Greens against post office privatisation

Greens take campaign against Post office privatisation to Bedminster

Bristol Green Party members have been campaigning against Royal  Mail privaitisation on the streets of Bedminster. On Saturday,  South Bristol Greens, including Councillor Tess Green could be  found outside the Asda Bedminster store entrance on Bedminster  Parade. They were asking local people to support the campaign -  which involved sending post cards to their local MP.

Cllr Green said

'We got a fantastic response. A huge number of Bedminster people  are very supportive of the Royal Mail, and are bewildered that the government wants to privatise it - we didn't find anyone who  thought the privatisation was a good idea.'

Green activist Charlie Bolton said

'Even Thatcher never tried to privatise the Royal Mail. The Mail is  not just a fantastic service, it is an institution in this county. Privatising it would result in more post office closures, higher  prices and rural post offices will especially be at risk. It is a  terrible idea.'

The campaign has been set up by a coalition of organisations,  including unions. More information can be found at http:// saveourroyalmail.org/

Hoping to support the redvelopment of Ashton Gate

So I went down to the Gate on Thursday lunchtime to take a peek at the latest plans.

The first thing to say, of course, is that having a stadium redeveloped is going to be far better - locally- than having a massive supermarket.

From what I gleaned, it won't be more imposing than the existing stadium, so no problem there either.

With a ground share, with the rugby club, there will be more matches, but I'm not sure how many go to see the rugby team - I presume it is less than the average footie attendance. So some more traffic, but - more people using local shops/pubs.

They also talk of making best use of the facility on non-match days - so back to the conferencing stuff. They have this now, of course....but presumeably this will be a better facility. The volume of traffic this will generate will be small, and far, far smaller than a supermarket, and probably won't really be noticeable.

The bigger capacity of the ground means the potential for more traffic on match days, but you always face that -  a successful team will attract more fans, an unsuccessful one less.

All in all, this is something i'd like to support. Just awaiting the detail.....

That supermarket levy

I've sent this to a local Food Network newsletter. The LibDems appear to have removed the key part of the motion that went to Bristol City Council......


That 8.5% levy on supermarkets campaign


'Local Works' (http://localworks.org/pages/supermarkets) have started a campaign to try and get an additional levy imposed on large supermarkets. Northern Ireland has already done this, and the campaign seeks to extend its coverage to the rest of the country. If enacted, supermarkets with a business rate of over half a million pounds pa would be asked to pay an additional 8.5% levy.

Applied to Bristol, there are 12 supermarkets affected, and this would raise an additional £1.6m pa. (There are some issues to resolve - for example those which are part of Business Improvement Districts' already pay some additional levy).

The mechanism they wish to use is the Sustainable Communities act - and to do it by getting a council to make a submission.

I don't intend to go into any detail about the rationale behind this - the benefits of local shops over supermarkets seem to me to be clear - in terms of local sourcing, how long money stays in the local economy, shorter supply chains, less transportation, more local jobs, and a change from driving to a supermarket to walking or cycling to a local shop. 'Local Works' go into chapter and verse about it, and you either agree or you don't.

The moneys raised, as proposed by 'Local Works' would be used as follows:

'The revenue from this rate will be used to assist smaller local businesses, for example independent shops, and the local services that support the flourishing of these smaller businesses, for example local bus services.'

In other words, the campaign aims to redistribute some money from larger, wealthier business to smaller, local business.

Put this in context - in 2006 DTZ estimated the retail market in Bristol to be £622m and estimated it to grow to £655m by 2011. Something like 84-85% of that market is taken by supermarkets - which works out at around half a billion. If you include only the largest supermarkets, a 2010 study of 6 South Bristol supermarkets estimated there turnover at £190m - so for 12 you can assume £380 million. THis excludes what is called companion shopping. In other words, it is a levy of 1p in every £2 or £3 of supermarket turnover - quite a modest proposal.

In Bristol, Green Party councillor Daniella Radice submitted such a motion to the June full council meeting - asking it to support the campaign, and submit a proposal under the act. The LibDems submitted an amendment which replaced making a submission with asking for a report exploring options to come back to the council by September.

In other words, it has been booted into the 'short grass' and, possibly, the 'long grass'. (The author of this item used to be a councillor and is not sure that many requests for reports and updates to council meetings actually take place).

So what next?

If you support the idea behind the campaign, please register your support with 'Local Works'. Please also sign the petition on Bristol City Council's website (http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/2289). And above all, make sure the council follows it through. Don't let it be forgotten.

8.5% Supermarket levy - quite a small change, but good for local business

The Green Party has suggested to Bristol City Council that it support a campaign for an 8.5% levy on the business rates of the largest supermarkets.

