Daily Archives: Thursday, April 29, 2021

  • Illiteracy or bloody-mindedness?

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    It’s now 10 years since TidyBS5 was inaugurated by local residents with the support of local ward councillors to campaign for a more pleasant street scene in the Bristol council wards of Easton and Lawrence Hill.

    During all that time, both residents and councillors has persistently call on Bristol City Council to increase both the presence and visibility of enforcement action, but our efforts have only been rewarded in the last couple of years with higher fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for environmental crimes in 2019 and the recent recruiting of more enforcement officers (posts passim).

    Largely as a result of the actions of local residents raising awareness of environmental blight, the streets of Lawrence Hill and Easton are now marginally freer of fly-tipping than they were then, but problems still persist, not helped by the lower footfall due to lockdown and the amount of DIY and building works being undertaken.

    This was spotted at the junction of Walton Street and Chaplin Road.

    Photo shows fly-tipping beneath sign advising no fly-tipping, CCTV in operation

    Is this an example of illiteracy or bloody-mindedness? Kindly give your answers in the comments.

  • Greens take impressive lead in recycling box poll

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    It’s one week to go to the elections for Bristol City Council, the elected Mayor of Bristol (with 2 of the 9 candidates standing for election to the office vowing to hold a referendum with a view to abolishing the autocratic post. Ed.), the West of England Combined Authority Mayor and the Avon & Somerset Police & Crime Commissioner.

    My recycling box is rapidly filling up with election materials as the parties all vie for my cross against their candidates’ names on the four ballot papers (Hint to canvassers: don’t bother with my house any more; I’ve already voted by post! Ed.).

    Following the arrival on the latest leaflet on the doormat, the poll has been updated and now shows the following state of the parties.

    Screenshot of spreadsheet showing Greens with 4 leaflets and other parties with 1 each

    The Greens seem determined to win Lawrence Hill ward and are pulling out all the stops. As they’re normally in fourth place, the Tories have managed on token leaflet as have the Liberal Democrats, who were once renowned for their zeal in bunging up letterboxes with their literature.

    Why has there only been one Labour leaflet? Is this a symptom of lower levels of activism in the wake of members deserting the party after the election of Keir Starmer (whom some unkindly refer to as Keith. Ed.)?

    All will become clear next week.

    Maybe.