move through the system and and in each case all that time
Actually uh they have been caught between legitimate requests and demands from plot holders and an absolutely disastrous resourcing situation and that’s something think that we as councilors I think feel and recognize how painful um a kind of tension that is to find yourself in uh we chose it but I think
For officers they shouldn’t expect to have to endure that year after year we need to make some uh radical decisions about what our strategy and how we’re going to fund it is for our allotments uh we know that I know that many times I’ve asked for rubbish to be
Cleared I’ve asked for locks to be changed Hedges to be cut and I know that I’m asking for things that just there just isn’t money for and we know that it’s not being run properly at the moment and we know this this pricing structure does ensure that those who are genuinely
Disadvantaged uh don’t pay as much as those of us who are fortunate to be waged uh Ellas said that if someone is in a particularly difficult situation has caught somehow between those rules then there’s there scope for a compensation there but uh we now must pay a reasonable amount for the use of
Our allotments most of us spend many many days weeks sometimes months of our year in those allotments it’s still incredibly good value compared to other forms of entertainment which have gone up ridiculously if you’ve bought a theater ticket or football ticket or something the prices are extraordinary
You know the amount of the number of days and the amount of attention that my allotment gets um makes it the best quality um and still the cheapest uh form of of of entertainment and the healthiest and uh to my mind um worth every penny so uh no one wants to
Pay more but I absolutely 100% support what Ellie’s doing here and um glad to see it thank you thank you Don um so Ellie I’m going to hand back to you in a minute make decision which I support but I I think first off it’s important to recognize that you operate
Within the context too and it’s a it’s a context I require and our our budget must be balanced right the consequences for local authority of not balancing its budget each year are the wor worst possible outcomes for a place uh just looking at the testimonies that coming
From Nottingham now which are huge cuts to uh services that they’ve just agreed to Birmingham uh huge cuts uh while increasing council tax 21% uh when the outside uh Commissioners coming so actually our our responsibility to pass a balanced budget is the priority and everything has to happen with within
That context when we faced big Financial pressures into last year uh talking with Steven and senior leadership team and cabinet what they needed to do was come back with a way of making ensure that this organization can deliver all the things we’d like it to deliver but do so
Within that Financial envelope to make sure that we don’t end up with the Commissioners uh coming in uh at the same time we’ve made a big uh uh Drive about supporting the most marinized communities uh within the city uh We’ve exp expanded the number of people who can apply for support with their
Allotments if anyone has any issues with the paperwork around that or the application reach out to us directly our community development team your local counselor and a support will be on hand to make sure people can get that discount if they’re financially challenged or if they’re a group and if
There are exceptional circumstances reach out to the team as well and the team can take those um into account uh but the other things that uh we are constantly doing to support people in Bristol we’ve retained the council tax reduction scheme so by definition those people who most financially challenged
Continue to get financial support from the council that is not uh an inconsequential sum of money it takes to run that council tax reduction scheme uh so again the comp the competition for finite resource uh is real and obviously the benefits of people getting their councel tax reduction 100% uh in in in
Some cases uh spill over into um everyday life as well and and and we’ve heard about the the work we’ve done to to advocate for the continuation of the household uh support fund as well uh so look I I just want to thank you Eddie for standing up uh for needing for
Trying to navigate through a wicked context with a very challenging financial situation uh uh for all of us and and the doors are always open to conversation on this so let me um hand back to you now to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the
Screen thank you mayor and I just want to say thank you all for coming as well I do appreciate um your voices on this um it might not be an easy decision but um being a part of an Administration during austerity means that a lot of these difficult decisions have to take
Place and I do believe this is the right one in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report okay so I’m just going to refer to the rest of the item so we’re just for the rest of the the time now we’re
Going to tackle home to school uh travel which is a massive Financial challenge particularly for some of us most marginalized kids at risk kids employment skills and lifelong learning how we make sure people can participate in the econom economy of Bristol future bright we’re going to do working well specialist employment support program
For people in Bristol uh we’re going to look at Alternative Learning provision framework to cover post 16 special educational needs um education uh we’re looking at our our Bristol holding limited uh group company business plans we’re going to be talking about people uh living in vehicles uh within Bristol
The precarious situation therein and the concerns of uh local residents about the impact that’s having on on their uh Lifestyles uh and we’ll also be looking at oh it’s empty uh we’ll be looking at the council uh Financial uh situation so lots of incredibly important stuff to
Come uh for uh the city so but I’m going to start with agenda item 17 football Foundation funding uh for Play Zone ball courts uh and uh this is an incredibly exciting project which explores the opportunity for investment in borts uh called play zones right across uh Bristol now the government funded Grant
Is an opportunity to create modern safe and engaging facilities that deliver multiport use Link to our Sport and physical activity strategy targeting areas of the greatest need uh in uh Bristol improving uh physical activity social skills mental health and all the other things that we know uh people get
Uh from participating in uh Sport and physical activity so uh you know the football federation’s research has shown that what we’ve seen in our Citywide tennis offer um uh that controlled access can help grow participation among certain demographics as well as developing a more financially sustainable uh model so crucially the
Council capital investment will be matched by the football Foundation at 3 to1 uh taking the decision today will allow officers to develop the potential sites and work with local communities right across Bristol and trusted partner organizations to support a forthcoming funding application on behalf of Bristol and it also identifies sport section 106
Funds as the council contribution so our team will work to identify appropriate sites and developed a project uh proposal so subject to being able to identify suitable sites affordability could allow for between one and four new play zones to be delivered but we want want to be as ambitious as possible in
Our bid um and hope to find as many locations as possible so improving our sport offer across Bristol to increase participation develop Talent Pathways to Elite Sports uh and have been at the heart of our approach to Sport and physical activity in Bristol so the other priority has been to bring more
World-class Sport and events uh to the city just imagine you had this when you were younger Marley you could have been a pro footballer today right right okay so this project will support the first two priorities and I’m really pleased to bring this item to uh cabinet so we’ve had no public forum
Statements on this uh increasing physical activity mental health wellbeing uh and so for for our our children nothing from uh uh counselors um can I ask if any cabinet members wish to come in Molly ideal yeah I I was never going to be a professional footballer and that was
Apparent quite early on in my footballing career sadly but I do still persevere and play at an amateur level um so I’m the secretary for the easn Cowboys and cowg girls uh first team and men’s first team play on a Saturday so it’s my job all too frequently to try
And desperately call around 11 side pictures to see if they’re available on a Saturday when our home ground is water logged as seems to be happening all the time um so I know very well how access to high quality sporting provision is a premium in Bristol um appreciate these
Ball courts are smaller than 11 as side pitch but they’re just as crucial in developing that talent that you know given young people that experience playing football I’m pleased to see there’s mention as well of um catering um what’s provided to women and girls because I think that needs to be um big
Consideration um so yeah just truly welcome this and Keen to see investment in the best sport coming forward thank you Marley any others uh comments I thought you might come in Kai I I I I I told you like a tackle very Stuart pieres yeah I’ve never been sent off in
My career so uh there you go I’m I’m a gentleman on the [Laughter] pitch well yeah you haven’t seen Marley play football all right Ellie yeah I just really and we’ve all heard enough from me today but I just really wanted to welcome this um it’s um I’ve come to football really late
Through my kids but the community um in football is is like nothing else and I think um it’s one of those few places that really holds uh people together but I think there’s there’s such great opportunities in this as well and I want to thank officers for taking the time to
Brief me as well as the mayor’s office on this it’s um very generous of them to bring me in on that um but the opportunity is here to do some really inclusive play with girls as well and disabled football communities I think is really exciting and shows us the kind of
