‘City Hall needs to pull together and put the city first’

My work away from City Hall revolves around the stage and screen, and I often work on pantomimes.

However, there is a growing rhetoric of the planning department being the home of panto villains, political football and playground name calling.

What happens in City Hall should not be a performance, and it is certainly not a playground; it is real-life impacting decisions.

Apart from the running of crucial services, the council administrates as a planning authority the planning applications brought forward across the city.

The planning department like other departments in City Hall has suffered from a lack of funding, recruitment freezes, Conservative central government cuts and general under appreciation.

The importance of buildings being compliant with ever evolving regulations, can be a matter of life or death.

We have seen repeatedly in our recent history what happens when regulation is not good enough or correctly adhered to, often with incredibly grim or tragic consequences.

Broadwalk planning decision protesters outside City Hall – photo: Mia Vines Booth

Planning officers are highly trained professionals who take great consideration to ensure that applications meet the criteria for safety, that construction plans are in place to ensure the safety of workers on a project and those in proximity are paramount.

Officers also consider the impact on the surrounding transport infrastructure and the ecology of a location.

Care must be taken for minimal impact on those residents already in the vicinity, and quality of life for our residents should be of the greatest importance in everything that Bristol City Council does.

Planning decisions have decade and potentially century long impact, especially in a climate emergency with increasing cost of living pressures.

Critically, as a legal planning authority Bristol City Council must be impartial in its actions, clear on its policies and processes and always following them without bias.

As a council we must hold ourselves to as high an account as the developers who wish to profit in our city.

The administration has a strategic role in place making, in enabling us to have the homes that the city needs with adequate infrastructure to support the growing community.

But that’s where the outgoing mayor’s office role must end.

Planning or development control committees perform the essential function of a checks and balance system for the city, on behalf of those we are lucky enough to represent.

As in life, decisions and views on applications are not black and white, and councillors are informed by their values.

These planning committees are legally obliged to be non-political, with no party-political whipping or pressurising of how a committee member votes.

If this behaviour is tolerated it opens the door to serious corruption – it could expose the council to costly legal challenges, or even government takeover.

City Hall is where many of the decisions affecting Bristol’s future are taken – photo: Betty Woolerton

In pantomime, audience participation is encouraged, booing the baddie is all part of the fun of the show.

But the audience leaves that behaviour in the theatre auditorium, just like yelling at the referee should be left on the pitch.

Unfortunately, in politics, the booing and jeering often extend into the public realm with dangerous consequences.

I have chaired the Development Control B committee since May 2021 and have been dismayed by the difference in rhetoric since I last chaired it in 2015.

This has resulted in the need to protect the identity of residents when making comments on the planning portal and that of planning officers attending committees.

As councillors it is unfortunately common to receive abuse, and even personal threats of violence, and neither we, nor our residents and officers, should be subject to such behaviour.

As politicians we have a duty of care to our residents and staff to not fan the flames of abuse by politicising or enflaming already stressful situations.

That includes not making what is legally a non-party political regulatory committee into a highly emotionally charged battle ground between now and May 2024.

Aside from the costly legal ramifications we cannot afford, it runs a significant risk of physical harm.

The thing about actual pantomimes, is that they are twice a day gruelling shows of dedicated professionals working together to achieve something.

We do not always agree, things often go wrong, but we are always united in working as a team to make the best performance for the audience.

I have long held the planning committees up as a demonstration of how value driven cross-party working, guided by professionals, can be achieved to create the best outcomes for Bristol and our residents.

It is about time City Hall pulled together, started putting the city first, and treating planning with the seriousness and respect it deserves.

Ani Stafford-Townsend is a Green Party councillor for Central ward – photo: Ani Stafford-Townsend

This is an opinion piece by Ani Stafford-Townsend, a Green Party councillor and milliner

Main photo: Rob Browne

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