New Council website launched

And on a lighter note...

The Council has today launched its new look website. I'm sure that there will be a few teething problems, but my initial reaction is that it both looks much nicer and that it's easier to navigate. I've used it a couple of times today already and found what I needed pretty quickly.

I don't know what they're doing for legacy links, but I've often linked from this blog to the Council website, so there is a chance that old links might not work now. If there is something that doesn't work, drop me a line and let me know.

On the stupidity of the death penalty

There's been quite a bit of press coverage recently about a national petition to restore the death penalty. Reassuringly, a counter petition to maintain the current situation has also been launched and it has garnered significantly more signatures so far.

The death penalty is one of the fundamentally most stupid ideas that this world continues to entertain. It's something I've felt very strongly about since childhood, so I'm going to throw my tuppence in... and without even resorting to any liberal pleading or apologias!

It is not a deterrent. There is absolutely no reliable evidence that the death penalty, where it exists, acts as any form of deterrent to stop people committing crime. In fact, those states in the US where it is used tend to have higher rates of murder than others that don't have the death penalty. Maybe these states just have a higher rate of criminality. An alternative analysis would suggest that state-sponsored killing is more likely to breed murder as the lines between right and wrong are blurred for the people living there - how wrong is it to kill if a judge can order my death?

It is not cheap. One of the most ludicrous arguments for the death penalty is that it is cheaper than keeping someone locked up in prison, as if frugality is a sensible basis for a legal system. In any case, it is not cheaper, which is one of the reasons why many US states are thinking about giving it up. Once you factor in the costs of the procedure itself and the various legal fees spent by the state fighting appeals, it is almost always cheaper to imprison someone for life instead. And it gets even more expensive once you start executing innocent people by accident.

It gets things wrong. Legal history is littered with miscarriages of justice. Sometimes the jury makes a mistake, sometimes the police have lied, sometimes the expert witnesses turned out not to be experts and sometimes the scientific evidence was later disproved. Take DNA evidence for example. It is now widely recognised that the estimates of odds given in court cases in the early days of DNA evidence were wildly off beam - e.g. a one in a million chance was more like one in thousand. Every generation of science has an arrogance of certainty which the following generation often unpicks. But this isn't just something that happened in the past. It is still happening now, as the case of Cameron Todd Willingham attests, executed on the evidence of a fraudulent expert in 2004.

To give a UK example, consider the case of Sally Clark. Child murder is usually at the top of the list of crimes deserving of the death penalty according to those that advocate it. Sally Clark was convicted of murdering her two sons in 1996 and 1998. She almost certainly would have been lined up for execution for the 'crime'. The problem was, she didn't do it. Spurious statistics were wheeled out by 'experts' (later dismissed) to prove that she must have done it, but she didn't. She was finally released in 2003, having spent four years in prison for double child murder. (Despite her exoneration, she sadly drank herself to death in 2007 - either accidentally or deliberately.) You only need one mistake with the death penalty and the government and the legal system lose all moral authority.

Crime is a grey area. When pushed, most people can come up with a criminal who 'deserved' the death penalty, black and white cases where there is no doubt about guilt and long-term danger to society. The problem is that few criminal cases are like that. Most fall into a grey area - was the person sane at the time, were they provoked, was the eye-witness right, did they mean to kill, what about the years of domestic abuse and so on. And this is where few people can agree - where in the grey/black continuum does the death penalty line belong? The UK lacks distinctions within the crime of murder that the US has, for example.

This is even more marked if you place the issue in an historic setting. There are hundreds of crimes that used to carry the death penalty that no rational person would dream of applying it to now. Are we so sure that our legal system is right that we want to kill people based on it? Homosexuality carried the death penalty in the UK until 1861, for example. Was it morally right to kill gay people before then? No, of course not.

See... I managed it! Almost no appeals to heart-bleeding wishy-washy liberal values! The death penalty makes absolutely no sense whatever your political affliation and I encourage everyone reading this to sign the national petition to keep it out of our society.

New waste contract – plastic and Tetrapak collections

One of the slight frustrations with Council services is that they are usually subcontracted and that the contracts are for years at a time, making it difficult to make rapid changes. However, when the time does come, it gives the opportunity to make some drastic changes and I’m happy to report that this is exactly what’s happened with the waste collection services.