City we’d want to be so really welcome it thank you thank you and I didn’t mean that Marley about the comedic football by the way it was I know it’s great I’ve heard very I’ve had very good reports on your on thank you C Jackson okay so thank you
Everyone uh for for your uh your comments really uh big thanks to the team who have uh done the work on this um I’m going to take the decision which will be displayed on the screen so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out
In the report so onto agenda item 18 home to school travel support policy um Asha this with you thank you before I introduce the report though I did want to kind of make the point that I think in all the years that I’ve sat here in cabinet I
Have I’ve never kind of witnessed the kind of passion that we’ve seen today around allotments libraries uh parks and green spaces I’ve never seen that level of passion directed at Children’s Services adult social care the serious violence that is happening in our city uh never so they’re the biggest budgets uh that have
The city seems to show very little interest in those areas of work and I think I just wanted to make that that point but just moving on to the report at hand um in June 2023 the department for Education updated their statutory guidance in relation to 5 to6 travel and
This provided the council with an opportunity to review both our support for pre and post 16 home to school travel and enable us to make our existing offer clearer for parents and carers ensuring that our policies are still in line with current DFE guidelines as part of the review we have
Also proposed some changes to both policies that support the transformation of the the service and to deliver it in a much more efficient way our first the first proposal we um is around the introduction of Passenger code of conduct for pupils and some changes in
The way in which we deliver parts of our service in the future for example by proposing the introduction of meeting points for travel and offering an independent travel training program to fully promote preparation for adulthood and lifelong independent skills the second part of The Proposal is around
Our um travel support policy for 16 to 25 year olds most young people as we know use home to school TR travel uh to access their education by train or training by walking or taking public transport where communities are not well served by the P by public transport several providers offer Arrangements
Such as abur refund and concessionary schemes we have included included travel Support options for pupils in the new policy so it is clearer to parent and carers what is available as well as what is not available we’ve also reviewed travel Support options for pupils age 16 to 18 and proposed to remove Council
Arranged Vehicles although we still uh will offer some support this is different from our current policy but still in line with DFE guidance to mitigate the impact on service users and citizens web pupils have already started their course and traveled to school via a council arranged vehicle we will
Continue this Arrangement until they finish their course the changes in the new policy would start for any students transitioning into post 16 education as of September 2025 taking this approach means that we can engage with parents and carers over a longer period uh and as I’ve said
Before we have consulted uh with parents and carers and their responses have helped us further shape the policy that is in front of us today so today I am bringing this report to cabinet for approval of those policy changes um as I’ve just outlined thanks thank you um Asher but as you
Kind of indicated uh there’s been no public form statements or questions on this one nothing on Council um any cabinet members wish to comment on this item Craig yeah I will I mean so home to school transport has been something that we’ve gone around the loop on many times in in
Our time here it’s such a difficult and thorny issue kind of impacted by so many different things um I’ve been in with poits all over the wars and attempts to you know resolve the issue and I I think and I hope that this you know this will
Be the one that finally um Nails it so thank you for your work thank you Craig okay Asha again thank you for your leadership on this and and get I mean along with with heading there you have two of the the briefs that are under such immense pressure that’s dealing with the just
Human beings uh with increasing needs and increasing cost of Meeting those needs as well so thanks for your leadership on that uh let me hand back to you now to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen so in terms of the
Decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the recort okay Ash you have a number of papers uh today don’t you so agenda item 19 employment skills and lifelong learning learning plan uh and this is for the 24 uh to 28 period thank you first I’d like to
Highlight an error in the title listed on the agenda for this item the title states that the ESL plan is to run from 2024 to 28 but as per the recommendations in the report the ESL plan we are taking a decision on today is for 2024 to
2030 so today we are seeking approval for the employment skills and lifelong uh learning plan to 2030 this plan provides a road map for uh the service and based on extensive research and feedback from residents and stakeholders we have identified eight prior I ities that are aligned with our wider
Strategies and policies working together we really want to smash through the barriers and Achieve shared prosperity for all in this city and as we drive towards for drives forward detailed plans and progress are being shared through Community conversations multi- agency boards and regular governance reports in preparing this plan you said
We learned and we will connect the local system better to to tackle employment inequality and poverty achieve better career outcomes for young people and families being left behind prepare local people for jobs of the future including clean energy and the digital uh job skills Drive employment and skills
Priorities and targets into our major developments and contracts help employers recruit diverse talent and plug skills gaps in essential job roles enable migrants and refugees to build on their SK skills to settle and thrive in Bristol support disabled people and those with health conditions to achieve paid employment and finally boost
Lifelong learning for work life citizenship and well-being the Bristol employment skills and life long learning service is a nationally recognized service and makes a significant contribution to the council’s corporate strategic priorities by enabling over 10,000 residents uh most excluded from education uh skills and employment prospects additionally um and I do want
To add that this is one of very few of our services that have developed a very successful business model which is resourced through mixed funding so the budget for the service as a whole is 8.6 million of which 7.6 million has been generated from external funding and I
Want to commend the staff for the work that they do in bringing that resource in so so the cabinet are being asked to approve uh the new plan and um authorize the head of service to take all steps required to implement the plan going forward thank you thank you um
Aser again we’ve had no public forum statements or questions on employment skills and lifelong learning uh any cabinet members wish to comment on this item um Helen thanks Marvin I just wanted to say very briefly because Asher and I were brief together about this plan because the
Element that Ash has touched on about getting people with disabilities into employment and training is you know one that has been very very important to me but also wearing my ward hat I mean sadly when you go through most of the maps of the city in this uh strategy har
Cliff and withywood is the red Ward isn’t it because it’s the one that’s sadly at the bottom of of the um access to H and Fe it’s the one with the lowest level of qu qualifications and it’s also one where people find it difficult to
Connect to the job so I think what I wanted to say is about that this is although it’s the employment skills and lifelong learning strategy it actually impacts on everybody because we know that transport is a big issue about getting people to jobs there’s also the whole issue about Workforce shortages
And addressing that by having a wider pool of people who can access employment and training so um you know I really do recommend it to to everybody to have a look at this because this is a way out of some of the economic issues that plague some of our
Areas thank you Helen um anyone Craig are you indicating yeah can I only I mean you know brist is um is a really divided City in terms of levels of deprivation and if we really are serious about inclusion and inclusive economy and tackling some of those um kind of
Wicked systemic long-term problems the work that Jane’s team do is essential and she does it with so much passion and enthusiasm that um you know she’ll make a success of it so um I went through this plan with Jane as well and I’m really excited about it and I think it’s
Um it could it could make a real difference thank you Craig okay so let me come back to you now actually to take the decision which I support but I would just say again this this challenge of how we build an inclusive City we the skills pipeline into employment
Opportunities is absolutely essential to that along with housing uh and good health but obviously the the they’re interdependent and this piece of work also would be essential to our ability to deliver a just transition uh making sure that the economic restructuring we have to go through as we decarbonize the
Economy uh uh you know as old professions perhaps disappear and new professions come up that people across the city are you know in a position to take advantage of those new jobs that will be coming through and the Very groups that you mentioned or ones that
We mentioned even just a few weeks ago around Temple quarter when we’re talking to number of the businesses involved down there developers about social value uh and how we can work with them to make sure there’s a a pipeline from areas of need where we need to create those opportunities into those those
