Labour councillors have failed in a bid for a re-think of the controversial decision to abandon two major Bristol City Council housing projects. The sites being developed by the authority’s housing company Goram Homes at Baltic Wharf on the Harbourside and part of the Hengrove Park neighbourhood in South Bristol were supposed to be bought by the council.
But in a shock announcement last month, homes and housing delivery policy committee chairman Cllr Barry Parsons (Green, Easton) said the organisation could no longer afford them because the bill for repairing existing council homes was too great. The properties will still be built but they will be taken on by a housing association instead.
Eleven Labour councillors “called-in” the decision, which was taken by executive director of growth and regeneration John Smith in consultation with Cllr Parsons and committee vice-chairman Cllr Richard Eddy (Conservative, Bishopsworth), to a cross-party escalation panel on Thursday, October 24.
They argued it was not made in line with the rules on how decisions should be made in the council’s constitution and that councillors should have had their say. But panel members voted 4-3 that it was taken properly, with Greens and Tories voting to take no further action and Labour and Lib Dems saying it should go to the policy committee for debate and decision.
Cllr Tom Blenkinsop (Labour, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston), who signed the call-in, told the panel that nobody was consulted apart from council leader Cllr Tony Dyer (Green, Southville), Cllr Parsons and Cllr Eddy.
He said: “The housing board and housing committee as a whole were not consulted, neither were any council tenants.”
Cllr Blenkinsop said the decision only came to light in a brief announcement by Cllr Parsons at the policy committee but was not an agenda item so members could not ask questions.
He said: “If it wasn’t for the local democracy reporter present, the public might not even know about it. There was no equalities impact assessment (EQIA). This is not the level of openness that we as a council should strive to achieve.”
He said that under the previous mayoral system, if a cabinet member had made this decision then councillors on a scrutiny commission could have examined whether it was taken correctly but that the commissions no longer existed in the new committee model because scrutiny was supposed to be done on the committees themselves.
Cllr Blenkinsop said: “It is an unacceptable precedent and is against the spirit and values that the committee system was supposed to embody.”
Cllr Rob Logan (Labour, Filwood) said it was key decision, in that it was either worth more than £500,000 or affected more than one ward, in this case both, but that it scrapped two projects with a combined £92million of construction costs that would have brought in £34million in rents over 30 years.
He said delegated authority to officers agreed by full council in February when members passed the budget, including the ring-fenced housing revenue account (HRA) for council homes, included the right for Mr Smith to make changes to the scheme.
But Cllr Logan said: “This is not a change of a scheme, it’s an abandonment of a scheme.”
Cllr Fabian Breckels (Labour, St George Troopers Hill) said: “We were told at the annual full council that we were the most powerful councillors elected for a generation with the committee system because we would all have a say on the policy committees that we sit on.
“If a decision of this magnitude can be taken without referrals to committee then that isn’t the case. If it doesn’t go to committee, it’s not scrutinised, it’s just done behind everyone’s back.”
Cllr Don Alexander (Labour, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston) said: “This isn’t just a change in the business plan, it’s a change of policy. That was not intended by the cabinet that made the decision.”
Panel member Cllr Lisa Stone (Green, Windmill Hill) said: “This isn’t a complete removal of a scheme, it’s just a change in the scheme we are delivering.”
Mr Smith said the powers delegated to him by cabinet and full council were “deliberately wide” to enable the programme to move at pace.
He said legal advice was that the decision was taken correctly.
Mr Smith said he was allowed to make key decisions under delegated authority and that it was not a requirement to have an EQIA in this case.
Cllr Parsons said Labour councillors had developed their own “novel” interpretations of the decision-making process but that it was properly made with delegated authority “expressly given” to officers by the previous Labour administration.
He said members should not be undermining those delegations just because one political group did not like the decision.
Cllr Parsons said: “We should not be getting into the habit of disrupting and delaying decision-making this way.”
Panel member Cllr Kelvin Blake (Labour, Hillfields) said: “I don’t think anyone has done anything wrong or tried to bypass scrutiny, but I’m really struggling with the scrutiny element.”
He said his worry was that similar call-ins could happen repeatedly and that they should set a precedent by referring the decision to the policy committee.
Panel chair Cllr Caroline Gooch (Lib Dem, Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze) said the decision was a clear change of policy from council housing to social housing and that just because it could be made under delegated authority did not mean it should, and that it should have gone to the committee.
Panel member Cllr Mark Weston (Conservative, Henbury & Brentry) said the decision was made according to the rules.
He said: “Whether it could have been made differently or optimally is irrelevant. I suspect that with this being a shot over the bows for chairs, they are going to be looking more politically about whether some decisions need to come back.”
Cllr Parsons said afterwards: “I am pleased that the panel has ruled that the decision-making process has been followed correctly.
“Now we can press ahead with delivering homes on both of these sites, including high levels of social and affordable homes that will provide firm foundations for Bristolians to lead healthy lives.
“This council will always put our residents’ health and safety first, which is why we’re also investing to improve our existing homes after years of underinvestment and neglect under Labour.
“This work will be done together with trusted partners including housing associations. However, I recognise that there have been issues raised regarding the decision-making process in the new committee system that will hopefully be looked at by the new committee model review group.
“It’s worth remembering that Labour refused to take the two chair positions that they are entitled to under the committee system. It’s time for them to stop their tiresome oppositional point-scoring games and work with other parties for the good of their residents.” Cllr Blenkinsop said afterwards: “I find it incredibly hypocritical that given the Green Party campaigned on transparency, openness, and council housing, they have deemed it right and proper to sacrifice all three here.
“Unfortunately, even after being given the opportunity to bring back that transparency and have the decision reviewed, the Greens and Tories would rather stick with their original backroom deal. This doesn’t seem to stack up with the openness and transparency they promised.”
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