There are 12 of these in Bristol, and such a levy would raise £1.6m pa

This is part of a campaign by Local Works who want councils to submit proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act

Anyway, I have set up a petition for this on the BCC website - so please sign up if you support it

In some ways, I'd love it if this were a big anti-supermarket measure - but actually it isn't.

Back in 2006, DTZ estimated the size of the convenience retail market in Bristol as £622m. They estimated at the time that those revenues would reach £655m by 2011, and £690m by 2016. It is estimated that 85% of food shopping is done in supermarkets - so that works out as a £556 million for 2011.

(If you take the average sped by families on food shopping - spread over 200,000 households in Bristol - you get a broadly similar figure). It also excludes 'comparison' shopping.

The point being that £1.6m out of half a billion is not a great deal. - something like a penny of every £3 spent.

But the prize of this then becomes what you do with it.

As a Green, I want to see a strong local economy - more local shops, using locally sourced products. We know local shops spend more locally and use local people for things like their accountancy needs.

So, as far as I am concerned, this is a proposed small-scale redistribution of wealth from rich business to poor - in order to promote more local, sustainable shopping.

So - the Greens have submitted a motion to the council to ask the council to submit the proposal. It is reasonably unlikely to be taken, but if it is, let's hope people support it.

Residents parking

I've decided to support residents parking - with a couple of provisos, and even decided to resurrect my blog to post why. I should point out that I am an occasional car user (walks at the weekend, mainly), and tend to walk or cycle around the city.

I moved to Bristol in 1990, and quickly spotted the facts that it was a. full of cars and b. had a shit public transport system. Here we are 23 years later and Bristol is still a. full of cars and b. still has a shit public transport system. That's been a generation.

It seems to me that there are two basic solutions to the traffic problems we have in Bristol. Either we bumble along, as we do now, following business as usual - which might well mean another generation of Bristol being full of cars and having a shit public transport system - or, we do something about it.

As a card-carrying member of the Green Party, I want to see a city where journeys by car are the exception, not the norm, and journeys by sustainable methods of transport are the norm, not the exception.

This means doing a number of things. Promoting local shops and local jobs, promoting cycling and walking and having a decent public transport system are among them (although personally, some of these massive engineering projects such as BRT2, seem to me to be a huge waste of money).

But controlling parking has to be part of the solution. I say this for two reasons

1. Commuters

We know that loads of commuters pile into the city every day. We need to do something to get them to travel by some other means, or, indeed work closer to where they live (or vice versa)

2. Residents

Look at these graphs showing levels of car ownership, and you will see that levels of ownership are growing pretty much inexorably. It is open to debate that they'd stop at a car per adult. But there is certainly little doubt that numbers of cars on our streets are just going to carry on rising. In the 23 years I have lived here, that reflects my experience.

Depending on where you live, you either have a big problem now, a small problem now - or will have one soon. Maybe not everywhere, but certainly in lots of the areas of Bristol, especially more centrally.

Or to put it another way, our streets are of a finite size, and we are filling them up, if we have not done so already. We need to recognise this and do something about it. To me this means setting a limit to the number of cars you have in an area (which means having some sort of control)

The opportunity

Our streets, of course, are basically sterile car parks. 'Business as usual' means keeping them as sterile car parks. But I'd rather we did something a little more adventurous.

I came across - when Bristol was a cycling city - a proposal for street pods. A combination of a seat, a planter and some cycle parking (I think). (I believe they were mobile). But lets use the opportunity of residents parking to make our streets a place to live, a place to play, a place to contemplate.

Lets also massively expand city car clubs - give people an alternative to car ownership.

How its been done aka 'if I ruled the world'

I would probably maximise use of the local rail network first, end free supermarket parking second, set up a locally owned public bus service third, and turn over road space to public transport fourth. I might pay for res p out of council tax, or keep charges low.

Of course, I don't rule the world - and I don't have the power for most of these.

The caveats

I believe George has already said he will be flexible over implementation, but I'd specifically like to see those people and businesses who NEED our support to be helped rather than penalised. This means those who are genuinely unable to pay the costs, those who are genuinely unable to get about in other ways, and those small businesses  especially local high streets - who we need to support.

Subject to getting these right, I will support the widespread extension of residents parking.

And I'll aim to submit a statement to the council meeting saying what I've said here (but possibly substituting something for the word 'shit'.....)

TIme to get the blog going again?

Well, maybe?

As a matter of interest does anyone read blogs any more?

Posters

This doesn't count for much but we have twice as many posters up as Labour in Southville.

Good for visibility, though doesn't tell you much more

Mind you we are both struggling against the posters for a certain street party on Friday....