Employment opportunities that are going to be developed as we build those 10,000 homes 22,000 jobs created Western Harbor and all the other region that’s going to be happening over the coming years so thank you for your leadership on this let me hand back to you to take the
Decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen yeah can I just say if there’s any team that is going to kind of lead and really break the mold on this it it will be the employment and skills team as I said
Before um I I think I even read the statistics in the 20 years the team has been in place we haven’t lost not one member of the team and the passion is still burning burning and they take so much initiative the uh building uh Bristol besser is a a clear example of
How they have seen an opportunity and got and looked at ways in which they can go in and and not only support businesses but the communities that um uh that are close to to those developments so um I I I do want to kind of uh thank the team and in so
Doing uh in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you very much Asher so let’s go on to agenda I’m 20 still with you future bright plus phase three extension of existing program okay so we are seeking approval to accept and
Spend funding in relation to the Future bright phase three Grant to extend and enhance the delivery of the existing future bright program which provides employment support for those who are in low paid unsecure employment and dependent upon in work benefits to get by uh the to get by the original
Three-year DWP funded um uh fund was awarded to uh bristle City to the west of England combined Authority and and Bristol city council LED on the development of the bid and we created a highly affected model to assist individuals who are in low paid and insecure employment to achieve
Successful in work pro progression due uh as I’ve said before to the success of the program uh wer funded a second phase of future bright and awarded bristle city council a further Grant of 1.54 million over a three-year period where the team worked with over 1,800 individuals and saw 641 improvements in
Tangible uh work outcomes as a result of the success of the two phases um we have been awarded a further 600,000 through the UK SPF uh funding scheme to extend uh the program uh and this will enable bristle city council and partner providers to uh work with a further 400 individuals in
Load paid work including residents who live in social housing or in temporary uh accommodation future bright will result in participants enhancing their career prospects and skill levels uh increased household income and hopefully see a reduction in their dependency upon in work uh benefits and counsel assistance uh the program will also lead to
180 participants uh um uh leading to a reduction in benefit claims for Universal Credit housing benefit and child tax credits so the cabinet today we’re seeking the cabinet um authorization for the head of service in consultation with the cabinet member for children’s services to accept and spend
The feat of right phase three funding thank you thank you very much um aser uh and we’ve had no public for for statements or questions any cabinet members wish to comment on this item okay well let’s let’s move on through this Asher let me hand back to
You to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you we’re still with you for agenda item 21 workw partnership specialist employment support
Program so um um I’m seeking approval today to um hold detailed bidden negotiations with the NHS uh Bristol North Somerset and South gler Shire uh and Department of work and pensions to become a Vanguard program for the government’s work well partnership program and this program is designed to improve employment outcomes for people
Who are unemployed or at the risk of unemployment through their health conditions uh across uh Bristol and The Wider west of England um area uh the most prevalent diagnosis uh amongst those labeled um not fit for work it’s mental health disorder followed by muscu low sceletal diseases of the respiratory system injury
Poisoning and other uh consequences uh nearly 63,000 individuals within Bristol are economically inactive uh at least 20% Which is around 20% of our population this is higher than the Southwest average but lower than the national average in percentage terms the number of individuals economically inactive due to long-term six sickness is
27% uh which again is higher than both the southwest and national average the workw world project will be targeted within specific local localities uh across Ross the west of England area and the localities that we have selected uh in Bristol are have been selected due to their high levels of disabled people and
People with health conditions together with life expectancy so while the project will cover the three local Authority will cover the three local of sorry whilst the project will cover the three local Authority areas uh the majority of the res resources will be focused on Bristol and North
Somerset due to the higher levels of inactivity fit notes and population denticity here in Bristol the employment support team will build on existing work and health Partnerships uh and programs including the we work for everyone program the focus of the Bristol program will be on people in bishopsworth Stockwood Eastern and hallfield areas
With an an initial Focus being provided uh with uh with people with mental health um issues we will further look to expand um to other areas um over time uh the bnsg will be informed of whether or not we’ve been selected as a Vanguard site by April
2024 uh chosen sites will be required to develop fully costed delivery and Workforce plans and begin to prepare implementation of work well services so um we are seeking uh approval to go for this funding should we be invited to do so thank you thank you very much um
Asher so we’ve had no public forum statements or questions um offer the floor to any cabinet members if not we’ll we’ll move on through aser let me hand back to you to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the
Screen so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you Asher so let’s go to item 22 variation of Alternative Learning provision framework to cover post 16 sen support okay the Alternative Learning learning provision framework runs which
Runs to August 2027 allows for purchasing of full-time alternative provision as well as part-time Alp support from a range of uh providers uh for key stages one to four uh for young people with an education Health and Care plan um ongoing provision from Alp settings may be required and
Commissioned after key stage four to provide continuing support in line with the local authori ongoing statutory responsibility for EHC ehcp support after key stage for into post 16 provision in analyzing our spending against the analysis of the framework uh We’ve identified a significant amount of expenditure by send teams post 16
Support often providing ongoing support from Key Stage 4 with the same providers however post 16th support is not covered by the contract spe specifications therefore it’s not a suitable purchasing route s teams have been advised to stop using that the framework for post 16 and additional training has been provided on
Compliant post 16 commissioning uh so we also have a uh a framework um that around therapists mentors and tutors which covers post 16 uh but many of our P providers have communicated that there’s a lot a bit of confusion about the two different uh Frameworks running parallel
Therefore we are proposing to vary the Alp framework to cover post 16 provision vary the contract value by 50% uh which will add an additional 1.35 million as a contract ceiling providing a compliant procurement route for existing spending North Somerset and south gtia are commissioners of the Alp framework and
Are supportive of the approach that we are taking here in Bristol thank you thank you um Asher at no public forum statements or questions on this item any cabinet members wish to come in okay let me just move through this then uh aser let me hand back to you to
Take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the Report Greg when I come to you for agenda item 23 Bristol holding limited group company business plans uh
2425 yeah thanks Mark in uh the purpose of this report is to seek approval of the annual business plans for 20242 in respect of gorm homes limited Bristol Waste Company Limited and Bristol holding limited these are the council’s established and fully operational trading companies the business plan sets
Out the key Ambitions and objectives of the companies over the coming year on a critical aspect of the framework by which the council monitors the company’s performance gorm homes business plan outlines their plans to continue to accelerate the delivery of new homes on ccil Lo land across Bristol the first of
Which the one loock Le development will soon be welcoming their first families through the doors their skills academy has created opportunities for local people to gain work experience and Vocational qualifications and a number of the other pipeline sites have made progress through planning and we’ll move into the delivery phase next year the
Business plan responsibly manages the risks inherent within the market at this time and we’re incredibly proud of the strong team behind gorm homes it was an important part of the council strategy for delivering much needed homes and thriving communities in Bristol Bristol waste as the council’s own Waste Company serves every single
Resident in the city day in day lay out making our streets cleaner and safer and delivering high standards of service with the best recycling performance of all the cor cities like in the council bwc’s budgets have been hit hard by the impacts of the cost of living crisis inflationary
Pressures and Rising demand for services yet there have been many achievements and the company continually strives to improve local provision as evidenced by the opening of the heart Cliff Way Recycling reuse center and improvements at avite Center over recent years the company was established primarily to provide services to the
Council and this means that we can work in Partnership to find the difficult balance between efficiencies from the service and investing in the capacity of the business to move to a more sustainable footing all the while doing our best to continue to deliver this essential service this plan sets a
