“I wonder why Cllr Barry Walters is calling himself "an ex-councillor"? Cannot agree with his sentiments that the councillors people elect are the ones they deserve. In Cllr Walters' area the residents deserve so much more than the councillors they have who lack transparency, accountability and in some cases, who resort to fabrication of information (evidence available). The lack of political integrity has resulted in apathy and a refusal by residents to enter the political field because they are unwilling to sit across the table from those who prefer to toe the party line instead of acting in the interest of the community. The people are better off without them except unfortunately they have the purse strings. Now, if we could have a local non-political mayor in control, we could abandon the politicians completely.”

“@Alex woodman, as the saying goes "don't give me the labour pains, give me the baby"

We are not interested anymore in excuses from council.

You're last post is embarrassing. I applaud your honesty but what hope do we have for any improvements if council seem so unable to influence issues?

One question tho, you state First are a private company and that legally you have no control.

How come all the chaos of new bus lanes, bus stops, roadworks etc seems to be the one thing you do so well?

No problems with council pushing that through eh?”

“Yes, BarryW, you are right in principle...but in reality, if they elect individuals on the strength of their promises which turn out to be empty (I avoid the use of the word "lies"), then constituents can hardly be blamed for that. For most Bristolians, any one of these projects we keep talking about would be a bonus...all we really expect is a decent public transport service and for our voices to be heard when the council pretends to hold consultations on planned "improvements" to the traffic systems and yet more student flats.”

“Aa an ex-councillor from outside Bristol I agree with Alex Woodman.
Bristolians get the Councillors they elect, the ones they deserve.
Most of the suggestions would require a massive hike in the Council Tax.
Remember the referendum about raising your Council Tax to spend more on Education by the then Labour Council? They assumed a massive YES, got a massive NO.
Whoops”

“...."How depressing that the majority of comments are the usual ill-informed, anti-councillor rants......." Alex Woodman

Actually, I applaud the intelligent and thoughtful debate in this particular thread, despite the two vain attempts by the usual cretin to hijack the topic!! And, Alex Woodman, if you are feeling personally attacked, then you are probably not cut out for politics! Unfortunately it comes with the territory. I do feel you have done the council no favours with your contribution by admitting that it is totally powerless and therefore pointless.”

“Possibly the business world of today is reluctant to invest in a city where the politicians lack initiative and a vision for the future. How many cities of comparable size and prosperity lack a Conference Centre and Athletics stadium? The money spent on bicycle routes and so called traffic improvements do little to promote the city's image in the world.Our school system was famous in the 1960s, the current politicians cannot even predict that an increased birth rate will mean that there will be a need in five years time for primary school places.
Bristol politicians have always been afraid of the future. I remember the great plans of the 50s for the development of what is now Castle Park- a modern museum built by a leading architect of the time. which would surely have been a magnet for future schemes. In the same way they are prepared to stifle the development of the County Ground and will probably hinder that of the Memorial Ground and allow the Ice Rink to close.
I fear the Post's criticisms will bear little fruit and neither would the election of a City Mayor, there is no local Boris Johnson (of any party ) prepared to look to the future.
Sheila Jones”

“@Alex Woodman "-County Ground redevelopment: I sat on the planning committee and voted for the application. But, like all major planning applications, there are many contentious issues to be considered. Plenty of people supported the proposals, and many opposed them. Whatever was decided, one side would be unhappy. At least the decision was made democratically following a thorough debate."

Unfortunately, that thorough debate showed that some of the participants lacked the knowledge and common sense to be sitting on a planning committee. Some of the comments almost defied belief, as did some from one councillor in particular after the decision had been made, when he explained why he thought GCCC were bluffing about leaving Bristol.

I know many councillors do a good job, but it's incidents such as the above which tend to give the opposite impression.

I look forward to seeing an improvement in the buses, though. It's been talked about for years but there has been precious little sign of it so far!”

“So, Alex Woodman, the Council is powerless to solve any of the city's problems. Is that why it just concentrates on the one thing it does seem capable of....coming up with ever more inventive ways to obstruct the flow of traffic?”

“Blimey! I didn't see Alex Woodman's ejection-of-toys-from-pram missive when I posted!

