Survey asks if you feel part of Bristol

A survey into whether people outside of Bristol City Council’s boundaries has found that those living further away from those borders feel more a part of the city than those living on the edge of the authority’s sphere of influence.

Many people who responded to a survey led by the Bristol Democracy Project since 2012, and the election of a mayor for Bristol, feel that the current boundaries of the city do not match the areas they believe to be part of modern Bristol.

Every home in Filton, for example, was delivered a leaflet promoting the survey. The district was as its southern boundary is also the boundary of the current Bristol border. Sixty-six per cent of respondents in Filton did not believe they live in Bristol, whilst 34 per cent of people believed they did.

But in Patchway, further out of the city boundaries than Filton, 62 per cent of participants thought they were part of Bristol, while 38 per cent thought that it was not.

Speaking to Bristol24/7, Gez Smith from the Bristol Democracy Project said he wanted more reponses to the survey which he began in the aftermath of the mayoral referendum in 2012 and has paid for out of his own pocket to “keep the issue of how Bristol is governed alive”.

“The low turnout of the mayoral referendum made me think there is something wrong with our democracy,” he said. Barely one in four people voted in the May 2012 referendum to decide if Bristol would have an elected mayor or stick with the previous system of the majority party in the council chamber running the city.

“It struck me that there was little point in having a mayor if he didn’t have control over the city as a whole.

“We have to get people involved in the debate about whether to change the council’s boundaries.

“We don’t want the great and the good making these decisions for us.”

The results of his survey came after the government announced the Greater Manchester region, encompassing the city council there and the surrounding authorities would have an elected ‘metro mayor’ with increased powers over the likes of transport and extra cash.

Smith said it was “likely in time Bristol would get something similar” but Bristol had individual issues of unclear boundaries which required people to make their views known.

Deborah White, of Avon Local Councils Association (ALCA), which represents town and parish councils in the unitary authorities around Bristol, said the group’s members would “find the idea of a ‘Greater Bristol’ preposterous”.

She told the BBC: “What Bristol needs to do is think about creating town and parish councils, so that local people can have a better voice.

“Until Bristol addresses its very local governance and looks at how local communities contribute to the debate then we should stay as three unitaries, as we are at the moment.”

To take part in the survey, click here for the Bristol Democracy Project website.

Picture: Pixel Memoirs / Shutterstock