‘Bristol’s local elections in May need to take place’

A newsletter that recently dropped through my front door covered issues such as cladding, the expansion of WECA and Marvin Rees taking a second job.

It was called Cabot News and the orange colour gave the game away: this was a partisan product put together by the Lib Dems for the residents of Hotwells & Harbourside (previously Cabot) ward.

One issue that Lib Dem candidate Alex Hartley focuses on in the newsletter is the need to remove the lovelocks on Pero’s Bridge; which in 2016 newly elected mayor Marvin Rees pledged to keep, calling them “a part of the creativity and iconic sights” of the Floating Harbour.

In the Green Party’s equivalent newsletter delivered to my flat, their own council candidate, Heulwen Flower (whose Twitter profile describes her as “currently 42 years younger than the average British councillor”), picks the issue of the continued closure of the Mardyke Steps from Hotwell Road to Cliftonwood to make a feature of her own election campaign.

When current Hotwells & Harbourside councillor, Mark Wright, announced that he was standing down in February 2020, he would not have expected that he would still be representing the ward 11 months later and still might be until autumn.

The local elections that were postponed in May 2020 might now not take place in May this year. And if they don’t, it will further erode the value of local political representation.

Bristol’s giant ballot box encouraged people to vote in several elections – photo: Martin Booth

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees already regularly bemoans the contempt shown by the government for cities.

Rather than being involved in decision-making, Rees only finds out when we all do what tier Bristol is going in or whether another lockdown is on the way.

He attempted to show that he can do something by putting our city into its own tier 1+ category in October 2020, which in reality meant absolutely nothing.

And is Rees himself showing contempt for the residents of Hotwells & Harbourside ward?

He left early from a well-mannered meeting to discuss plans for the Western Harbour because he had to pick up his children, later telling an online discussion about the “really angry” crowd who he mistakenly said he was on the stage in front of by himself when in reality he was sat next to the Labour Party organisers of the community event

He may have spent part of that evening in Hotwells speaking to concerned local residents, but being subjected to close scrutiny is not something that the notoriously thin-skinned Rees enjoys.

And yet it is exactly this scrutiny that opposition councillors should be able to provide, and the sort of scrutiny that the mayor should be happy to accept.

Why did you continue to plough millions into a failing energy company? Do you still employ consultants on day-rates of up to £1,500? Why did you choose to accept an increase in your own annual salary by £9,000 that was intended for the victor of the postponed mayoral election?

Perhaps it is cutting back on spending like this that could be used to save a bit of money for the council coffers.

Bristol Energy was the brainchild of the previous mayor George Ferguson and was launched in 2015, but Marvin Rees continued to put money into the council-owned company after he was elected – photo: Bristol Energy

In Cabot News, the Lib Dems remind their readers that they want to scrap the position of mayor.

It was a central platform of their mayoral candidate Mary Page who stood down in November, followed just a fortnight later by Tory mayoral candidate Samuel Williams who is now standing to become the West of England metro mayor.

That decision by Williams is a strong sign that the mayor of Bristol plays second fiddle to the metro mayor. But that election too is also likely to be postponed.

So far, Rees only has one official challenger to become mayor: the Green Party’s Sandy Hore-Ruthven.

The Tories certainly feel that their efforts should be better focused on WECA, where current metro mayor Tim Bowles is standing down after just one term, although he could get a few extra months in the job yet if no election takes place in May.

Rees and most of his cabinet previously backed Labour’s metro mayor candidate this year to be Helen Godwin, with Dan Norris announced in December as Labour’s candidate after it is believed that he personally phoned every single party member in Bristol, South Glos and Bath & North East Somerset.

In another case of eyes being on the bigger political prize, former MP and former Hotwells & Harbourside councillor candidate Stephen Williams is now the Lib Dem challenger for metro mayor; with the Green Party expected to name Clifton councillor Jerome Thomas as their own candidate in the next few days, according to BBC Radio Bristol’s Pete Simpson.

Former cabinet member Claire Hiscott (left) and Tory WECA mayoral challenger Samuel Williams (right) – photo: Ellie Pipe

Whoever we are represented by in our wards, our city or region, it is crucial that we are represented by somebody.

A few wards in Bristol already do not have the required number of councillors. Some other councillors still claiming their allowances are barely doing their job. Others are just running out the clock until their time is up.

Bristol’s local elections in May need to take place, to give a clear mandate to those who we elect to represent us, and to inject some much-needed vim and vigour into the council chamber.

If the local elections are once again postponed, it will show once again the disdain Westminster has for local government.

Because our elected councillors and mayor are elected to represent the people that live on the same streets as them, who care about the minutiae of local issues, and who deserve to have their voices heard whether in a community hall or in City Hall.

The lonely Cumberland Basin metrobus stop could be surrounded by new homes as part of Marvin Rees’ Western Harbour plans – photo: Martin Booth

Martin Booth is the Editor of Bristol24/7. Main photo: Martin Booth

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