The Council has switched suppliers away from SITA to May Gurney as from November of this year. May Gurney have offered a much better deal, which is saving Bristol taxpayers around £2.5m a year. More importantly (from my perspective, at least) is that the contract also includes kerbside collection of plastic and Tetrapaks (fruit juice cartons and the like). This is something that I’ve been agitating for over the years and I’m delighted to see it arrive. The city already has one of the strongest records for plastic recycling in the country and this will push us even further up the league table. The new system will be phased in around the city – I’m not yet sure where Cotham is in the phasing.

This follows on the back of the previous good news about the opening of the mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plant that has halved landfill this year and the start of the projecvt to build a pyrolysis plant to open in a couple of years time – these will collectively mean an end to untreated landfill and give us one of the most waste efficient cities in the world.

The other good news about the May Gurney contract is that it will be performance-related, such that they will be paid extra if their staff do a good job of keeping the streets clean when they collect the waste. At the moment I get a steady stream of complaints about messiness left by the binfolk – in the future, the company will get paid more the fewer complaints that come in. The net result should be cleaner streets, especially as the road sweeping teams are now timed to come after the bin collections wherever possible.

Strip stripped... RIP?

For all the time that I’ve lived in Bristol (eleven years now) and some time before, the area of Whiteladies Road from Cotham Hill towards the BBC has been known as ‘The Strip’ because of the long line of bars that inhabit the area… or that have done until now.

I got back from my holiday in June to find that two of the bars had closed down and were boarded up. The Ranch and Dragon’s Kiss have gone, joining BSB which went under about six months or so ago. ‘The Strip’ has gone very quiet. There are still plenty of eateries and drinkeries in that area, but the three that have gone were easily the largest in terms of floorplan. All three have seemed to me to be in decline for some time – they were all scrabbling for the same set of clientele and one which will have seen a drop in income due to the recession.

I don’t rejoice to see any business go bust, but ‘The Strip’ is a major local source of nuisance and anti-social behaviour for local residents. At least one of the closures had an element of Police involvement due to what was going on inside and all three fuelled high levels of alcohol consumption in a ‘vertical environment’ (people drink more standing up!) that had a knock on for vandalism, violence and noise.

‘The Strip’ was partly a product of the lax licensing laws that were introduced in 2005 and which handed power to alcohol sellers and removed much of their responsibility, while making it harder for local residents and councillors to say “wait - this is the wrong place!” And ‘The Strip’ is the wrong place for a late night drinking quarter, with people living just yards away and cheek by jowl with busy clubs and bars. The government is currently in the process of unpicking much of the 2003 Licensing Act and handing back powers to communities that the last government took away. So, these departures may have a silver lining in that as and when new operators come along, there will be an opportunity to restrict their operations to limit their negative impact on the local community.

In other Whiteladies Road news:

• Derbyshires newsagent, which has been there for forty years or so, has closed down with the owners retiring. It is being replaced by a franchise of Costa Coffee and the conversion work is going on at the moment. It’s no secret that I am unhappy to see a shop lost to another coffee shop (with which the area is well endowed!), but there is no means by which the Council can prevent this under planning law – I have fought to ensure that the ‘A1’ use will be maintained so that it can revert back to a shop in the future. I’ve met the franchisee, who lives locally and runs the Costa in Henleaze, and we’ve had a positive conversation about working together towards a vibrant shopping area.
• Planning permission for the old ABC cinema to be converted into flats was refused for the second time. The building has been empty for about ten years after it was closed with a covenant on it to prevent it reopening as a cinema. Various uses have been proposed over the years, including as a gym and a nightclub, but they’ve not got off the ground – thankfully in some cases. It even has permission to be a church! I am supporting plans to see it converted to a multi-use arts centre, which would be great; I had a fascinating guided tour of the building from the person leading this new initiative last week. One way to achieve this might be to have a small number of flats as part of the scheme to raise the capital for the rest.
  
• The Clifton Mini Mart on Cotham Hill has applied a second time for a late night alcohol sales licence. This was refused about six months back, with them being granted a 10pm licence to fit in with Corks and Sainsburys – the other two local off licences. I am working with local residents to see this application rejected again.
• I'm meeting with the fledgling traders association on Cotham Hill at the end of the month to talk about ways in which we can work together to protect and promote the area as an independent-led shopping street, serving the local community. I'll report back in due course.
  

Cabot Tower set to reopen

The first view when I get up in the mornings from my bedroom window is the Cabot Tower - see pic. It's a nice daily reminder that I'm still in Bristol!