Course for working hand in glove with the Council on all of that as well as supporting the Council on its journey to carbon neutrality importantly it also focuses on maximizing opportunities for the company to trade commercially so that it can continue to deliver value to the council’s shareholder and support
The core service over the long term we all as residents and service users of Bristol waste have a role to play in changing our Behavior using less and Recycling and reusing I’m so proud of what of what of that and want to give my thanks to all of our colleagues within
Bristol waste and mor Place who’ve come to work rain in rain and shine and even out with the gritters in the snow to keep our city safe and clean brist holding limited business plan sets out its intention to continue in its role to support the council and
The companies within the group into 2425 subject to the council’s ongoing requirements effective stewardship of public money means it’s necessary to ensure that the governance arrangements for the companies are proportionate and sufficiently robust for their size and scope this plan supports objective and provides a lean and agile framework
Within which the company can continue to support BR city council and its role as shareholder for as long as is necessary cabinet considers the business plans for approval annually prepared on the basis of information available to the companies in January 24 but we’re open to relevant amendments throughout
February as is the case every year the business plans were developed by the management teams of each company and have gone through a rigorous review process by company boards the shareholder group and and overview and scrutiny before being presented to Cabinet thanks very much uh Craig so
We’ve had no uh public forum statements or questions on this any other cabinet members wish to comment okay I mean I’ll just say Craig again thanks for your leadership in this area it’s no easy thing to have our own companies and uh over the years uh working at the
Government governance uh working at the the business plans the lines of accountability of of have not been easy challenge particularly with those that we inherit at our start of our time uh so really appreciate you being on the front line of this let me hand back to you now to
Take the decision which I support and which will be displayed on the screen yeah thank you Marvin in terms of the decisions to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report Craig agenda item 24 still with you finance exception report p period 10 the general fund is currently
Forecasting a risk adjusted overspend of 6.9 million of the approved budget of 4835 that’s a worsening position from the previous period of 1.5 million we do still expect these pressures will be contained or mitigated before the close of this year the general fund savings program agreed by Council included in
The general fund budget above is 26.2 in addition to this 26.2 million there are additional 9.3 million of savings undelivered and a four year oh at 20 22 23’s four year out and 1.8 million of additional savings activity approved since the start of the year so that’s a
Total of 37.3 million currently 8.5 million of these 37.3 million savings are reported as being at risk this represents a deterioration of 1.8 million since period 9 a number of these sames delivery risks are captured in the forecast above uh or in the director risk and opportunities log however it
Should be noted that not all risks are formally acknowledged in the outturn and as such these represent an underlying additional risk in terms of the Ring fence accounts the housing revenue account is forecasting and overspend of 3.2 million of the 137.5 million approved the dedicated schools Grant revised budget
And including amounts recouped by the education skills funding Agency for academies is 42.3 million against which it continues this month to forecast a 16.4 million mitigated INE deficit the public health Grant allocation for 2324 is 35.7 million and no variation is forecast the latest revised Capital program total budget is 267.8
Uh nothing to add to that really uh and then cabinet also asked to to note that the council section 151 and Cabinet member faity economy finance and performance myself accepted £ 825,000 family fund finding to children in care and to procure and award contracts for expenditure of that
Funding thank you Craig uh no public form statements or questions cabinet again Financial leadership as we said andin in everything we do thank you uh for that great let me hand back to you now to take the decision which I support and which will now be display on
The screen in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you on to agenda item 25 this is with you Don Transport Funding bid a432 fish ponds Road thank you um this paper notes a joint bid with South glou
Council um and seeks approval to accept and spend the funding we might receive alongside our partner as we’re looking to make major improvements to 8.8 km the a432 which is we know as the fish bonds Road here in Bristol unfortunately there have been a significant number of collisions on this
Road 140 between the 1st of August 2020 and 1st of August 2023 tragic tragically this included one fatality uh the main scheme that’s the whole scheme across the two authorities is expected to prevent 65.8 fatal and serious injuries over the 20-year appraisal period the work will introduce speed speed reducing
Measures uh improving safety improving active travel infrastructure and pedestrian Crossing facilities uh and it covers three busy shopping areas fish ponds East and down end two of those being in Bristol this area is predominantly 20 mph with some 30 mph sections uh and include some peak hour and some 24-hour bus
Lanes uh thank you thanks Don uh no public forum statements but we do have one question that’s from councelor Amal Ali hi again I welcome this Improvement to the a432 I have I have long been aware of the dangers of this road in fish bonds
Road and can be and thought it should be prioritized for safety improvements as the report says between first of August 2022 the 1 of August 2023 there has been 140 collisions in this section of a432 um like Don said one fatal 11 in ious and 198 other
Collisions my question is how does this data compare to the other roads in Bristol thanks AML so across the city there were 1,477 collisions during this period with 23 of those tragically being fatal 266 serious and 2,188 slightly serious the 140 Collision on the a432 equates to approximately 5.7% of
Those um to compare the relative safety of one road to another you would need to undertake surveys to compare the number of collisions relative to the level of activity on the road so the number of pedestrian cyclist motorcyclists and vehicles not just the particular road if you see what I mean because different
Roads have different levels of activity on them but I think it it is clear and this is one the main Drive of the whole project is that this fund is open to applications for uh roads which have particular Road Safety problems and this has long been a road that we have
Identified from statistics that is in need of some changes you have a supplementary ml yeah um I understand that there’s some that it is hard to make direct comparison but the 140 cols over three years on fish bonds road is a very significant number there’s a significant number so I
Welcome the investment and I’m sure all fville residents will welcome us well thank you yeah 5.7% on one road is significant and that’s why we’ve I mean officers have gone out the way actually to get this to to engage with this fund I went along to one of their webinars
It’s a fund that actually is is aimed more at rural areas and then obviously working cross order as well so that adds to the to the work involved but particularly engag with this in order to try because it offered hope to address some of these uh um challenges that we got on that
Road thank you thank you thank you uh Amal um no other public forum any questions Marley thank you Marin yeah um really good to see this come forward um thank you Don and to all the officers involved involved in putting this forward as um a local Council also representing part of
Fish Pon Road myself I know how this is a hot spot and how residents have had concerns using it I’ve I’ve cycled down it driven down it walked down it countless times and seen not necessarily collisions but near misses and you know you do Wonder um about what it is you
You’re not seeing it’s you know really sad to see that there have been fatal um collisions recently you know that’s not new to me but yeah it it just reiterates the importance of um also amau um and yourself done we’ve we’ve been doing some work around trying to improve Junction Safety offish PS
Road so hocky Lane um which I think we’ve been working on for years trying to get a solution we got a camera in to sort of enforce that elal no left turn which was um jeopardise and pedestrians Crossing at that Junction so it’s you know it’s good to see this is coming
Amidst a rder package of improvements for the road so just really Keen to see the specific proposals of what what the measures are and crucially how that can keep people safe going forwards thank you thanks Marley um if there are no other comments I’m going to
Hand back to you Don to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report thank you Don uh and I’m going to introduce the next report and this is
Agenda item 2 six this is about people living in vehicles in Bristol and given Bristol’s history with Van dwellers and the fact our city attracts so many uh in terms of numbers which have grown significantly since the pandemic and the impact these sites can have on communities we’ve set out Bristol City
Council’s current model for dealing with vehicle dwellers and created this report as an aid to Future policy development in creating Citywide approach to dealing with what is a complex uh issue there is a significant change in the demographic of vehicle dwellers and this has now become directly linked to homelessness
And the housing crisis with older vehicles uh used as a last uh life Resort and this is a systemic change away from the earlier growth when it was uh more likely to be driven by lifestyle at choice so the next Administration will have to make decisions on future
