‘Woeful consultation’ and ‘broken promises’ over council asset sales
Councillors have challenged a recent decision to flog off council assets, including multiple green spaces.
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I've written about all kinds of topics, including politics, housing, transport, health and social care and the environment.
The Lead Untangles: Is there a simple solution to the homelessness crisis?
Ahead of the Budget, the housing sector is united in calling for Local Housing Allowance rates to be unfrozen – will Reeves listen?
Revealed: The 1,000 assets flogged off by Birmingham’s bankrupt council
The city’s green spaces could be the next to go..
Asthmatic mum 'made ill' by damp told to return home
A single mum has been told to return to her home despite a letter from a medical professional saying that damp and mould is making her ill.
London is getting homeless families out of hotels – but the crisis is far from over
Councils in the capital have managed to vastly reduce the number of families in hotels and B&Bs, but is this really a win in the battle against homelessness?
Manchester Pride goes bust leaving performers out of pocket
Charity behind one of Europe’s biggest LGBTQ+ Pride events says staff will be made redundant as it is liquidated.
The numbers that reveal Birmingham didn’t have to go bankrupt
New analysis by accounting experts has found that the council’s financial health was much better than reported when it raised the alarm back in 2023.
'Culture of non-transparency' over FOIs at Bristol City Council
Campaigners have criticised a "culture of non-transparency" at a city council, amid a lack of improvement in answering information requests on time.
Bristol carers 'need support' with poverty, isolation, and health
Carers facing financial hardship and isolation in Bristol are in urgent need of better support, a report featuring the testimonies of hundreds of people has found.
The local groups trying to buy Brum back
Bartley Green Library is a tiny little thing; a compact, unassuming Edwardian red-brick structure, that looks more like an outbuilding than a beloved community asset. And yet, it’s become one of several key fronts local groups across Birmingham are fighting a mostly unreported battle on.
How Bristol put a lid on temporary accommodation costs amid homelessness crisis
Councils are piloting ways to tackle the cost of housing a record number of homeless families while we wait for a new strategy from the government.
Secretive and rushed: inside the fire sales flogging £1bn of Brum’s public assets
Today, Matty Edwards is inside the auction rooms where Birmingham’s public assets are quietly being sold off to help meet a £1bn bill. But concerns are being raised about the process.
One woman's battle against council bailiffs
Bristol City Council claims to have an ‘ethical’ debt collection policy, but has sent bailiffs to thousands of vulnerable residents’ doors. After pressure from ACORN, the council has finally committed to investigate.
Squalid conditions remain at housing block despite council action - The Bristol Cable
Residents of a Clifton block of flats have rallied against persistent damp and mould and another rent increase. But now some are facing eviction threats from their London landlords.
The social housing tenants left traumatised by decades of neglect
Bristol City Council is one of many local authorities with thousands of tenants in mouldy flats and a £2.2bn black hole in housing budgets is expected by 2028, reports Matty Edwards
The Cable reveals how Bristol developers are dodging their duties
The Cable has uncovered a brazen attempt by prolific property developers to escape building affordable housing, at a time when the city is still falling well short of its own targets.
Explained: What do council funding reforms mean for Bristol? - The Bristol Cable
The Labour government has promised to ‘fix the foundations’ of council funding after years of austerity left local authorities up and down the country at risk of financial ruin.
Dad Matters: Bristol parenting support project faces uncertain future
Dad Matters, set up in 2024, has been supporting men across Bristol to navigate the tricky challenges of early fatherhood – but the council is now working out if it can continue funding the service.
East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood opposition mounts
“The first week, it took me 17 minutes for someone to let me out of my road. There was a queue of nine cars trying to get onto Church Road.”
St George resident Kay Jones is one of 30 or so locals at a meeting at Cafe Conscious, in Barton Hill – part of a campaign to stop the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, a trial scheme restricting through-traffic.
“My family feels further away,” says Kay, who juggles multiple jobs along with looking after kids, and has to commute as far as Filton an...
