Opposition groups on Bristol City Council have revealed how they would spend residents’ money. Greens, Tories, Lib Dems and Knowle Community Party have all suggested changes, called amendments, to Marvin Rees’s budget, with some targeting funding to the mayor’s office and the authority’s public relations to reverse several controversial measures or projects like reopening public toilets.
The Labour mayor proposes £19.5million of cutbacks, or “savings”, to plug a funding shortfall and balance the books in 2022/23, part of £33million of cost reductions over the next five years. Mr Rees insists no frontline services will be cut while huge investments are made in housing and affordable homes in the budget, which will be set at a meeting of full council on Tuesday (February 15).
But the plans have come under fire as they include steeper fees for allotments and parking, such as scrapping the 30-minute free stays, charges to install disabled residents’ vehicle bays, a rehab centre closure, “swingeing” cuts to museums and archives, less money for library books and £5.5million less on council staffing, including redundancies.
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The opposition amendments, to the revenue or capital budgets, have all been assessed by council officers and each will be voted on, becoming part of the budget if they receive a majority of votes and are then accepted by the mayor, who could instead resubmit the original or alternative proposals to a full council reserve date on March 2.
You can read what the Tories are proposing here, the Lib Dems here and Knowle Community Party here. Here’s what the Greens, who are the main opposition and have the same number of votes in the chamber as Labour, would do with residents' money:
Group leader Cllr Heather Mack describes Labour’s cuts as “cruel and unnecessary” and says the Greens would reverse the most damaging while improving local neighbourhoods. This includes preventing £1million of the job cuts, reopening public toilets and preserving free disabled parking spaces and dedicated trade union time, to be paid for from “abnormally high” council reserves as well as borrowing and trimming the mayor’s office and council PR budgets.
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The party wants to hire 18 more traffic wardens to tackle dangerous parking, double the budget allocated for 'school streets' which restrict traffic at drop-off and pick-up times, and redirect £4million of unallocated infrastructure money from developers to upgrade parks and local streets. It would also create at least one residents’ parking scheme (RPS) where locals are in favour, keep the 30 minutes’ free parking on local high streets to protect small businesses and retain a full-time twinning officer to support school exchanges and cultural projects.
Cllr Mack said: “Ultimately Bristol’s budget pressures are a result of decisions made by the Conservative Government to consistently underfund local services, combined with increased pressure from adult social care. But Bristol’s Labour administration is making decisions which prioritise keeping money in the bank, while people are suffering.
“With many already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis, these cuts to essential services are cruel and unnecessary.” She said some of the proposed cuts in the budget papers to full council were “worryingly vague” and could not be properly scrutinised.
Cllr Mack said: “Labour did not meaningfully engage with us in creating the council’s budget so despite limited options, Greens have sought to use budget amendments to find clever solutions to protect local services and promote environmental sustainability. I’m proud of our package of amendments which will stop some of the worst cuts and invest in our city’s parks and neighbourhoods.”
Under an amendment tabled by Cllr Mack, the Greens would temporarily take £1.25million from a reserve for a flood defence project and repay it by the time it’s needed in 2026. Of this, £1million would be used to reduce staffing cuts, although the officers’ assessment says that because it is funded by reserves, this will delay the savings for a year and “provide further uncertainty to employees”.
Officers say: “Measures to generate the required savings are through schemes such as vacancy management and succession planning. These proposals do not relate to frontline staff and are designed to make the organisation more efficient and to reduce the duplication of activity.”
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The remaining money would stop plans to charge disabled residents for new parking bays outside their homes and reduce the proposed cut to trade union facilities time, which the Greens say is “too much, too fast” and would “seriously hamper the ability of unions to represent staff”.
Cllr David Wilcox is proposing more civil enforcement officers, with money from the additional parking fines to provide three more 'school streets' schemes each year. Officers, however, say the council is struggling to fill existing vacancies as it is following years of pay freezes and that there are “plenty of easier roles available” for similar wages.
Cllr Wilcox’s amendment would also establish at least one new residents’ parking scheme, with income from it used to repay the £650,000 sourced from borrowing to set it up.
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Also read: Outrage at Bristol City Council proposal to charge for disabled parking bays
Reopening public toilets is the main aim of Cllr Jenny Bartle’s set of proposals, with money to be redirected from the mayor’s office and the council’s PR budget. The amendment says £200,000 a year would be spent where gaps were largest in the community toilet scheme, introduced following the widespread closure of public loos in 2018. It says: “This could be provided by reopening toilets or leasing 'pod' type toilets, and may even consider paid-for toilet provision.
"This revenue may be used to pay for capital borrowing needed to reopen toilets.” The officers’ assessment says some of the old toilets could be converted instead into micro depots for the street cleaning teams made homeless when their former base was demolished to make way for the new reuse and recycling centre in Hartcliffe Way, which would save the council having to find money for a new depot.
It says cutting mayor’s office and communications/PR costs would “substantially reduce” capacity to handle enquiries from residents and the media and to support public engagement such as consultations. Cllr Byrtle also suggests returning the international twinning officer position to full time, with the £23,000 to come potentially from the One City Office budget.
Another amendment would retain free parking for the first 30 minutes for visitors in RPS areas – set to be scrapped in Labour’s budget – which the proposer Cllr Yassin Mohamud says could impact local shops by benefiting large supermarkets, who have their own car parks, as well as disabled and older drivers. To make up the £500,000 lost revenue, pay-and-display charges in the zones would be increased by 20p per hour after the first free half hour.
Officers warn that inflationary rises for 2022/23 have already been approved by cabinet and that while Cllr Mohamud’s higher fees were likely to generate £500,000, it could deter some motorists and therefore bring in less cash. The Greens’ final amendment, by Cllr Martin Fodor, would dedicate £4million of unallocated infrastructure funds from developers to invest in parks and open spaces and neighbourhood street improvements, such as more accessible paths and better drainage, support for more cafes and preventing rat-running.
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