Latest news with #BartonHouse
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Martin Rees emails 'unlikely' to be reviewed in inquiry
Emails sent and received by Marvin Rees are "unlikely" to be reviewed in an upcoming inquiry into the Barton House former mayor's emails appear to have been deleted when he left office, so the inquiry into the evacuation may leave several questions Rees was attending a conference in Kigali, Rwanda, when the council tower block was evacuated after fears the building could suddenly 400 residents were ordered to leave their homes with no warning in November 2023, when Bristol City Council decided the block, in Barton Hill, was too risky for them to stay in. The building was declared safe in February on the housing policy committee were asked whether these emails would be available to the inquiry, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.A written answer to a public question said: "The planned review will be carried out by an independent consultant. "The consultants will work with residents and stakeholders to co-design the scope of the review. "This is not an inquiry into the working activities of the mayor of Bristol, as such individual's emails are unlikely to form part of this review."The answer added that the review's findings would be shared with residents and published more the Green Party won the local elections more than a year ago, they promised a review into the evacuation. The evacuation happened more than 18 months ago, but it is still unclear when the inquiry will actually committee was urged to set up an investigation that "doesn't just sweep things under the rug" by democracy activist Dan the meeting, he said the inquiry should be into any mistakes the council made that "led to people being traumatised because of the incompetence of the people involved". "What the hell was going on that day? Did anyone in the mayor's office try to prevent the evacuation from happening?"
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Bristol City Council plans to rehome tenants quicker after emergencies
Social housing tenants who have to leave their properties due to a "significant mass emergency event" will move up one housing band level in proposals by a city City Council is holding a consultation on changes to how it allocates social are approximately 22,000 households currently bidding for homes, and each applicant is put into one of four bands based on proposal would see anyone with "significant health or welfare needs" and "whose health is significantly affected by their current housing" automatically moved to band two, the council's second highest level of need. Applicants must bid for housing through the council's social letting service, HomeChoice, where available council or housing association properties are made to the most recent council figures, the majority of applicants sit within band three but the majority of allocations are given to bands one and 3% of applicants are categorised as band one - the group of highest priority. The council has said the new proposals have come after speaking to residents of Barton House who were suddenly evacuated in November, 2023, over fears relating to faults with its construction in were eventually told to return home - but many have since said they now feel unsafe living in the tower and have been trying to be rehomed through the council."It's good news but I was hoping for better news because we have campaigned so hard for the council to listen to us," said ACORN representative and resident of Barton House, Fadumo Farah. "It's better than nothing and it's good that we're influencing policy decisions that all Bristolians will benefit from," she added."In Barton House we have a lot of residents that are in band four and they will go to band three - which takes over seven years to be rehoused so there is no win there for those residents."Mrs Farah believes that more should be done by the council to prepare for the eventuality of another emergency evacuation similar to the one that happened at Barton House and that more should be done to support the residents still affected by it nearly two years later:"They need to make more change. People that were evacuated due to structural issues or fires should go straight to band one, especially families with children," she said.A report published in February found that the evacuation of Barton House was a mass-traumatising event for those living there and that the treatment of residents constituted "an exceptional case of failure and neglect which must be addressed to avoid further harm and suffering," and that it had "profoundly negative effects on adults and children".If the council's proposals go ahead and someone from Barton House moves out as a result, their original property would become available for others to move in this year, all residents of Bouverie Court in Easton were put into band one after they were told their homes would need to be demolished because of serious construction faults.