Policymaking in respect to V dwellers the recommendation within this paper support the ongoing work with the vehicle dwellers and suggest areas for further investigation most importantly ensuring Vehicles dwellers voices are part of these discussions so that they take responsibility and understand negative impact which can result from
Encampments so on this we have received 39 public forum statements we’re going to go through these uh we’re going to give this section 10 minutes so I’m just going to read out the names and if you’re in the audience you can uh speak up Angelo gamron
Okay you have a minute Angelo okay thank you um the statement I I sent in actually was a letter that I’d sent to MP Darren Jones and I’ve just taken some Sate points for today um can I simply leave a caravan or converted Transit anywhere on the streets of Bristol
Setting a president and indicating to others that it’s absolutely fine to do so can I make it my home and live anywhere indefinitely unchallenged seemingly so and this is resulted in a growing problem and this is no more evident than the Dreadful mess you see
On the Downs at any one time I have around 50 van dwellers not far from my house with typically 80 around the Downs on any given evening there seems no real policy to deal with this type of street living and it undermines the Investments and choices that Bristol residents like
Myself have made there should be investment into meanwhile sites to provide the necessary facilities for those living this way this has been a growing problem for years and I’ve had many conversations with Council Members Only to be told that it is difficult something I’ve heard time and time again
Many things in life are difficult but this does not mean action cannot be taken I’ve seen this change over the last seven eight or nine years in in okay yeah just final thing I do not feel heard and I welcome this opportunity today okay thank you very much um so
Let’s go through uh John Viv Harding uh I’ll tell you what rather than me going through a long list here is anyone else in the chamber have a statement on this we’ll just come straight to you no okay that saves that so let’s yeah I’m just going over to
Councel the statement so we have Steve Smith you have a statement as well I do thank you and I’m speaking on behalf of councilors from Westby and hle as well as state Bishop um to call this paper disappointing um I think would be to put it very politely partly that’s because it’s so
One-sided it just ignores the legitimate concerns that you see the 40 statements here are a drop in the ocean of what we receive as board counselors every day mostly though it’s disappointing because it offers nothing in the way of solutions I know it’s it’s a wicked problem it’s a difficult problem but
Other places have fixed it we are almost unique in the number of vellas that we’ve got and it’s because we’ve done nothing about it and after eight years eight years you’ve been in charge Marvin and the last gasp of your Administration what this paper proposes is to think
About setting up a group to review the options that maybe contribute to reviewing a policy at some point in the future um it’s it’s so Humphrey applebe style driil I’m afraid it’s just kicking the can down the road um and that is that’s not failing van dwellers there’s nothing compassionate about leaving
People sat in in cold knacked Caravans on on the side of the road um and it’s also failing the people um like my my constituents who who have to deal with it and live with it every single day um a real shame that you haven’t taken this opportunity to take some
Action yeah I mean I normally respond we’re going to come to your question in a minute uh John Vivan U but um I mean it’s it’s misrepresentation and I think actually what it’s worth sharing is in really good faith uh we spent quite a number of hours over a
Series of months working with counselors from the area listing all the potential Avenues of activity we could have taken from the most punitive uh to the most accommodating and looking at the ups and downs of each of those so it was a very uh transparent decision-making uh process uh uh that we
We went through we didn’t make a lot of headlines out of it so I’m a little bit perturbed by your representation as though you know we haven’t you know engaged and entered into a good faith uh conversation with counselors I think I think we did that well and uh for for us
As well what we have to Grapple with is there is a great deal of Mythology around other the areas having dealt with it and fixed it uh there were some claims that other areas have imposed orders that stopped people uh uh uh stopping there well that wasn’t true uh
Secondly you can fix it but just by trying to stop people being around all together but remember people living in Vans are also Bristol residents and we have a responsibility uh to uh to take care of uh their needs as well in the context of a housing crisis and as I repeatedly say
I would really welcome support from your party to get adequate resources not just for the building of houses but for the batroom capacity this organization needs to get homes uh built and and we just haven’t had that so so what we’re seeing is a manifestation a living consequence
Of bigger structural issues that this country is living with and it’s making itself known in the lives of not just those living in Vans but those then living the people living around those vans um in their homes so let’s go on to the uh question uh so we have a question
John and Vivian um Harding so would you like to ask your question please sry we have a statement from Angelo question oh question from Angelo oh some my apologies I got them in the right order okay it was on the basis of um my statement earlier and really just simple
Question why are local residents being let down by authorities not introducing new policies to prevent van dwellers from becoming a permanent feature this has been many many years well like I said same way as we were talking about earlier there were some things when we Ed the word complexity or
It’s difficult that’s not was not true that is actually uh true we looked through all the options that we had available to us um and there are very real limitations on ability to move people on particularly if the vehicle is not motorized they don’t fall under the
Same legislation as if it’s a motorized vehicle we can’t force people to go into uh sites we did work with the c in the area and we identified a number of sites uh around that we’ll bring through but again one is having enough sites for people to move to having adequate
Facilities um on those sites um and then like I said are we we can’t force people to move on to those sites particularly if we can’t force them to move off of uh of of where they are um so it you know we have taken action up peran area
Penalty just to by way in terms of context penalty notices can only be issued to cars motor homes and vans but enforc enforcement action cannot be taken against Caravans which are not registered with the dvla and which do not have registered Keepers to take enforcement action against uh so we have
Been up there taking um parking defenses seriously since January 2023 Parking Services carried out 388 visits logged 1,318 vehicles and issued 300 uh pcns uh but there are we are under law just like everyone else and there are limitations to what we can do on top of the fact
That we do actually uh want to take care of those people in the Vans as well and we have to uh worked with a work with a degree of uh subtlety at the same time as being um very um very forceful you have a supplementary question uh a statement in saying
There’s misinformation there because it’s not being enforced when with the vehicles you’re talking about you’re saying if there a vehicle it can be enforced and that’s what we’re doing doing I drive past it every day and it is not being enforced so there’s a bit of misinformation there
No it’s the what we’ve talked about is a difficulty of enforcement so 300 PCN have been um issued but it can actually be difficult to enforce when you think about the uh the challenges we have in enforcement in general as a local Authority and what we’re saying is that
If vehicles are not motorized they are not subject to that same move on Powers that we have at our disposal um and again as I shared with the counselors some of the actions they would Advocate we would not countenance as an authority because we still see ourselves as having a responsibility to
Those people living in those vehicles and while it is not ideal for some of those vehicles for some of those uh people living in those um those you know the vehicles and the Caravans it is less bad than the alternative they would have um and we have to work with them uh with
Compassion and care as well as trying to uh as well as trying to come up with a a a longer term solution but is a wicked situation we’re in the middle of a housing crisis and this is a this is a you know a manifestation of that
Okay okay so we have a question from councelor Steve Smith as well yeah thank you um I I very quickly resp I I completely accept Marvin we had conversations with you in good faith o over some months and the reason this is so disappointing is that at the end of
That process nothing happened and none of what we discussed is is in this paper it’s like that just never happened um and of course there are structural issues that feed into this but if that was the only cause this would be a national problem and it’s a Bristol
Problem my first question is regarding the encampment on the Downs in par particularly along Paris Lane under the existing policy is that currently rated high or low impact uh I’ll just come to that but can I just get clarification are you saying that Bristol is the only place with a
Problem with with vehicle people living in vehicles no I’m saying it’s the worst are you saying it’s the only place where the is worse on what criteria it says so in the report okay so you but you recognize there’s a problem in other places in the country as well it is but
It’s not evenly spread it’s far worse here than anywhere else reason for that well I would I would just make a subtle in this is just a conversation that we can have in the name of searching for it I would just make a subtle distinction when we got to the end of
