Your say / Politics
‘Your neighbourhood is my neighbourhood’
I am Beryl Eileen Means, your Labour Party candidate in the Hotwells & Harbourside by-election being held on Thursday, February 2. I am known as Eileen Means.
A brief introduction as I want to move on to the key issues for Hotwells & Harbourside residents: I have lived in the Harbourside community since 2010 when I was one of the first leaseholders to move into the Crescent. I am a strong, experienced former councillor on Bristol City Council and played a key role on planning, audit and licensing committees.
All of this previous experience is relevant to the current challenges faced by our neighbourhood.
is needed now More than ever
However, in moving to this new community in common with many other neighbours, I never realised that the block that I live in and many others on each side of the harbour suffer from flammable cladding and other fire safety building defects.
Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, we are very aware of the risks and they spring to mind every evening as we go to bed. The cladding crisis has affected millions of leaseholders – thousands here in Bristol – with life-changing cladding costs and unsellable homes.
Our costs – service charges, surveys, management fees etc – are rising year on year. Building insurance has risen in my block to over £2.500 per year per apartment for example.
I have been campaigning with Thangam Debbonaire, our MP, to highlight this problem for the past three years. It is shameful that those who were ministers in the Tory/LibDem coalition government who could have amended building regulations before the Grenfell Tower tragedy did not do so
Buildings must be made safe and residents protected. If elected, campaigning to end the cladding trap will be my top priority.
Labour candidate Eileen Means campaigning in Hotwells & Harbourside ward – photo: Eileen Means
I would also represent you on any new build projects in this ward such as Western Harbour. All new developments will be closely scrutinised by me to ensure that residents’ safety is paramount.
Whether threatened by fire or flood, homes must be safe. Disabled or elderly residents must have personal evacuation plans.
Prioritising this means that risky features would not be approved by planning committees.
Local involvement is vital. A few years ago, the local Labour Party branch organised the public meeting with the mayor that has resulted in the first highly-criticised consultants’ plan for Western Harbour being withdrawn.
The mayor and cabinet heard the views of local people and withdrew those plans. A cross-party consensus on the city council has agreed the new vision for Western Harbour. But before any new plans are put forward, local people must have their say.
As your Labour councillor, I shall hold them to this promise. More effective to influence from the inside than shouting from opposition!
It was standing room only at the meeting in January 2020 where mayor Marvin Rees met concerned local residents to discuss the ‘Western Harbour’ plans – photo: Martin Booth
Safety also applies to other infrastructure projects that local residents rely on. The repairs to the Chocolate Path and Gaol Ferry Bridge are still ongoing and we all wish that they would end tomorrow.
But the reason they has taken so long is that previous council administrations before Labour did not invest in these vital city infrastructure projects.
In discussion with the relevant cabinet member, I discovered that Gaol Ferry Bridge was so fragile, it could have broken in the next storm.
The disastrous subsidence of the Chocolate Path was far worse than expected and deep pilings are needed for the future safety of all who use it. Yes, let’s get it done, but let’s not cut corners that could put our community at risk.
Labour is restoring this infrastructure for our benefit and that of future generations.
These are immediate issues. There are others of course such as evaluation flood risk along the river, protecting our green spaces and enhancing biodiversity on large sites like Brandon Hill or small ones alongside the boardwalk next to Porto Quay.
Hotwells & Harbourside needs someone who lives in the ward to put our community first. I know how the city council works, how to build partnerships and alliances. Your neighbourhood is my neighbourhood
Eileen Means is the Labour Party candidate in the Hotwells & Harbourside by-election on February 2. The other candidates are Eliana Barbosa of the Conservative Party, independent Martin Booth (also the Editor of Bristol24/7), the Green Party’s Patrick McAllister and the Liberal Democrats’ Stephen Williams.
Main photo: Labour Party
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