Agenda item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum. The

detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at

the back of this agenda. Public Forum items should be emailed to

democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines

will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the

meeting. For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in

this office at the latest by 5 pm on Friday 6^th March.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the

working day prior to the meeting. For this meeting this means that your

submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on

Wednesday 11^th March.

Question: Suzanne Audrey (Item 9)

Please can you provide specific examples of the ways in which representatives of the Council have used the outputs from the contract with Social Impact Ltd for the benefit of citizens and communities?

Response From Mayor’s Office

This administration uses several sources of information to inform the decision-making process which benefits citizens and communities in Bristol.

Including but not limited to: conversations and correspondence with constituents and stakeholders, engagement and consultation exercises, the annual quality of life survey, scrutiny comments and reports to build on their own experiences. It also includes the public forum contributions at Cabinet meetings where decisions are made. Every Cabinet decision includes legal, finance and other internal corporate advice with Public Relations providing expert advice on how to communicate decisions with people.

Increasingly, people are choosing to contact the council through social media, and also discuss the activities of the local authority online. This also provides important insights which feed into every decision-making process. 

Reports provide some insight into what people are talking about, and also provide an opportunity to assess if there are any gaps in public information that can be responded to.

The information is also used to evaluate communication activity to establish the discussion and debates sparked by campaigns and identify any insight into how we can better communicate, particularly with vulnerable communities.

Communication campaigns such as #WeAreBristol and the recent “I was homeless, I was you” homelessness campaign used the reports to identify any positive or negative feedback to inform their respective activity and approach.

Supplementary question

This came to public attention through an FOI request. Are social import reports available to councillors and public?

Members did not believe they have been sighted on this issue.

Resolved; That Officers provide a response to the supplementary question.

Question: Cllr Clive Stevens (Item 12)

Q1. In the face of the recently declared climate and ecological emergencies and of the commitment to double tree canopy cover over the next 25 years, how have the increased risks of removing urban trees - causing, for example, loss of pollution mitigation, increased rainfall run-off causing flooding or increased urban heat island effects (all of which will increase the risk of causing additional deaths) - been factored into this Risk Register?

Response From Area Manager

This is not currently considered a high risk item so has not been escalated to the corporate risk register.

Q2. In this Risk Register, what steps has Bristol City Council taken to address the risks of the climate and ecological emergencies through its tree management policies and by enforcing existing planning policies as they relate to trees?

Response From Area Manager

The council’s tree management policies and its enforcement of relevant planning policy are not considered as high risk items in this context.

Members discussed that input from both the managing officer and Risk Report author is needed for a full understanding of how this risk is assessed. It was also noted that the report demonstrates Risk, but its purpose is not to also show the public benefits of trees. Some benefits can be shown under ‘mitigation’, but this is in specific areas. This would not be the report to demonstrate the benefits and therefore the full picture is not seen here.

Statement: Cllr Graham Morris (Item 10)

Cllr Morris gave apologies but the submitted statement on Area Committees was received by the Commission.

Members agreed that this was an excellent statement with a cogently made case. Thanks were given.

Statement: Cllr Stevens (Item 4)

Cllr Morris provided a statement supporting the agreement that the Student impact on Communities be taken forward as a future piece of Scrutiny work, suggesting potential topics and formats that this could take.

Possible partnership working (including through the One City Plan) was discussed.

Resolved; That the Public Forum be noted.