That process I was very honest with the the counselors and said you know the action we’re going to take which includes bringing forward a site in seils for example and looking will we are taking action it won’t be the it won’t be the action that you would have
Wished for but we come from a different kind of position obviously in the way we view the world and human life and the rest of it uh the action that we take won’t necessarily be the action you would have taken but we are taking action in a very complicated situation
And and obviously when you’re uh you know in the next Administration you can go to make all the case you want about the action uh that you’d like to take but it’s not true to say nothing has happened stuff has happened it’s just not what you wanted to happen it’s
Really important to uh to make that distinction but in terms of the impact it is actually a low impact and again you may not like that but it is a a low impact so would you have a supplementary question um well no I’ll move straight on to my second question which which
Does follow on from that which is um when was that last reviewed who reviewed it and what data is that based on um I think frankly I I it’s some my residents would simply not believe that anyone has looked at that and judged that it’s low impact well it’s it’s uh was last
Reviewed in February um it’s assessed by the neighborhood in enforcement team and again looking at the whole city and there are other places where people can’t you can think about the high impact kind of place for example as on Green Bank Road or when people were parking just around the corner on Bruce
Road in in eastn right right next to to people’s front doors on a school walkway so this isn’t in a residential um area it’s not near schools or a school crossing uh blocking the road so it’s not it’s far from ideal uh we recognize
That for a city but when we look at the act on on people’s lives in a City compared to other areas within Bristol as well it’s not uh a high impact okay following on from that then um you’ve seen 40 statements today you’ve heard the views of local
Residents and I can promise you those 40 hour Drop in the Ocean um could the the the views of local residents and local Representatives be part of that calculation in deciding whether something is high or low impact well they they will be and and as were the views of of
Counselors uh but again you know there there is it we said this around whether we’re talking about the housing prioritization within the city we talk about allocating funds uh for for for parks within Bristol there needs to be a system that is a consistent system across the whole uh City for how we
Assess uh impact looking at proximity to homes schools Crossings and Junctions all that will factor into whether something is is high impact and that will by definition uh be very uh will be relative to other parts of the city as well um so happy to open the doors and
For you to have ongoing conversations uh with officers but also very happy for you to really make the case on the eve of a budget looking forward to the windfall for local government to help us take on the very real challenges that we face of being a city with 42 square
Miles with a rapidly growing number of of people living here in the middle of a cost of living crisis huge pressures on on housing costs making us one of the least affordable cities outside London if you were to spend some energy negotiating with your party members to
Help us take those challenges on it would be incredibly welcome because we could get some of we could then get at some of the underlying structural drivers that we’re seeing manifest in a growing numbers of people who are living in vehicles because they are poor which is what we’re seeing now and that
Changing demographic okay so uh can I offer to any cabinet members please Tom thank you Mar you know the most important point you’ve made here is around that that change that we’re seeing in in homelessness being a real driver for people living in vehicles and I think it’s just probably worth
Reminding ourselves who’s been in charge of the national government for the last 14 years and have been driving this housing crisis that we’ve got across the country um and I think the other thing for us to remember as well when you start closing roads and trying to move
On the vehicles they’re going to go somewhere and it might be that what they then do is move to the street that is in a residential area um and then the residents be claim complaining about that and so we have to think about how we actually address the problem address
The root causes not just move the problem around the city and that’s something I think we have to have in mind it is a complex issue um and again it is low it is low impact where it is and you know some people might not like that but we’ve got finite resources
We’ve had cuts and cuts and cuts from national government to our funding and there are other things that we are having to prioritize like you know children’s social care adult social care trying to deal with the homelessness crisis that’s been fueled by what’s been going on nationally yeah thanks so uh
Kai yeah I just want to slightly disagree with um councelor Smith on his point about this paper because I think it’s actually a high quality piece of work that really outlines the problem and obviously the mo the most um uh I guess shocking figure is that back in 2020 the numbers were estimated
Citywide around 100 to 15 and then postco they’re now estimated at 650 and um I I think that’s you know um very imp impactful to see um see that figure and and and it links back to the um the way the city’s housing market is is worked over that period the the cost
Of living the the lack of rental property available and that’s the real root cause of this problem and I think um we really need to focus on that but um this is a really good quality piece of work that does does offer recommendations in terms of how we
Should move forward with the with the problem so when you say it offers nothing I I disagree with that Marley thank you yeah I’d just like to reflect on some of my experiences in Eastville um you mentioned the encampment that we had on on Green Bank
U you and the experience that I had when I went out to speak to the residents in the homes in in the houses there um to speak about how they were been affected and what surprised me is how empathetic they all were you know universally almost to the needs of people who are
For a range of reasons living in Vans and vehicles um and I you know I was really moved by that actually I think you know it’s really really said something about how people’s first um Instinct in in in this situation is one of empathy um and in in that case the
Encampment clearly grew and became from what was initially a low impact to a high impact one you could see the disruption being experienced by residents the risks um as as a result of of this the growth of the encampment and that was responded to by the council
Under the current policy it should have happened sooner but it did happen so you know I I think the policy is right I you know I think there might be cases we can act sooner but overall it does try and strike a very difficult balance well thanks Mary um
Asha I think just following on from uh what Marley is saying because I I too have a an encampment in and around St George Park for example but empathy is that word I’m not saying that there aren’t some residents who are kind of unhappy but we’ve trying to find a kind
Of happy medium because local residents actually respect the fact that you know these people have nowhere else to uh you know to to live but they just want to make sure that um you know the site the site to the the park is not impeded that they’re not parked uh in an
Unsafe way any issues that we have had we’ve you know I’ve called on the enforcement team uh we’re going to be putting out a leaflet shortly uh because many residents were confused about what the law is you know cuz some people think we could just slap slap on a um a
Ticket and they their their their Caravan gets moved away and as the report quite rightly highlights that’s just not the case if you’re um uh if you’re uh you’re insured and taxed uh appropriately uh there’s very little that can be done but um I res also respect how our local residents have
Kind of the vast majority of formal empathetic and want to find a solution because they know it’s not something that’s going to go away overnight um and as you said we have grown exponentially um and I suppose we can’t find enough sites fast enough really but yeah the result of austerity and
People not being able to afford cost of living crisis and everything else that is compounding the way in which people have chosen to to kind of have a new lifestyle yeah well it used to be like I said that that’s Tommy picked up the point is it there used to be a lot
Around lifestyle choice and it’s not that anymore it’s choicelessness um and we as a an authority we we just talked earlier on about competing financial needs whether it be an allotments about Parks we just been through a whole series of of areas where we need to put Finance in on
Special educational needs uh skills Pathway to work um extension of um Outreach on housing it all makes a demand on our you know our resources but in in that context in which more people are being driven into financial hardship uh in the city and there’s there’s an article now that’s local about the
Number of people in Bristol who run out of money every month it’s growing up it’s going all the time these are these are structural problems um and you know there’s an easy one I’ll come and solve it if you just give me a pen it makes
Sense but you know you need to come in and actually be part of some real solutions and when we’ve offered that we have you know people came forward with sites they weren’t appropriate we worked at our houses team we thought everyone understood that we brought forward the
Sites that we can uh uh work with and works being done to bring those through for people but we got to treat the people in the we got respect the residents but also treat the people in the in the Caravans and and the vehicles as though they are members of our
