A vibrant Bristol street that was once named the "greatest in Britain" has lost out on Government funding, after the council and community struggled to come to an agreement about how best to use the cash.
Residents, traders and local councillors in Easton felt let down to discover that funding set aside by Bristol City Council to improve St Marks Road has been pulled, after months of discussions in the community. Consultation had been carried out to consider alternative improvements, after the initial proposal for pedestrianisation of the road was met with controversy.
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said it was "incredibly disappointing" that a solution had not been found, and suggested blame rested with "leadership outside of the mayor's office". However, Easton councillor Barry Parsons disagreed that the failure was at a local level in his ward.
READ MORE: Locals support plans to keep Cotham Hill closed to vehicles
The Green Party councillor said he was surprised when the Cabinet Member for Transport said last week that the funding for St Marks Road had been withdrawn, when it was his understanding that they had agreed on new proposals for the road in the autumn of 2021. His view is supported by members of St Marks Road Community Group and local businesses on St Marks Road, who had been working together over the last six months on alternative proposals to improve the road.
The controversial proposal to close St Marks Road at one end and make it access-only came after the Government made funding available to councils during the coronavirus pandemic, specifically to improve active travel like walking and cycling. Bristol council initially issued a list of 12 streets being considered, and some of those proposals have already been implemented, like on Cotham Hill.
The proposal to pedestrianise St Marks Road in Easton prompted controversy in 2020, with long-established businesses like Bristol Sweet Mart fearing they would lose trade and have to close. A petition was launched to oppose the idea but another group of campaigners came up with a counter-petition, stressing the need to stop cars from cluttering the narrow high street.
Do you use this road? How would any change affect you? Tell us in the comments section.
Bristol City Council then launched a survey generally asking what people liked and did not like about St Marks Road, and how it could be made better. Last April it shared the community's feedback and confirmed that the pedestrianisation idea, which had been suggested for the stretch between Henrietta Street and Berwick Road, had been shelved and "[alternative] options will be presented to a local community working group who will help co-design the options".
Following the election in May last year, the two Labour councillors who represented the Easton ward were replaced by two Green Party councillors. They were aware of the division caused by the pedestrianisation proposal so decided to work with the community in finding alternative ways to use the funding for improvements to St Marks Road.
According to Green Party councillor Barry Parsons, of the original £60,000 of funding allocated to St Marks Road, there is around £30,000 remaining because approximately half of the funding was spent on the consultations and on cones that were previously placed on the street.
There is a time limit on the funding, which means that if the money is not spent on the road by the end of the financial year, the funding will be withdrawn. Local councillors claim that they had previously agreed with council officers that a portion of the £30,0000 remaining would be used to fund cycle parking and the dropping of several kerbs.
Marvin Rees said that the current Easton councillors were given an “open goal in terms of being able to work with the community at that local level”. The Mayor admitted that the issue was “contentious” but said it is important to try to bring people together at a local level, and that although consultations can be helpful in finding enough agreement, it is not “all down” to him to implement those changes.
The mayor said: “The debates around [St Marks Road] and the work to bring people together at that local level could have been done better...There were a number of actors playing a role during the consultation that were perhaps less helpful than they could have been, including ex councillors. It has been nine or 10 months since the election and when councillors came in there was a lot of noise.
Sign up to the inner city newsletter for updates on Easton, Lawrence Hill and St Pauls here.
“There was an open goal in terms of being able to work with the community and find a solution at that local leadership level, it’s not all down to me, remember, there is leadership outside the mayor’s office and that opportunity hasn’t been taken and that’s incredibly disappointing.”
'Screwed up'
Cllr Parsons said that what they had been given upon being elected was more of an “open wound” than an open goal. He said: “Jenny [Bartle, Green councillor for Easton] and I had offered to help with the community engagement process for something that they had already screwed up so badly. They started off with this announcement and lumped it in with a whole load of other streets.
“We know what happened after that, we know that there was this big controversy about it and before the election they announced that they weren’t going to go ahead with the road closure. They then said that they were going to do a co-design process, which is the bit that Jenny and I helped with. Our experience of that was that we got no support from officers, it was very hard to get them to come along to meetings.
“It seemed very clear to me that they didn’t know what they were going to do, they didn’t have a backup plan and they didn’t seem willing to listen. We asked them a load of questions about what was feasible, what kind of money would be needed to do things and we made a load of suggestions.
READ MORE: St Pauls, Easton & Lawrence Hill newsletter: Sign up for free updates
“They’re trying to pin all the blame on what they decide is a failure on us and the community, Marvin’s called it an open goal when it’s more like an open wound, there was so much tension and ill feeling around everything that had happened and we were left to pick up the pieces and I feel we’ve done as good a job as we can.”
Speaking on behalf of St Marks Road Community Group, business owner Abdul Malik, who is also chairman of the mosque on St Marks Road, said:“It's really disappointing that the blame is being shifted to a local level when we were happy to look at anything that could potentially improve our street.
“It seems that because there are now two green councillors the narrative has changed and the Labour Party are targeting Easton as example of current leadership failure, however the failure is from the previous leaders and from the officers who have been idle on suggesting or considering anything that is beneficial including street enhancements, signage, safer cycle markings, new tarmac and parking times.
READ MORE: Best schools in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset according to Ofsted
“They have not allocated any resources to the street to deal with any of the issues raised in the survey and yet spent £30k on the survey to gather views on what needed to change." He claimed the mayor had failed to deliver on his promise, adding: "Today we see how politics is being played with the outcome of that previous consultation.
"Old wounds are being un-stitched to create a political fight at the expense of the unity of our street. I would urge councillors and leaders to consider their actions when using the street as their political case study. The street has suffered due to the negative politics in the past.
“We are grateful to both Easton ward councillors (Jenny and Barry) who have worked with us since the drama of the consultation to form a new unified community. St Marks Road Community Group would like to express their huge regard and thanks for the time they have spent with us to think of alternative ways to make the street safer and more greener, for a future that fits in to the vision of our city as a whole. We will continue to deliver initiatives like the one Easton Jamia Mosque took part in and gained a National 'Green Award' and 'Beacon Mosque' status just last month.
READ MORE: British Gas retail posts 44 per cent profits spike amid energy cost crisis
"Our inner city relies on good local leadership that advocate local views from the diverse stakeholders which form 'the community' - councillors who work with their local people to find local solutions should be commended not condemned, they should be encouraged to continue to fight for their electorate. Our councillors continue to work with us and we are proud of their help past and present - especially throughout this tough period including the challenges presented by the pandemic and Covid. Council meetings should be used to listen to local voices as well as political sound bites by politicians.”
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “Following engagement with the community and councillors on how the environment of St Mark’s Road could be improved, officers provided the requested designs. However, due to the limited level of local support, no significant proposals were agreed. As the funding is time-limited, no significant proposals for St Mark’s Road are being progressed.”
St Marks Road, which is lined with shops, restaurants and community facilities, was named the best in the UK at the 2020 Urbanism Awards. It is home to the Easton Jamia Masjid and also hosts the annual Grand Iftar street party, uniting thousands of people to mark the end of Ramadan.
READ MORE: Plane ticket between London and Bristol four times cheaper than train
ALSO READ: Ukrainians in Bristol react to Russia's 'full-scale invasion' - 'I have not slept at all'
READ MORE: First buses 39, x39 and 376 all re-routed due to emergency works
