At Full Council on Tuesday 17^th January 2012, I proposed a motion that called upon the Council to take several actions to represent the interests of rail passengers in the city. The motion was supported by all four political parties represented on the Council, and gain unanimous support.

The full text of the motion was as follows:

This Council notes with concern that First Group plc has decided not to take up its option to run the Greater Western rail franchise for the three years from 2013. This Council believes that the public transport links provided by the Greater Western rail franchise are of vital importance to the local economies of Bristol, the South West and South Wales. Consequently, this Council calls upon the Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport to write to the Secretary of State for Transport and to the Chief Executive of the Office of Rail Regulation to seek assurances that the government will work with Bristol City Council, and other affected local authorities to ensure that First Group plc’s decision to withdraw from the current franchise will neither be permitted to cause disruption to the travelling public, nor be allowed to have any detrimental effect on the local economy.

This Council further notes that the Department for Transport has commenced the “Greater Western Franchise Replacement Consultation”, and instructs the Chief Executive to ensure this Authority responds to this consultation in the best interests of the travelling public of Bristol, including making the following points:

• The new franchise must maintain the current levels of local and regional services that use Bristol as their hub, but deliver this with new and additional rolling stock. New diesel rolling stock must look to address air-pollution issues. Investment since 2008 in new local rail services, working with FGW, has resulted in a dramatic increase in passenger numbers. Such services must now be seen as the baseline for the new franchise and not as optional extras.
• The delivery of a two trains per hour (2tph) [30 minute] “Bristol Metro” service to existing stations, but to include this level of service to new stations proposed in the West of England Partnership (WoEP) Joint Local Transport Plan 3 2011- 2026 (JLTP3) once these are delivered, should be a requirement on any new franchisee. The franchisee must work with Network Rail and DfT to ensure that four-tracking is delivered up Filton Bank, and assist in the delivery of other infrastructure projects required to deliver the rail services in JLTP3, including those improvements identified in the Route Utilisation Study.
• The reopening of the Portishead line and delivery of a 2tph [30 minute] “Bristol Metro” service calling at existing and re-opened intermediate stations.
• Bristol and the WoEP area should be ticketed with a zonal fare system, and smart ticketing that is interoperable with local bus services should be introduced. At minimum, permit to travel machines should be installed at all stations in the WoEP area. Revenue protection work should be undertaken frequently at all stations on the Severn Beach Line.
• The franchise agreement should ensure that the franchisee cannot be seen to profit if it fails to deliver. There can be rewards for success, but there must be no rewards for failing the travelling public.
• Investment in Bristol Temple Meads Station is required to ensure that it provides a quality of facilities commensurate to the 8.7M passengers who use Temple Meads every year. The station should be a welcoming, safe and accessible gateway to Bristol. The new franchisee must work with Network Rail, the Council and other partners to achieve this goal.
• All services calling at Bristol should have sufficient provision for the carriage of cycles, commensurate to Bristol’s position as Cycling City, to encourage multi-modal journeys.

As reported in today’s media, Bristol Rovers, UWE and Sainsbury have concluded their legal negotiations, and published an outline proposal for a mixed use redevelopment of the Memorial Stadium site.
As well as a Sainsbury store, there are proposals for some housing on the site, as well as smaller commercial or retail units.
The proposals intend to protect the Memorial Gates, which are a Grade-II listed structure.

Formal consultation by Bristol Rovers, UWE and Sainsbury will be happening in January 2012. I would urge any concerned residents or local businesses to engage with this process.

As one of the local Councillors, I would very much like to hear the opinions of local residents and what they think of these proposals.

Today’s match against Swindon had the obvious potential to cause an increase dangerous or illegal parking in the area. The Council’s Parking Services Enforcement Officers were in the area because of the match, and I accompanied them as an observer to understand the issues from their perspective.
As well as being able to issue parking tickets for vehicles left on yellow lines, tickets can also be issued to vehicles parked across pedestrian crossing drop-kerbs.
Although it was a busy time for parking, the majority of cars were parked legally, but a few illegally parked vehicles were ticketed.

Today I attended the annual meeting of the University of Bristol Court. This is part of the govenance structure of the University.

As well as the formal business of the day, the meeting allowed some of the University’s academics to present details of their work.

As reported in the Evening Post, the Council has successfully prosecuted two fly-posters who have been caught on CCTV fly-posting in the Gloucester Road. Between them the pair have been ordered to pay over £1,000.

Illegal fly-posting has been a blight on the Gloucester Road for far too long, it costs a fortune to clear up, and a lot of volunteer time tackling this problem. It’s great to know that the council is supporting our hard-working volunteers with prosecutions like this.

A few weeks ago, I sent a letter for publication to the editor of First, the Local Government Association’s fortnightly magazine. The letter was intended to remind Councillors who sit on committees that manage pension funds, that these funds have voting rights on the shares they hold, and that they can exercise these rights to vote against excessive director remuneration packages.
The full text of the letter is available here.

On Friday 2^nd December 2011, the Council commenced Compulsory Purchase action in respect of 186 Ashley Down Road. This property has been empty for some time, and it is only as a last resort that the Council will start this type of proceedings.
In this case action was taken because of the length of time the property had been unoccupied and due to on-going problems; many complaints have been received about vermin, rubbish and the external condition of the house.

If you know of an empty residential property within the Council area, more information, and a link to report it to the Council can be found on the Council’s Empty Residential Properties webpage.

The next Bishopston Neighbourhood Forum will be held on
Tuesday 29^th November 2011 from 7pm to 9pm at
Bishop Road School, Bishop Road, Bristol BS7 8LU.

For more details see the Bristol Partnership website.

Following the announcement that the Memorial Stadium has been chosen to host matches during the Rugby League World Cup in 2013, for which our city should be proud; I have asked Council Officers to start considering what traffic and parking management measures may be needed to ensure that disruption to local residents is kept to a minimum.

Today I went to visit protestors outside Costa Coffee on the Gloucester Road. I spoke to many people who were concerned about the disregard that Costa Coffee and the franchisee Soth West Coffee Ltd have shown towards the planning decision made by elected Councillors. Currently the Council is unable to take enforcement action until the appeal is heard by the Planning Inspectorate.
People who are concerned about this issue are entitled to make representations to the Planning Inspctorate about this appeal, and details about how to do this are contained in a previous post.