Society look I’m going to take the decision now um and uh this will be displayed on the the screen actually see so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the recommendations as set out in the report So speaking of housing let’s go on now to agenda item
2017 uh councelor Smith you might want to a gorm homes pipeline um for housing which could be part of the solution um gorm homes pipeline of Housing Development sites which I’m uh and Tom you’re going to bring this item for us thank you gorm homes limited the council’s housing development company was
Incorporated on the 1st of October 2018 following cabinet approval in September to establish a wholly owned housing company it included the transfer of two initial couns Lo sites Romney house in lot Le now known as one lot Le and at Baltic Warf since then the pipeline has
Grown with more sites across the city with the first homes now coming forward at one lot Le 55% of that site will be for homes that will be Council owned homes for social rent and shared ownership and some of those will be ring friends for people on the housing
Waiting this in lot Le in line with the local lettings policy that covers the area Market sale homes also being solded for this scheme and they’re already being reserved gorm homes has also been working with children’s services on bespoke homes for children on the one lot Le site a notable example of our
Housing company supporting one of the council’s most pressing challenges the on-site skills academy at lot Le is open it’s trained more than 260 young people this unique Skill Center is kickstarting careers and construction for people who are unemployed or earning below the minimum wage this is one of the ways our
Housing company is supporting the communities in which it builds as it’s not just about the homes it’s about so much more gor homes also now has full planning consent to transform the old highways Depot at do Court Road into 140 new homes 70 of those will be counts loaned affordable homes constructions
Start here in the spring summer of this year and work will also start on 130 new homes on New fway Road Site in Len grve this spring summer and again half of those will be Council owned affordable homes Reserve Planet matters planning application will also be submitted for
The second phase an all affordable 70 bed care Extra Care Facility gor homes also hopes to secure planning consent for Baltic WARF in the coming weeks and aims to deliver this as 100% counil loan affordable homes um gor will also Contin to bring forward more sites in its Pipeline and we focus on
Submitting planning applications for three further sites in this coming Financial year 50 new homes on a Brownfield site at novas Hill in philwood new homes and commercial space on the Grove car park and and transforming the former St Ursula School in hanges into housing over the next 5
Years gorm homes expect to deliver more than 2,100 homes this would include starting construction work on the next phase of Home growth Park this year the largest development in Bristol in a generation the development Al loan will create over 700 counsil loaned homes for social rent or shared ownership and
Gorom is already building 53 of these for social rent and shared ownership at the entrance to henro park in a site known as henro bookends I’m also really pleased to share that gorm homes and Bristol and Baff Regional Capital have agreed to a partnership and are now exploring opportunities to introduce key
Worker and rent to buy housing on gor homes developments in place of some of the proposed Market sale market for sale housing private rents remain high in the city which can make it prohibitive for people to save for the first home and key workers can often be priced out of
The market this partnership hopes to unlock the funding to help tackle these issues including the potential for rent to buy properties which contributes towards people’s deposit so they can purchase the home after an initial period of renting specifically today the cabinet is requested to approve the addition of the
Council loed do Court Road gaswork site to the gor homes development pipeline as outlined in appendix A2 this site was purchased by the council in December 22 using funding from the housing infrastructure fund from homes England the commitment to achieving a minimum of 50% coun Lo affordable housing at the
Gasb site will increase again increase that supply of high quality affordable and market sell housing to meet housing need in the city and the housing company’s pipeline is in excess of 3,000 homes across 13 sites so we’re really focused on making a difference and trying to tackle the those issues I
Commend this paper to cabinet thank you uh very much Tom uh so we’ve had no public forum statements but we have had one question uh that was from councelor Jackson I think I stepped out the room at this moment in time so we can get a written uh uh response to
Councelor Jackson any other cabinet members to speak to this item okay well just to say pipeline of housing that’s what we want right certainty predictability know that we are driving in on actually uh getting those uh Solutions uh for the growing needs and the growing population of our
City let me hand back to you now Tom to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen in terms of decision to be made today I approve the recommendations are set out in the report agenda item 28 co-production policy and process for
Adult social care Helen you’re bringing this one thanks very much Marvin and I know we’ve all been here a long time but this is this is an important report because I think co-production is one of those words that gets banded around a lot and everybody thinks that’s that’s
What we’ve got to do and it means ask a few people and then perhaps do what you were going to do anyway and co-production and what we’re doing now has really unpicked that so it is about working with disabled people and disabled people’s organizations to to really reshape the uh services that we
Provide and I think it’s really important that we take this this report today because some of the noise is off have been that we don’t do that that we don’t listen to those organizations and I can tell you that the conversations that we’ve been having by inviting those
People in some of them are very uncomfortable conversations and their conversations that we do need to have and one of the myths that you very soon bust when you’re in those convers ations is that of course disabled people are like the rest of us all individuals so
Not all disabled people think the same not all disabled people’s organizations agree with one another so this is an important piece of work we’re only at the beginning of it but other authorities are beginning to look at Bristol and seeing what we’re doing in this space and really want to understand
More about it we’re working particularly because obviously some of the services are across Bristol North Somerset and and South gleria so we’re working with our partners in bnsg and in the Health Service to deliver a much more person centered um service and I think that um hearing the voices of those people who
Who depend on our services and and hearing what works best for them is is really critical but the other thing I wanted to just touch on because the context of this has changed a little bit because you might have heard um the government saying this morning about what the solutions were to local
Authorities Financial issues um one of them was to encourage local authorities to consider whether expenditure on discredited equality diversity and inclusion program meets this objective which is absolutely shocking and um our colleagues Alan Davis the chair of your disability Commission and Ruth Pickersgill former colleague here but
Chairs Wessel one of one of the major organizations of disability uh of disabled people in in the city have already written to Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt about their discuss about that and if I can just read a short bit from the letter because she’s uh copied it to many of
Us and she’s and and this is on behalf of of Wessel and and the um commission organizing ations run and controlled by disabled people in bristell like ours and others nationally have worked hard for years with local authorities on a wide range of EDI issues to ensure that
Our human rights are upheld that our voices and our views voices and Views are heard in policym and in individual assessments and Service delivery more recently we’ve been working on a co-production policy with Council offices and I’m sure you understand that the best way to get cost effective adult
Care services is to produce them with disabled people in an accessible way so they are really targeted to meet our needs uh all progress over the last few years on establishing disabled and older people’s choice and control over how we live as well as much improved efficiency
Through the use of direct payments have come about due to EDI programs and I think that’s a really powerful paragraph in in Ruth and Allen’s letter because this is the way we want to work but it’s also the way we’ve got to work in order
To be able to spend um our money to the best Advantage we’re only at the start of that journey and I really want to flag up that I do hope that whoever’s on the adult social care committee when that work reports later this year will take those principles seriously because
It’s hard work it’s not the easiest way to to deliver the services but it’s well worth it because the people who receive the services get a better result in the end thank you um Helen um we’ve had no public forum statements or questions on this item only cabinet members like to come in
Tom just very briefly with it mean you still a lot of my previous professional life you I really welcome this co-production is so important and is often um often the word is used quite Loosely um so yeah we’re co-producing you kind of look at them going well I
Don’t think you’re even Consulting to be honest and so it’s really good to see this ambition being set out really clearly and you know people lived the experience are are you know a really valuable um people to be engaging with and you can’t do service transformation service improvement without people like
That at the heart of things um because if you do you get it wrong and it’ll just cost you more money as well this is the thing you know for the investment required in it it pays itself back three four times over easily thank you Tom and and thanks for
