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Bristol City Council U-turns on cuts to libraries and pledges more for housing and homelessness

Image credit: Bristol City Council

By Harry Mayes, Masters Neuroscience

With 34 seats the Green Party holds the most seats in Bristol City Council, who have just announced their draft budget proposals, increasing funding to housing and homelessness and deferring suggested plans to slash library and school crossing funds.

At the forefront of the budget came finances addressing housing, homelessness and a response to recent public backlash concerning a possible reduction in funding to public libraries.

Following public backlash to suggestions of charging for disabled parking, cutting funds for school crossing patrols and cutting Bristol’s library budget in half, the council has refrained from going forward with these cuts and plan to review how these services can be reworked into a more financially stable state. The backlash came after the council published an array of cost cutting measures as they attempted to tackle the deficit that sits at over £350 million and a £52 million funding black hole that needs to be filled. The Green-led council faced criticism from their Labour opposition, who said that the proposed cuts ‘would make Margaret Thatcher blush’.

The proposed closure of up to 3 museums has also been deferred by a year along with the suggested closure of the Cultural Investment Fund, the council’s initiative to invest into the arts and cultural scene of Bristol, including events and festivals.  This change comes shortly after Equity slammed the proposed cuts, citing Bristol as a UNESCO city of film and a cultural hub that houses thousands of jobs in the arts, with the fund being pivotal to their future.

Speaking on reworking the libraries into more financially stable institutions, the Chair of the Public Health and Communities Policy Committee, Liberal Democrat Cllr Stephen Williams said a group set up by his committee will “be able to conduct a root-and-branch review of the library service.” He went on to say “I’m pleased that we will now have the time and space to do this meaningfully, without the immediate pressure of a budgetary cut. However, one of our objectives will be to craft a service that is financially sustainable”.

The budget also includes pledges into council housing, citing £21.6 million investment in high rise blocks and another £19 million committed to repairs, with millions more committed to electrical testing, fire alarms and tackling damp and mould. An additional £66 million has been pledged to the General Fund with £19.7 million being invested in adults and community services and £27.8 million into children and education.

The Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Heather Mack, said “This is a transitional budget that has been built on collaboration and which encourages contributions and ideas from all… Following a list of failures from the previous Labour administration, 14 years of Conservative cuts to local authorities and an increase in demand for some of the vital services that the council provides, we're facing significant financial challenges. We need to instill a greater level of financial sustainability across all levels of the organisation so we can deliver needed services in a fair and equitable way in the future”

The drafts are also pledging to buy 75 new homes for temporary accommodation for the homeless and to build 728 new social housing units with 136 being delivered in 2025/26.

Environmentally, the Green-led council are seeking to reduce emissions by extending the LED lighting program to parks and docks, claiming it will save £1.4 million and 1700 tonnes of carbon per year:

‘Our motives as an administration are to work collaboratively to build a happier, greener and more resilient city. This won’t happen if we don’t tackle our finances and put the council on a sounder financial footing, and that’s what this budget does’ The Deputy Leader said. Along with these measures, income sourced from the clean air zones have been pledged to be reinvested into additional buses and drain maintenance across the city.

Once a draft is proposed, the plans are then taken to the Strategy and Recourses Policy Committee where it will be discussed and scrutinised to then be presented to the Leader of the Council for adoption. There will be some time for final adjustments and the plans will then be voted for on February 25th by the entirety of the council, which is comprised of 34 Green Party, 21 Labour, 8 Liberal Democrat and 7 Conservative Party councillors.

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