Your say / Politics
‘Consultations in Bristol seem just to be a box ticking exercise’
A bombshell was dropped on Bristol’s allotmenteers by the city council just before Christmas last year.
Thirty-four pages of draconian new rules would be coming in, with a complex system of fines and charges, including a massive hike in allotment fees.
It was a consultation in theory. But to many, it seemed done and dusted.
is needed now More than ever
Little over a month later, the plans seem to have been largely abandoned.
So what went so badly wrong and what light does it shed on other council ‘consultations’?
A new local campaign group, Bristol Allotmenteers Resist, rapidly formed to fight the council plans, with about 200 people attending its first public meeting and more than 6,000 signatures on a petition.
People feel strongly about their allotments and many felt this was an attack that would force them to abandon their plots yet still face a £700 bill to remove productive fruit trees, or greenhouses and sheds.
There were demonstrations outside City Hall together with several media articles, including several in Bristol 24/7 raising concerns.
………………………………….
Read more:
- ‘Allotments are rooted in the struggles of the working classes’
- Alarm as allotment costs could more than double
- Allotment community responds to council’s proposals
………………………………….
A week ago, in a massive climb down we were told by deputy mayor Craig Cheney that “proposed petty allotment rules could be ditched”, though the jury is still out on whether the huge hike in charges will still happen.
I feel that the allotmenteers had the right approach, which was to push back very hard. ‘Resistance is Fertile’ was one campaign slogan.
The feeling seemed to be that simply submitting comments was not going to be enough. They ran a powerful campaign and were lucky – perhaps because it was close to the May elections and Labour in Bristol was sensitive to losing lots of votes.
It isn’t usually like this.
Experience has taught us that Bristol City Council does not know how to conduct proper consultations. This results in unnecessary controversy, often alienating the communities which it is meant to serve and creating unnecessary stress and work for hard-pressed council officers who try and mitigate the damage that is caused as a result.
The community groups who conscientiously and voluntarily put their own time into detailed comments find their contributions and expertise ignored.
Don’t mess with an angry allotmenteer brandishing a rake – photo: Martin Booth
Are consultations just a box ticking exercise? It does seem that way.
For example, the detailed Bristol Tree Forum and Bristol Civic Society responses to the recent Bristol Local Plan consultations were pretty much ignored.
As a result, both organisations have major concerns about the proposed Local Plan.
The Local Plan is an incredibly important document which will shape the future of Bristol for the next ten or so years.
Whether Bristol is filled with high-rises (to the delight of hedge funds and buy-to-let investors), and whether we will lose protection for lots of important green spaces and watch trees being felled all over the city, all comes down to the way the Local Plan is shaped. Get it wrong and bad outcomes will follow.
As a result, the Tree Forum and Civic Society have both asked to participate in the Planning Inspector’s hearings to argue for major changes in the Bristol City Council draft.
A good Local Plan should have the support of community groups but this is not the case.
Ignoring the expertise of community organisations results in second-rate documents – in this case one that doesn’t even comply with the new national legislation to improve our biodiversity which comes into force on February 12.
Bedminster Green is just one green space in Bristol that could be developed as a result of the new Local Plan – photo: Mark Ashdown
I think Bristol City Council fundamentally fails to understand the components of a consultation.
Lord Woolf was a judge with a reputation for simple common-sense judgments, one of which defined a proper consultation.
He wrote: “To be proper, consultation must be undertaken at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage; it must include sufficient reasons for particular proposals to allow those consulted to give intelligent consideration and an intelligent response; adequate time must be given for this purpose; and the product of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account when the ultimate decision is taken.”
Let’s look again at the recent allotment consultation and take each of these points in turn:
- “consultation must be undertaken at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage” – The proposals were not presented at a formative stage. It appeared that every ‘i’ has been dotted and every ‘t’ crossed. As a result, people felt that they were being presented with a fait accompli.
- “must include sufficient reasons for particular proposals to allow those consulted to give intelligent consideration and an intelligent response” – Many of the rules proposed offered no explanation for why they are being proposed, so it was impossible to evaluate the rationale for adopting them.
- “adequate time must be given for this purpose” – The consultation was over the Christmas period and initially ran to January 22. In the rush, parts of the paper consultation seem to have been cut and pasted from elsewhere and contained irrelevancies such as questions about tennis. What was so urgent that more time could not be given?
- “the product of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account when the ultimate decision is taken” – Perhaps on this occasion it has happened but only as a result of the effective opposition from allotmenteers. It was not the case for the Bristol Local Plan consultation.
Policy pushed through by those with power despite the wishes of the community is never sustainable. But policy that is developed with wide support stands the test of time.
Bristol City Council should take note of Lord Woolf’s wise words.
This is an opinion piece by Vassili Papastavrou, secretary of Bristol Tree Forum
Main photo: Rob Browne
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