Alex, instead of taking personal offence ask yourself this - why is this debate happening? Why is the local paper and its readers discussing this subject? Anybody that has visited any other major British city can clearly see that Bristol's infrastructure is woeful in comparison.

It is simply wrong for you to claim that BCC is somehow powerless to do anything about Bristol's infrastructure deficit. The Council is the main coordinating body for investment, business, transport, education and leisure in the city. Over years of Labour and Lib Dm administration (the Tories would have done no better), the council has failed to deliver the facilities that other similar cities take for granted. This is partly because of a lack of vision on behalf of the council.

And you are wrong about Nottingham's tram, as well you know. The current lines were funded by governement and the forthcoming extensions will be in the main funded by government with a relatively small proportion raised from a workplace parking levy.

You are right to say that Bristol's problems are not actually caused by the council - but that's not what the debate is about. What the council has not done successfully is find solutions to these problems. It is about showing leadership, vision, tenacity and listening to what people are telling you, things that BCC does not do effectively.

When the council can't even do the basics right, such as predicting how many primary school places are required, lobbying government for money to get our rail infrastructure working again instead of chucking more money at buses that people don't want - then you're on a pretty sticky wicket throwing your hands up in the air and declaring that it's not the council's fault.

Perhaps it might not be the best idea to post as soon as you get back from the pub on a Friday evening?!”

“Despite what Rosset claims, there is a definite problem with a lack of infrastructure in Bristol.
The reason that the Evening Post's letters page and message boards are full of people bemoaning this lack of facilities is because many residents of this great city are clearly dissatisfied with this situation.

It isn't good enough for a city the size of Bristol not to have an ice rink, Olympic pool, major conference/arena facility and decent sports stadia. Combine this with Bristol's very poor bus-based public transport system and crumbling railway station and the result is a city that has been allowed to stagnate.

Ian Knight, a Director at the soon to be defunct South West Regional Development Agency admitted to me that Bristol's infrastructure deficit amounted to 'billions of pounds and it's unlikely that it will ever be made up'.

So who's to blame? Of course, years of ineptitude from Bristol City Council and the surrounding Dibley councils are partly responsible for the situation we find ourselves in. It doesn't help that most of our civic leaders, cabinet members and senior council officers are not Bristolians.
The council and its leaders and officers do not have the vision or courage to deliver the types of things that Bristolians actually want. They conduct listening exercises but then fail to heed what citizens are telling them.

Yes, Bristol gets less money from central government than other major cities – Liverpool has been almost completely rebuilt with billions from the public purse and it was handed its arena on a plate. However, when Bristol does get cash from the Treasury, it builds things that most people don't really want or care much about.

How many of us thought it was a good idea to spend £18million on a bronze lobby for the Colston Hall or £26million on the M-Shed?

How many of us want to spend £100million of our money to fund the part of the BRT network that government is not paying for? The annoying thing is that the council have asked us what we think on their Ask Bristol website, they received a resounding no but are still pressing ahead regardless.

In addition to the council's failings, Bristol's business community hasn't covered itself in glory either. For an affluent city, Bristol business people, with a very few exceptions, don't put much back into their city. Bristol used to have many philanthropists and benefactors – the Frys, Wills, John James etc – great figures like these are thin on the ground these days.

Another reason Bristol is so far behind is years of Labour govt both nationally and locally – and I say this as a Labour voter. Labour chucked billions at their Northern heartlands and the devolved administrations and Bristol got the crumbs that fell from the table. Bristol's Labour politicians towed the party line and failed to stand up for their constituents and their city. This was a fatal error which led to the thrashing that the party received in the 2010 elections.
Unfortunately in these financially straightened times there simply isn't any prospect of Bristol improving its lot anytime soon.

When prosperity finally returns we must have in place the structures to take advantage of investment. An ITA to coordinate our woeful public transport, a genuine partnership between the public and private sector, local politicians who listen to their electorate and who pay attention to what works in other British and European cities. We must lobby central government effectively when money is handed out. It also requires some determination and a genuine appreciation of what a great city Bristol could be – not the empty rhetoric from Janke that Bristol is a 'great green city' or 'a great European city' when it is neither.

However, we do not need businessmen or technocrats to run our city as some have suggested. Democratically-elected representatives is the only way to go.”