The good news is that it is finally reopening next Tuesday (16th August) after being closed for three years for repairs. It's taken a long time to get it sorted due to the scale of the problem and the precautions needed when dealing with historic buildings.

The Tower will be open to the public again from 1pm and I think I might pop down in my lunch break to get in the queue! I've really missed the lovely view of the city it gives and I am delighted not to have to look out at scaffolding any more...

Police issue photos of looters

The Police have started to publish pictures and videos of people involved in the disorder and looting on Monday night. The first batch show a group breaking into a jeweller's store in Cabot Circus. Obviously the Police are keen to hear confidentially from anyone with information.

As more photos are released, I will publish them up here.

Whiteladies Road got a small dose of things last night when two sets of windows were smashed in just before 1am. I heard it happening from my flat and dashed down to see whether I could spot any culprits. I was impressed to see the police arrive in two riot vans within about ten minutes - it certainly reassured me about their ability to react to the situation locally.

UPDATE (15/8/11): there are now new photos and videos on the site - follow the same link above.

Cleaning up the Arches

For the last few months, our local Neighbourhood Partnership has been funding work to clean up Gloucester Road, led by a furiously efficient local resident who has made it her life’s work to get the place looking nice by cutting flyposting, getting rid of graffiti and so on. Only a tiny part of Gloucester Road is in Cotham Ward (the north side between the Arches and Zetland Road – plus Cheltenham Road between the Arches and Arley Hill), but I’ve been lending her a hand where I can.

The local resident who is leading the project is looking for keen volunteers to help generally with the work that she’s doing. She tends to go out and blitz the street every week or so, removing flyposting and washing off graffiti, so she’s always grateful for an extra pair of hands from other people who care about the area and want to see it looking good. If you might have the occasional hour or two to spare, drop me a line (neil.harrison@bristol.gov.uk) and I’ll put you in touch.

We’ve also started looking at cleaning up the Arches railway bridge itself. It’s a beautiful structure and it should be a key landmark for the local area. Unfortunately, it’s covered in ugly tagging and it’s become a bit of an eyesore. The first steps have been taken to start a conversation with Network Rail and to get a quote for cleaning it and spraying it with anti-graffiti paint. Now we need to start finding the money from various sources to make it happen.

Work starts on bus improvements

Let me start with my standard apology for letting blogging slip for a couple of months. I was away for most of June, then I’ve had back problems which have made typing for any length of time tricky. There’s lots of news to cover at the moment – much of it very good – so hopefully I’ll discipline myself to blog regularly for the rest of the summer.

First up is to report that work has begun on upgrading the bus route that runs along Whiteladies Road, as part of a major project variously known as GBBN or ‘showcase routes’. The whole package, which is mainly being funded by national government and First Bus, includes improving bus stops with disabled access and real-time information boards, installing peak time bus lanes, narrowing pedestrian crossings, introducing short-term shopper parking, putting in new cycle lanes and even some tree planting. I’ve been a big fan of this project and I’m really excited at seeing it getting easier-to-use buses on Whiteladies Road, as I often do. The results of the consultation that was undertaken earlier in the year have just been published.

The first bit of work has started opposite the BBC, where the pavement is being resculpted to make a more substantial bus stop with straight-on access for wheelchair users and other people with mobility problems. Ironically, it’s building work like this that can start most easily – painting new lines takes far longer due to the tedious legal process that has to be gone through. It seems bizarre to me that the Council can build on the road where it likes, but that a stretch of yellow paint needs to be advertised in the London Gazette!

There are two outstanding issues that I am still working on. First is the reworking of the junction with Cotham Hill. A significant new section of pavement is being built to make the junction safer (by forcing cars to slow before turning) and improve flow (by letting pedestrians cross quicker and so reducing waiting time). This will be outside Chandos Deli and what is set to be Costa Coffee. Discussions with residents and traders is on-going as to what might be put on the new pavement – current thinking is temporary seating, a community noticeboard, signs to the shops on Cotham Hill and a tree or two.

Secondly, I am still in discussion with various people about the plans to make some of the side roads off Whiteladies Road into one-way or ‘no entry’. This is intended to improve traffic flow by reducing the number of places where cars sit and turn off. It also means that new pedestrian islands can be put in to make the road more ‘permeable’ – i.e. easier to cross. However, one way systems need plenty of thought as the law of unintended consequences often gets in the way!

The whole raft of improvements is going to take something like a year to complete. This is going cause a little upheaval for a while, so please bear with it and remember that the ends justifies the means...