Council Wages War Against East Bristol

Unpopular 'Liveable Neighbourhood' measures implemented under high security in the dead of night

The editor of Bristol 24/7 posting on Thursday morning

For those not yet in the loop, last week something previously unimaginable happened in East Bristol. In the early hours of Thursday morning, with no official prior warning to the people living in the area, Ed Plowden (Chair of BCC’s Transport and Connectivity Committee) ordered ETM contractors, accompanied by the council liaison team, privately hired security personnel, what felt to residents like 60 police officers and chief inspectors (the official number is 28), plus two drones and a helicopter, to descend on the streets of Barton Hill. Their job? Despite all appearances, this wasn’t a drugs raid, anti-terrorism mission, or the dramatic chasing down of a psychopathic murderer. It was to install planters and bollards to block residential streets. See here for Tristan Cork's Thursday early morning piece for Bristol Live.

Such security measures and the blitz operation were evidently perceived as necessary by Mr Plowden in anticipation of, and to scare off, any dangerous local residents protesting what they regard as the insanity of the East Bristol ‘Liveable Neighbourhood’ scheme. And at 4 o’clock in the morning some residents did indeed manage to get out onto the streets. Once again dangerous Somali single mothers, women on mobility scooters, and a woman seriously ill with pneumonia tried to get in the contractors’ way, menacing the poor army of mostly men (who outnumbered them four or five to one) sent out to just follow orders under cover of the night. Fortunately for the safety of all these vulnerable men, the women were too few and too late to prevent most of the measures being implemented. Deployed in all the targeted areas at once, the contractors installed blocks (bus gates, planters or bollards) on Avonvale Road, Victoria Avenue, Pilemarsh Road, Cobden Street and Ducie Road.

The protestors succeeded in preventing works on just one street, Marsh Lane. Those who were able to lay down on the street, and were intimidated and threatened with arrest and a criminal record for blocking the road, despite the fact the council had quite obviously already blocked it itself. One woman with disabilities said that security personnel

physically restrained my mobility scooter and prevented me from moving back. Had two of them…boxing me in and…one…locked his feet on my wheels and hand grabbed onto my handles. The scooter is an extension of my body so he effectively put his hands on me.

A member of the Somali community has described how it has retraumatised her with memories of what she escaped in Somalia as a child.

The residents of Barton Hill believe their city council is now waging war against them.

In the above video, Geoff Thompson of Geoff Buys Cars describes the principle of ‘if it ain’t right, do it at night’. It beggars belief that Ed Plowden could see himself as being in the right by forcing through his ideological Net Zero anti-human-mobility agenda in this manner, yet he remains characteristically unempathetic and robotic in his defence of his actions.

Just this last Tuesday he was again questioned at a public forum session at the full council meeting on the EBLN scheme. His arguments remain consistently unconvincing: there are too many cars in the city and blocking roads is the only design councillors can think of to tackle any issues with air pollution and road accidents, regardless of how counterproductive it is. He repeats above all that the ‘trial scheme’ has many supporters. Yet a brief look at the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood Supporter Group on Facebook yields the data at the time of writing of 627 members, with 28 posts in the last month. Whilst the STOP the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood Road Closures group (now East Bristol Open Roads) has 3.1K members and multiple new posts on a daily basis. The EBLN Objection Report of 13the March 2024 following on from the Traffic Regulations Order consultation of January-February last year cites 760 objections and 427 expressions of support. Yet when these figures are highlighted residents are told that the consultation ‘wasn’t a referendum’. And this wouldn’t even matter: if you are going to use political authority drastically to alter the traffic flow and mobility possibilities of your residents you need to get full public backing. Blatantly and paternalistically ignoring them, and pretending there is just as much support as rejection, is not only disingenuous, but after the most recent events also quite clearly shockingly manipulative and coercive.

If anyone is still in doubt about the authoritarian impulses behind LTNs, I’ve heard there are a number of bridges looking for buyers. The term ‘dictatorship’ to describe what is happening is now widely to be seen on social media posts on the subject.

More and more residents are speaking of ‘ghettoization’ and feeling trapped and isolated in their local area - fully against their will. Here’s what Martin Smith has to say on the Facebook group:

Barton Hill Ghetto. It’s what BCC want to turn us into - a Ghetto. Hard to get in or out, take away our movement and facilities, put small businesses out of business. People will have to move out then property developers move in, buy up properties on the cheap. Build more student accommodation, that’s more ignorant people to vote for these ignorant councillors.

Sure, the majority can still reach their homes by car (not all), but many journeys will take far longer and the area is no longer one through which non-residents will be able to drive. Visiting friends and relations, until now a simple matter, has suddenly become a tortuous activity. Plowden and the Green-led council, just like former Labour mayor Marvin Rees and former Labour Transport Committee Chair Don Alexander before them, have refused to listen to these very real anxieties. Instead they have arrogantly presumed they know better, and are now acting so crazed and inhumane I’m wondering if there is some kind of literal Net Zero ideology possession occurring?

This is a REALLY bad look for you, Bristol City Council.

The local satirical paper’s take on events before 13th March (date should be 2025)

And what about WECA - the West of England Combined Authority responsible for funding the EBLN? On Friday last week, the day after the shocking events in East Bristol, several objectors attended the West of England Joint Committee and WECA Committee meetings in Southmead, North Bristol.

Several statements were read out demanding an end to the insanity by turning off the financial taps. Questions were asked about the ethics of funding a virtually military operation against protestors, and it was highlighted how BCC’s tactics were divisive and polarising. With the leaders of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset councils, plus Police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody present, outgoing Metro Mayor Dan Norris (also a Labour MP since the last general election) listened attentively and empathetically, responding with great concern at BCC’s wild actions.

Well, at least that is the impression he evidently meant to give, and the Good Cop Bad Cop tactic was very convincing to people who are desperate for an end to the stress and anxiety they have been suffering. That’s how it works, right? Some came away with the impression something positive had been achieved - that the Labour Metro Mayor was on their side and treating them civilly in comparison with the abuse from their own councillors. Hmmm. Not so sure about that. Apart from the extreme likelihood that anyone in such a position of political power is up to no good, a recent conversation I had with a friend revealed that Mr Norris was known as ‘Jackanory’ at school, on account of all the lies stories he told. He has also not been free from controversy during his tenure as mayor.

So what is really going on? Dan & Co are quite obviously not going to be on the side of Barton Hill’s residents. Were they aware of Ed Plowden’s secret night raid plans? Seems unlikely that they weren’t. Will they suddenly withdraw the funding for the scheme on account of their horror at what the naughty local council has done? That would surely mean that all future ‘liveable neighbourhoods’ in the area could also be abandoned, so very unlikely. These schemes are the baby of central government, after all. They’re not the idea of any local authorities, even though it’s the latter which have been tasked with pushing them through. Further, WECA is electing a new Mayor on 1st May and although LTNs and the fate of Barton Hill in particular may figure prominently in questions put to candidates, my guess is that they will feign concern but in the event of being elected will wring their hands claiming there is now nothing they can do to stop this ‘trial’ ghettoization of the area. WECA is extremely unlikely to be Barton Hill’s saviour.

In conclusion, after all this mess, if Ed Plowden, Dan Norris, or any of the fans of the scheme can explain how any of this makes the area more ‘liveable’ I am sure we would all be all ears. And residents of South Bristol, take note of what you will be up against, because this treatment is coming to you next.

East Bristol residents are getting creative