Mayor Election 2016 / News
Mayor hopeful turned away at council meeting
A mayoral candidate for next year’s election was refused entry to a meeting of full council for allegedly protesting on private property.
Paul Saville, a prolific campaigner, said he believes the refusal was part of a move to block him after he was thrown out of a meeting where he interrupted the mayor’s speech earlier this year.
But the council said he was one of two people not allowed into Tuesday’s meeting for demonstrating on private property at the Bristol County Ground, where the meeting was being held in the pavilions, about cuts to disabilities services.
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“I attended and saw people opposing the closure of The Bush respite care home,” Saville said in a Facebook post.
“I went to go in and this same BCC security first off tells us all that were not coming in… long story short he eventually lets others in but the only person not allowed in is me.
“He didn’t give me any reason to why I wasn’t allowed in apart from that I would ‘disrupt the democratic process’.
“They haven’t said this to me in writing or in any official capacity that I’m barred from meetings, but he says that because it’s on private property and not council property he can block me.”
The city council said: “At the full council meeting on Tuesday December 15, Bristol City Council security officers refused entry to two members of the public who were demonstrating on private Gloucestershire Cricket Ground property.
“Having been advised by both council and cricket club officers that demonstrating on this private property is prohibited, both were then asked to move to the Nevil Road entrance to continue their protest. Upon refusing to agree to this request, they were advised that their entry to the meeting would be refused.”
Saville was thrown out of a full council meeting in March for disrupting Ferguson’s speech in response to a petition asking him to repeal his controlled parking policy.
Ferguson is aiming for a second and final term in the elections in May next year and is being challenged by Saville and eight other hopefuls so far.
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