Possibly a small step in the right direction, but...

On Monday 18.12, the long suffering residents of Barton House, the council block in the east of Bristol evacuated over concerns about its structural integrity, were invited to a meeting where they were told when they can expect to be able to return to their homes. They were told they can eventually return, but there will be a wait. The meeting was addressed by amongst others, the city mayor, Marvin Reeves, who managed to find the time from his globe-trotting, supposedly 'promoting' Bristol, to be present to address the real world problems in his city.

The upshot of this is as follows... After extensive surveying work, the safety measures that were designed into the block were present pretty much throughout despite fears to the contrary. However, it was announced that work is needed to ensure the block will be safe. Amongst other things, this includes the installation of a communal fire alarm system. It has yet to be determined how long this work will take, but it's unlikely that residents will be able to move back in before February. Another meeting is scheduled for Monday, 8^th January where residents will be given another update on the situation. Meanwhile, the majority of the evacuated residents are obliged to put up with the substandard conditions at the Holiday Inn where they are currently living.

This is how the latest developments have been covered in the local media: Frustration, confusion and relief as Barton House residents told they WILL return - eventually - Tristan Cork | Bristol Post | 18.12.23 and: Council unable to confirm when Barton House residents can return home - Ellie Pipe | B24/7 | 18.12.23

These are the reactions of some of the residents to what they were told at the meeting:

Fagan Roche

“I get to keep my home - I feel good about it. It’s better than I expected,” he said. “I thought I’d be going home in a bad mood today - I haven’t moved out of the property, I’ve stayed there the entire time - and now I can stay there.”

Nuh Sharif

“I think we will go back together and discuss this as residents together,” he said. “Me and my family still live there, and we’re taking that risk, because of the condition of the hotel, and a lot of families are going back and forth between the flats and the hotel. So we are still struggling, and I think not only me, but all the residents are very upset. They said ‘submit your questions’ because Marvin didn’t want to face the questions direct.”

Shaban Ali,

“It feels like a lot of people are being herded, or being told that they are going to go back to Barton House, but they won’t know for sure until January 8. I’m really, really confused. I don’t know if the building is safe. I actually came out of the meeting more confused than when I went in in the first place.”

On Monday 18.12, the community action group ACORN released a letter which was read out at the meeting. These are a number of the demands they have made:

● Band 1, urgent prioritisation for the rehousing of Barton House residents who do not want to move back into the block, even if it’s declared ‘safe’

● If residents do not stay in Barton house we must be rehoused locally on the same rent or less

● Rent and utility bills since the evacuation must be refunded, until residents are adequately and permanently rehoused

● Compensation for the costs incurred from the evacuation and the further costs that will come if we have to move house

● Mental health support and support with childcare for affected residents

● An independent investigation into what has happened at Barton House specifically and more widely the safety of tower blocks across the city

The residents of Barton House should never have found themselves in this situation in the first place. Had the current and previous administrations at Bristol City Council been on top of their jobs and taken note of timely warnings about potential safety issues, the whole issue could have been much better handled than the shambles that has ensued. We've written a fair bit about what has been happening at Barton House. These posts cover the seeming neglect of the city's housing, the skewed priorities of the council, the lack of any robust contingency planning for an evacuation, the seeming inability of the council to manage what should be routine functions, and last but by no means least, the frustration and anger felt by the residents. Here are the posts in reverse chronological order, with the oldest at the top working down to the most recent at the bottom:

The consequences of neglect... 16.11.23

Bristol City Council, and probably a lot of other local authorities as well, have been sitting on their hands since these warnings in 2017 instead of pulling their finger out and conducting the investigations needed in a timely manner. So, we now have a major crisis unfolding with 400 residents urgently needing to be found alternative accommodation in the short to medium term at least. You couldn't make it up, could you?

A council getting their priorities totally wrong... 17.11.23

It's fifty three years since the last structural survey was carried out at Barton House and six years since Bristol City Council were warned that they needed to be looking at their blocks built using LPS. That's over half a century of ignoring a problem and six years of failing to act after receiving a clear warning about potential structural issues. This inaction beggars belief, doesn't it?

Contingency planning? Anyone? 18.11.23

Given the abysmal level of communication from Bristol City Council throughout the duration of this crisis to date, the already low level of trust residents had in the council has sunk even further. In a climate of fear and suspicion where people feel the council are faceless, all too often incompetent, bureaucrats who do things to them arbitrarily rather than work as partners, it's hardly a surprise that rumours will develop and circulate. Rather than blaming the residents for this, the council need to take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves why they are continually screwing up.

The continuing saga of Barton House 25.11.23

You seriously couldn't make this up could you? From the abysmal treatment of the evacuated residents through to the confusion over who, if anyone, saw the warning letter from the government back in 2017, the situation can only be described as one massive clusterf**k. Issues that should be a matter of routine to deal with by mature processes and protocols are all too frequently turning into major dramas.

If they can't take the heat... 13.12.23

When you've been moved out of your home at short notice, been put in sub standard hotel accommodation and cannot get a clear answer as to when, or even if, you'll be able to return to living in your home, how are you supposed to react? Not having a clue what the future holds for you when your life is on hold brings on the kind of gnawing mental and physical health wrecking stress that never leaves you alone for one minute. When you're under stress like that and you’re getting fobbed off by the council, it's perfectly understandable that voices are going to get raised. Or to put it more bluntly, there's only so much shite people can take before something snaps.

We hope that the above posts have given you some idea of how this situation has unfolded. We don't pretend that they're a comprehensive resource by any means but we hope they make a small contribution towards understanding how this utter shambles has come about.

The announcement at the meeting on Monday 18.12 is a small step in the right direction but, there's a long way to go before the residents of Barton House can resume their lives after a traumatic upheaval. Bristol City Council need to be kept under constant pressure to ensure that there's no backsliding or that anything underhand is unfolding behind the scenes. After what has happened, the already low level of trust in the council has plummeted to rock bottom. The residents of Barton House have every right to be wary of what the council says and does. The residents of Barton House are pretty determined people who won't accept any shite from Bristol City Council. Let's hope that they, along with ACORN, hold the council to account for everything that has happened in this debacle to ensure that it never happens again.