A city councillor has resigned from the committee that manages Bristol’s famous Downs and called for a repeal of the 163-year-old Act of Parliament that gives power to the Society of Merchant Venturers. Cllr Rob Bryher said it was ‘high time we dismantled this institutional power’, and is appealing for people to sign an online petition he has set up to call for the 1861 law to be scrapped.
Cllr Bryher was elected as a new Green Party councillor for Easton in May’s local elections and was assigned a place on the Downs Committee, the group that manages the Downs. But he has now resigned from that committee saying he now realised ‘that the influence of the Society of Merchant Venturers on Bristol’s public life was too entrenched’.
The Act of Parliament Cllr Bryher wants to repeal was made in 1861 and put in place the system of management that still exists today. The Society of Merchant Venturers still own Clifton Down, which stretches from the Suspension Bridge, across Bridge Valley Road to Stoke Road. The city council owns Durdham Down, which is the north eastern part of that main open space.
The 1861 Act of Parliament instructed the the city council and the Society of Merchant Venturers to work together to manage the Downs as one, with a committee set up that contains six members of the Merchant Venturers and six elected city councillors – an arrangement that still exists today.
It means that the city council has a say in what happens to the Merchant Venturers’ owned Clifton Down, but the Merchant Venturers’ members have a say in the management of the publicly-owned Durdham Down.
What does Cllr Bryher say?
That is a situation that should change, according to Cllr Bryher, whose petition says the Act of Parliament should be repealed and the influence of the Merchant Venturers ended.
“It’s high time we dismantled this institutional power handed down by an ancient law,” said Cllr Bryher. “The power to decide on how our public spaces are managed should be returned to those who truly use them – the wonderful, diverse residents of Bristol.
“I care deeply about our public spaces. In fact, it was such a concern to me that I resigned from the Downs Committee. My resignation came from the realization that the influence of the Society of Merchant Venturers on Bristol’s public life was too entrenched, not limited to this committee alone, but stemming from the Clifton and Durdham Downs (Bristol) Act of 1861. A piece of legislation that continues to give them undue power and influence.
“This Act perpetuates the formal power of wealthy business elites over our shared public spaces. But our vision of Bristol should not be influenced – directly or indirectly – by a few wealthy business interests. Our public spaces belong to us all, not to business elites supported by outdated legislation,” added Cllr Bryher.
“To foster genuine democratic participation in managing our city’s natural heritage, join me in advocating for the abolition of the Act. We must eliminate barriers that perpetuate the institutional power of the few over Bristol’s public life for a more inclusive, community-led management of our cherished spaces. Support this petition to abolish the Act and return power over public spaces back to the people of Bristol,” he said.
The Merchant Venturers is an invitation-only organisation that has been at the centre of controversy for decades in Bristol – back in 2020, many of the city’s MPs called for it to be disbanded, following the fall-out from the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston.
In modern times, the Merchant Venturers oversee a number of charities and trusts, including one which runs care homes and care services in Bristol, and another that has run a number of state schools – although that multi-academy trust organisation, the Venturers Trust, is in the process of being taken over by a national academy chain, following a series of damning Ofsted inspections at its flagship schools.
The question of the future management of the Downs, including whether or not the 1861 Act should be repealed, was the subject of a consultation just two and a half years ago.
Back in the spring of 2022, the Downs Committee, and the Merchant Venturers’ involvement in it was a political hot potato following legal challenges and controversy over decisions made to grant Bristol Zoo long leases for car parking. The subsequent victory for local residents over parking on the Downs contributed to the decision to close the Clifton Zoo site, but led to wider questions about the Merchant Venturers’ involvement in managing the Downs.
In January 2022, the Downs Committee launched a public engagement exercise with an online survey, asking people in Bristol questions about the future of the Downs – including whether the Act of 1861 should be repealed. An overwhelming majority of the 931 people who took part in the survey said the Act should be kept and the status quo of joint control should, by and large, remain.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Downs Committee said: “The committee recognises that a small number of people have concerns about the role of the Society of Merchant Venturers, but the survey was clear that this is a requirement of the Downs Act, and the fact that 838 people supported keeping the Act as it is significantly outweighs those seeking change.”
Bristol Live has approached the Society of Merchant Venturers about Cllr Bryher’s petition, and a response is awaited.