From Bristol 24-7 www.bristol247.com
Bristol Mayor George Ferguson was last night described as “arrogant” and “undemocratic” in attempting to force his residents’ parking zones (RPZ) plans onto communities that did not want them.
Mr Ferguson faced the combined opposition of an angry public and all parties on Bristol City Council in a heated debate at a full council meeting at City Hall.
Councillors on all sides said they accepted the principle of RPZ but pleaded with the mayor to listen to the public, to take them with him, and accept the people’s decision on whether they wanted parking schemes implemented in their area.
In a stark warning, Mr Ferguson was told that the “reign of the red trousers would be over” at the next mayoral election in 2016 if he did not change his attitude.
The debate was sparked by an anti-RPZ petition with more than 6,000 signatures – 2,500 more than the minimum number needed to ensure councillors debate an issue.
Lead petitioner Michael Owen told councillors and the mayor that the 6,055 signatories had “not been seduced by beguiling statistics”.
He added that the people of Bristol did not want to be used as experimental lab rats – a reference to Mr Ferguson’s wish to turn the city into a ‘laboratory for change’ during its reign as European Green Capital in 2015.
In response, Mr Ferguson said he was in “full listening mode” but added he was not prepared to back down over the principle of the RPZ.
“If something can be said that persuades me that the principle is wrong then I could change my mind. But nothing I have heard persuades me that the principle is not right,” he said.
But he was then forced to listen for close to an hour as councillor after councillor stood to criticise his methods.
Conservative leader Peter Abraham attacked the mayor for his “arrogance” in the way he was implementing the scheme.
“I have never heard the whole council and the public gallery speaking as one on an issue,” he said.
“We are with you, but we want to work with you and you are not allowing that to happen.”
Fellow Conservative councillor Mark Weston insisted that RPZs should not be forced onto people who do not want them, adding: “Any meaningful consultation has to include the right of people to refuse, otherwise you are only listening to what you want to hear.
“If you can’t get the people on the big green bus, you will end up mowing them down under the wheels.”
Lib-Dem councillor Gary Hopkins urged the mayor to “stop this ham-fisted nonsense before we have a major disaster”.
Labour councillor Ron Stone meanwhile received the biggest cheer of the night from the public gallery when he warned Mr Ferguson of what would happen at the next mayoral election if carried on in the same vein.
“People have long memories and in 2016 the reign of the red trousers will end,” he said.
Labour leader at Helen Holland meanwhile bemoaned the “acrimony” being generated and urged the mayor to develop an incremental plan over a longer period of time.
Councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion proposed by Cllr Weston calling on the mayor to halt the process and meet an all-party group to produce a more gradual, phased-in introduction.
However, the reality of the new mayoral system was laid bare once again as the councillors’ vote has no legal authority to bind the mayor.
After the debate, one councillor told Bristol24-7 that his constituents had been overwhelmingly against Mr Ferguson’s attitude in the RPZ saga.
“I have never had such a public response over an issue than that of RPZ. About 85% of my constituents are angry because of George’s ‘dictatorship’. There is no reason for him to act like this,” he said.
The councillor added that he believed that, rather than an indictment of the mayoral system, the issue was one of the mayor’s personality. He said he believed that a more consensual approach would have been taken by the other main party candidates in last November’s election.
Last month small business owners clashed with the mayor at a stormy meeting organised by Business West to discuss RPZs, with many telling him their trade would suffer. More than 250 businesses attended the highly-charged meeting to discuss the impact of the schemes. Some traders heckled Mr Ferguson as he defended his plan to bring in 18 RPZs across the city within 18 months.