Raising uh the work that Allan and uh Ruth have done it’s it’s a s surprise for me for all of us that um that they’ve come out you know responded so quickly I got a letter off to the Secretary of State it was appalling it’s like a it’s like a cliched response
Isn’t it um and and just been love what Tom says if we don’t do inclusion if we don’t co-produce we end up designing services and interventions badly right and we’ve know that from our days working in mental half together as well so yeah thank you all right if there are
No comments let me come back to you um Helen for final comments and to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed on the screen well another bit of Ruth letter says as you have not said which programs you think are discredited your statement
Will only lead Council some councils not ours hopefully to stop to feel that they have to stop the positive work that they’re doing and I think again that’s that’s really insightful of of of Ruth and and Alan so uh thanks for the support thought Tom I knew that you’d be
Um on board so in terms of the decision to be made today I approve the report thank you Helen uh on to uh Craig now for agenda item 29 Q3 courtly performance progress report3 it’s just a report for noting and cabinet will have been through their
Areas um of interest already so um I don’t really intend to say very much I’ve to recommend it to cabinet for 18 thank you Craig we we’ll note that uh so agenda item 30 uh safety valve and this as I said earlier on was introduced under APR 16 Asher you’re bringing this
Item thank you this report outlines our submission to be part of the department for Education safety valve program the safety valve program is intended to support local authorities to manage the historical deficits in their dedicated School Grants the terms of an agreement are not yet confirmed by the DFE but we
Do anticipate it to be in line with the proposal we submitted in January which will see funding of around 100 million this includes a contribution over 5 years from central government totaling around 54 million with a contribution from Bristol City Council of around 43 million this is a huge opportunity for
Bristol to accelerate the reforms needed to help improve outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities whilst operating in a financial sustainable way our safety valve submission is underpinned by an updated DSG deficit management plan which Builds on the work undertaken as part of the
Delivering better value incend program our project plan outlined in the DMP uh which is deficit management plan is underpinned by the following four key strategic themes sufficiency insurance that we have the right mix and level of provision to meet the needs of all children and young people when a
Specialist place is required demand creating a system where more children and young people with send can remain in mainstream provision for longer by providing schools and early year settings with the support to strengthen practice and improve physical spaces efficiency uh designing an efficient and effective system ensuring children and
Young people would send receive time support and that schools receive the right level of funding to meet those needs and finally Partnerships so continuing to build strengthen and sustain the relationships with key stakeholders engaging them in genuine collaboration and co-design we are expecting to hear from the DFE whether our submission has been
Successful by the end of March however our ambition is to transform send Services is not dependent on the outcome of this suff submission and is ongoing bringing about the level of change outlined by the safety valve agreement will require a whole city approach which is why as a key stakeholder uh we
Um we are seeking uh agreement going forward so uh we will update stakeholders uh about further opportunities um but um yeah this report uh is for yeah sorry this report is for approval to the cabinet thank you um Asher so we oh and sorry can I also just
Add that we have we have prior to this coming here today we have been having um discussions with with the DFE um ahead of this so that’s why we bought it today okay thank you we’ve had five public forum statements so we’ll give each person a minute Tim if you can help
Me keep track at that time um the first statement is from Joanna Booth okay the next statement is from J Brean Jay bright okay you have a minute Jay Jay I’m actually really struggling with everything I’ve heard tonight from you collectively about co-production and collaboration Bristol city council have
Been in secret talks with the DFE since July 2023 and applied for safety valve in secret on the 12th of January 2024 the report was only published yesterday with no time for questions and limited time for statements this decision will have a huge impact on vulnerable young people especially as
The cessation of high needs block funding was announced on the 6th of February that was an 8 million cut to the high needs block BCC is going to drive up the need for eh CNAs whilst at the same time doing a backdoor deal with DFE to restrict access to statutary
Funding this hasn’t been handled transparently or democratically 50 seconds the safety valve report needs to be deferred so proper consultation and co-creation can take place with stakeholders anything less is dictatorial and disrespectful to the people of Bristol thank you allow democracy to run its course thanks so the next statement is from Jen
Smith uh councelor Christine townend thank you um so there’s a couple of um public meetings that are listed as so say being part of consultation um I looked back at all of the dates all of the documentation all the minutes and there’s not one mention
Of safety valve in any of it that isn’t a consultation if you’re not actually talking about the thing that you’re that you’re supposed to be um the second thing that I want to focus on this is a six-year contract so what that tells us is that despite what um the media would
Have us believe that there’s going to be a National Labor government no one in this labor Administration has got any confidence that either the S system or our education system is going to get anything better than what it is that you’ve been offered after 14 years of a
Tor government what does that say about what it is that labor is going to be offering both our city and our country that you lot two months before you’re out are signing up for six years of 14 years of Tory austerity for the most disadvantaged that’s your children in our city thank
You okay uh next statement councelor Andrew Brown thanks mayor okay councelor B thank you yeah I think we all accept it’s you know the situation with the DSG is a difficult position and the actions required and that this is probably the only realistic Way Forward uh for the council from a
Financial point of view there’s no guarantee that anything better will come down the tracks in future um so my issue with this is the um the way it’s been handled and we’ve got to the point where it’s been published at short notice um with a lack
Of public scrutiny um and a lack of the chance for public to have their say through um the usual for usual process of questions and statements um so what so what I think we need is a bit more clarity about how this has come about to be on the papers today at short
Notice um why the papers weren’t published on Friday when the chair of aome gave the goahead um and yeah just just more about why it’s more public scrutiny is required on this there was Private briefings of audit committee and others but they were done under the terms of strict confidentiality not ra rather
Than and consultation so particularly uh for the councilors it’s worth just making sure that we know what the safety valve is and and how it works firstly it’s a it’s a national program so Works in line with national government’s timetable uh we have to work with that
Timetable if you want to be in scope to receive funds to address an area that authorities all over the country are are are struggling with actually announcement of being part of the safety valve was embargoed so we weren’t allowed to say anything publicly about it we could talk to people about the
Content that would eventually go into it but as for being a part of it and announcing it that was that’s what dfv wanted to do so we we we you know there’s a bit of a you know a dance between us and DFE about our cabinet our
Decision to go for it and them wanting the rights uh to announce it and we wanted it uh to come in before the pre-election period uh one is to improve improve transparency in light of the schedule we are working with uh with government but also so that we actually
Were involved in the in the safety valve and we couldn’t miss out on this money that other local authorities are involved in I think Lambeth is another one that’s that’s uh benefiting from the safety valve as well which we U which we urgently needed so there’s some very
Real context around this as we said many times today that that determines the Frameworks within which we can operate and uh it’s important to to to be responsible not sensationalist in looking at uh how we have gone about managing uh the council’s uh finances um but let me H if there are
Any cabinet members wish to comment on this item no oh I’ve got some questions Sry no no questions yeah okay so um any cabinet members wish to comment on this item before we uh go back to Asher okay uh so aser let me hand back to you to take the decision which I support and which will now be displayed
On the screen um I just want to um say that obviously I understand that um people will have questions uh about all of this and what it will mean for us as a city and so over the coming weeks we will be offering further opportunities to hear about what those plans exist and
Answer any questions you may have um so in respect of the decision to be made today today I approve the recommendations and set out in the report thank you thanks Asha for leading in a very challenging uh situation so that’s the end of today’s cabinet meeting thanks everyone for attending uh thanks your
Contributions uh the date of the next cabinet meeting is Tuesday the 9th of April see you then take care that