Committee-committee fails to agree on how committees will spend money

The final public meeting of a group of councillors attempting to decide how Bristol will be governed from next May failed to agree on minor points over how money should be spread across the city.

From May 2024, Bristol City Council will no longer have a directly elected mayor but instead will be run by a series of committees of councillors.

The details of how this will work remain unclear and undecided, with a new constitution set for approval in January.

The committee model working group (known colloquially as the committee-committee) was meant to discuss how council funding could be spread into several neighbourhoods, during a meeting on Friday.

But the group instead spent most of the time arguing about splitting up the funding into two streams.

Six area committees currently decide how to spend a relatively small amount of money provided by property developers, who must pay a community infrastructure levy (CIL). After May, these will be replaced by nine area committees given more powers on local issues.

The problem is much more development is taking place in some parts of Bristol than others, meaning some areas have much more CIL money to spend than others. The working group wants to share this money out more fairly, so poorer parts of the city can receive more funding.

One idea put forward by Labour cabinet member Nicola Beech – just one of numerous senior Labour councillors not seeking re-election in May – was to give extra CIL money to areas with higher levels of deprivation.

An equity fund would invest into deprived communities, paying for things like new sports halls for example.

However, this would mean sticking with very large area committees, which several councillors have previously criticised. Currently they cover entirely separate areas as one place, stretching from Avonmouth to the harbourside or Brislington to Ashton Gate.

Even though a lot of development is taking place in Bedminster, some resulting CIL money is spent in Brislington.

But these large committees would just exist mostly on paper, Beech said, to satisfy legal requirements, and they could then divide funding fairly to smaller groups, making sure poorer areas received a larger amount. Either way, some areas receive so little funding that councillors said this issue was “academic”.

Areas across Bristol will have more say in where money is spent from May 2024 – photo: Martin Booth

Green councillor Lorraine Francis said: “I’m going to excuse myself from this meeting, so whatever happens will be without my consent because this is outrageous.

“I’m not going to be channelled down the road when there’s lots of unanswered questions. This isn’t good politics, I’m sorry.”

Jenny Bartle, Green councillor and chair of the working group, added: “I’m not happy with the meeting that I’ve chaired. Things haven’t gone in a timely way that we can all feel like we’ve had a say and a debate. There’s been one debate and it’s not resolved any answers.”

Conservative councillor Geoff Gollop said: “There’s a problem here that whatever we do, there’s no funds. I don’t disagree with what Nicola (Beech) says but for many of us it’s academic.

“If we have no funds to spend, it doesn’t matter. Half a zebra crossing isn’t overly useful to the community.”

Ultimately, the working group ran out of time to make a firm decision, and this meeting was supposed to be the last one held in public. But councillors decided to adjourn the meeting until Friday, December 1, for more emergency time to attempt to firm up the details.

The new area committees will meet twice a year in person and twice online. They will have a greater say on issues like potholes, road safety, parks and how often the grass is cut.

As well as these, the council will also have eight policy committees to have citywide oversight of issues like transport, housing and the environment. These will mirror the current system of cabinet members.

These are the nine new area committees:

• Avonmouth, Lawrence Weston, Henbury, Brentry, Southmead and Horfield
• Stoke Bishop, Westbury, Henleaze, Redland, Bishopston and Ashley Down
• Clifton, Clifton Down, Cotham and Hotwells & Harbourside
• Central, Ashley, Lawrence Hill and Easton
• Lockleaze, Eastville, Hillfields and Frome Vale
• St George West, St George Central and St George Troopers Hill
• Southville, Bedminster, Windmill Hill and Filwood
• Hartcliffe, Withywood, Bishopsworth, and Hengrove & Whitchurch Park
• Knowle, Stockwood, Brislington West and Brislington East

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Rees lays down challenge to Bristol’s next leaders
• Bristol’s new committee-run council should be more transparent, say voters
  
• How will Bristol’s new committee system work?

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