St George resident Kay Jones is one of 30 or so locals at a meeting at Cafe Conscious, in Barton Hill – part of a campaign to stop the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, a trial scheme restricting through-traffic.
“My family feels further away,” says Kay, who juggles multiple jobs along with looking after kids, and has to commute as far as Filton an...
The Debrief – did Bristol City Council really boot out bailiffs?
For a full transcript of this week’s episode on the council’s use of bailiffs, click here.
Way back in 2018, the Cable launched a campaign calling for Bristol City Council to stop using bailiffs to collect council tax.
Reporting by Adam Cantrell-Corn, one of this organisation’s founders, had revealed how this practice was – because the use of debt collection agencies incurs extra costs – pushing people further into debt.
That’s before we even stop to consider the intimidating experience...
Way back in 2018, the Cable launched a campaign calling for Bristol City Council to stop using bailiffs to collect council tax.
Reporting by Adam Cantrell-Corn, one of this organisation’s founders, had revealed how this practice was – because the use of debt collection agencies incurs extra costs – pushing people further into debt.
That’s before we even stop to consider the intimidating experience...
Council still sending in bailiffs despite ‘ethical approach’ promise
Jack Scott moved to Bishopsworth in 2019 before leaving Bristol in 2021. But years later, he would have to deal with intimidating phone calls from bailiffs for council tax he thought he’d paid, as he spiralled further into debt.
Jack is one of thousands who have had council tax arrears sent to bailiffs by Bristol City Council in the last two years.
That’s despite a 2018 pledge by the local authority to stop using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax, after a Cable campaign exposed how...
Jack is one of thousands who have had council tax arrears sent to bailiffs by Bristol City Council in the last two years.
That’s despite a 2018 pledge by the local authority to stop using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax, after a Cable campaign exposed how...
Leaseholders want the system to be abolished, so what will Labour change?
“This was supposed to be my first safe, comfortable home. Growing up, I lived in extreme poverty in homes that had collapsing roofs, floors and ceilings… I have fought tooth and nail to be able to afford my own home, I’m now reliving my childhood nightmare once again.”
This was an email I received from a Bristol leaseholder after I’d written an article about residents of Orchard House in Brislington who were ‘abandoned’ by the owner of their building.
Sarah*, who wanted to remain anonymous...
This was an email I received from a Bristol leaseholder after I’d written an article about residents of Orchard House in Brislington who were ‘abandoned’ by the owner of their building.
Sarah*, who wanted to remain anonymous...
Historic Bristol general election result: First Green MP, Tory wipeout
Bristol has elected its first ever Green MP amid a Tory wipeout on the city’s fringes as part of an historic Labour landslide in Thursday’s general election.
Carla Denyer, the Green Party’s co-leader, achieved a huge swing from Labour in Bristol Central, which was more than enough to unseat sitting MP Thangam Debbonaire. In the culmination of a hard-fought race between Labour and the Greens that attracted national headlines during the campaign, Denyer declared in her victory speech: “Bristol...
Carla Denyer, the Green Party’s co-leader, achieved a huge swing from Labour in Bristol Central, which was more than enough to unseat sitting MP Thangam Debbonaire. In the culmination of a hard-fought race between Labour and the Greens that attracted national headlines during the campaign, Denyer declared in her victory speech: “Bristol...
Bristol general election results: the Debrief
Just like across the rest of the UK, 4 July produced a historic night (or perhaps more correctly, historic ungodly hours of the morning) when it came to Bristol general election results.
In the race the national media were all over, Carla Denyer became the city’s first Green MP, taking the seat from nine-year incumbent Thangam Debbonaire in a huge swing from Labour.
But elsewhere, the red tide that washed over the UK overwhelmed the outer reaches of the wider Bristol area, sweeping away Tor...
In the race the national media were all over, Carla Denyer became the city’s first Green MP, taking the seat from nine-year incumbent Thangam Debbonaire in a huge swing from Labour.
But elsewhere, the red tide that washed over the UK overwhelmed the outer reaches of the wider Bristol area, sweeping away Tor...
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