{"id":582144,"date":"2025-11-20T08:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582144\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:14:25","slug":"council-chief-apologises-to-bristol-mp-over-false-liveable-neighbourhood-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582144\/","title":{"rendered":"Council chief apologises to Bristol MP over false Liveable Neighbourhood claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man in charge of the controversial Liveable Neighbourhood scheme said he ‘misspoke’ when criticising the local MP\"KerryKerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East(Image: Kerry McCarthy)<\/p>\n

A Bristol MP has received an apology from the council chief implementing the controversial Liveable Neighbourhoods across the city, after wrongly claiming she had not been working with the council on suggesting changes to the plans. Kerry McCarthy, the MP for Bristol East, said she has been invited to meet with Cllr Ed Plowden to talk through her suggestions on the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, after a public row.<\/p>\n

The row began when Labour<\/a> MP Ms McCarthy wrote to Cllr Plowden, the chair of the council\u2019s transport committee, with her detailed assessment of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, at the start of the month.<\/p>\n

She told the Green Party councillor that in 20 years of representing Bristol East, the traffic scheme, which has seen bus gates and \u2018modal filters\u2019 installed across Barton Hill, Redfield and parts of St George, was \u2018one of the most divisive local issues I\u2019ve seen\u2019.<\/p>\n

The EBLN was created around a year ago, although the start of what the council claims is a \u2018trial period\u2019 was delayed because of persistent protests, particularly in the Barton Hill area. Early in November, with the trial period nearing its end, Ms McCarthy\u2019s letter to Cllr Plowden shared what she said were tweaks and changes needed to make the project be better. She said that more than 200 constituents had contacted me, and she\u2019d met many more in the course of 2025 who wanted to talk about it.<\/p>\n

She proposed a series of suggested changes, and said the EBLN had increased traffic in the areas around the affected zone. But her letter did say there were people in favour: \u201cOther constituents have reported a far more enjoyable place to live and travel around. Cycling and active travel appear to have increased.<\/p>\n

East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

Her letter also criticised the council\u2019s decision to \u2018hide data around the impact of the scheme\u2019, and claimed there was a \u2018failure of transparency\u2019, before listing a number of changes she was suggesting be made, particularly around Barton Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the trial\u2019s progress, I have sought to bridge this divide and find common-sense solutions to some of the challenges it has posed,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cIt is important that we respect everyone\u2019s experiences, listen to the diversity of views, and try to find a compromise way forward that can unite the community,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Then, last week, when Cllr Plowden was asked about Ms McCarthy\u2019s intervention on BBC<\/a> Radio Bristol, he claimed that the MP \u2018hadn\u2019t engaged with the council or any of the local councillors until now\u2019.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Consultation over controversial traffic scheme ‘biased’ in favour of keeping it<\/a>READ MORE: Bitter war of words erupts over controversial Liveable Neighbourhood scheme<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is untrue,\u201d said Ms McCarthy. \u201cMy team and I have written to the council at least 18 times since the measures were first introduced. Cllr Plowden also asked why I didn\u2019t raise my concerns regarding the survey and monitoring scheme until now. The answer is – I did. I wrote to the council to raise concerns about the monitoring scheme in mid-September and requested changes to the survey in early October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am unsure why Cllr Plowden felt the need to mislead the public here, but it does rather demonstrate why I am right to be concerned that the council isn\u2019t listening to people. It also raises serious questions as to whether we can trust them with the so-called engagement process,\u201d said Ms McCarthy, adding that she expected Cllr Plowden to apologise.<\/p>\n

\"CllrCllr Ed Plowden (Green, Windmill Hill) the chair of the city council’s transport committee, outside the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood consultation event in Totterdown(Image: Bristol Post)<\/p>\n

In a letter directly to Cllr Plowden last week, Ms McCarthy again listed her suggested changes to the EBLN scheme and all the times she\u2019s contacted the council before, adding: \u201cMy hope was that these enquiries would have led to change, but instead all I got was a rather condescending response from officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am unclear how else I am supposed to engage with the council, aside from raising it with the leadership, replying to councillors, my staff attending your meetings, and writing using your correspondence address.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: East Bristol LTN staying in place until spring 2026 sparks debate<\/a>READ MORE: Controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood will be in place until next spring<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also disappointing to hear you say I was trying to deepen polarisation, when what I have been doing is precisely what the council should have been doing – trying to find a compromise that people can live with,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Finally, Cllr Plowden did apologise. This week, Ms McCarthy shared an email she received from Cllr Plowden. The council chief said: \u201cI apologise I misspoke on a live radio interview, it was a mistake to say you have not been in contact with the council.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur officers and ward councillors continue to work hard alongside me, and the political leadership team, to listen and respond to residents and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome of the measures in place during the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood trial(Image: Bristol City Council)<\/p>\n

\u201cI do hope that we can focus on making good, evidence-based decisions,\u201d he said, adding that he would like to meet the MP.<\/p>\n

But the spat did not end there. In an online blog, one local Green councillor, Cara Lavan, again criticised Kerry McCarthy for not engaging constructively with the council or local councillors. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what would count as constructive engagement, if sending at least 18 private emails suggesting changes and improvements, and meeting with council leaders and officers doesn\u2019t,\u201d Ms McCarthy said. \u201cWhile I want the scheme to work, it\u2019s clearly flawed. Pointing out those flaws and asking for improvements is very much about trying to make things work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been very clear all along that I am not going to take a partisan approach, but instead represent as best I can the views of all my constituents,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man in charge of the controversial Liveable Neighbourhood scheme said he ‘misspoke’ when criticising the local MPKerry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[192,381,748,4230,10296,393,4884,14144,528,285,10298,9731,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-582144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-east-bristol","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-green-party","16":"tag-labour-party","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-st-george","19":"tag-traffic-travel","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115581033004454715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}