News / Bristol Nights
Cutting nighttime economy project is ‘farce’ and ‘disgrace’
Labour has called an emergency cross-party meeting in a bid to get Green-led Bristol City Council to reverse the decision to scrap an award-winning nighttime economy partnership.
The opposition party has demanded an extraordinary session of the economy & skills committee to reconsider the future of Bristol Nights, a major project to support everyone who works and enjoys the city from 6pm to 6am, including a raft of safety initiatives.
But it has yet to be held and Labour says it has only now been given a provisional date of May 8 – too late for the partnership and Carly Heath’s role of nighttime economy adviser which were both axed in March in a decision made behind closed doors.
That sparked outrage and an open letter from 100 people and organisations representing Bristol’s nighttime venues, festivals and cultural sector urging the council to change its mind.
Bristol City Council leader, Tony Dyer, said previously that they were looking at ways to continue and fund the initiatives spearheaded by Bristol Nights.
Although the Greens run the council, the chairs of the two policy committees responsible for this area – economy & skills and public health & communities – are both Liberal Democrats.
Public health & communities committee chair, former MP Stephen Williams, told members in March that the work to support the nighttime economy would continue and that a working group of councillors would explore how that could happen.
And economy & skills committee chair, Andrew Brown, pledged the following week to meet leaders from the sector to find a way forward.
Now it seems the issue will come to a head at the urgent meeting of that committee in May.
Labour lead for economy & skills, former cabinet member Don Alexander, said: “The behind-closed-doors decision to abolish Bristol Nights – an award-winning partnership that has a long list of successes and has inspired similar programmes across the globe – was nothing short of a disgrace.
“The lack of consultation, transparency, and democracy involved in this decision was a farce.
“It flies in the face of everything the committee system promised.”
Alexander added: “We intend to do all we can to get this meeting to result in meaningful action; a talking shop isn’t good enough.
“We remain committed to doing all we can to support this sector.
“It pays hundreds of millions of pounds in business rates which are retained and spent by Bristol City Council.
“It can, and should, spend a tiny proportion of that on continuing its work to support the nighttime economy.
“We owe it to the 116,000 Bristolians who work between the hours of 6pm and 6am and our residents to resolve this.”
An embarrassing development for Bristol City Council recently emerged when Bristol Nights and the council were shortlisted for a prestigious global award for plans to boost the sector with a £1 levy on live event tickets that could generate up to £1m a year to reinvest in grassroots venues, artists, festivals and promoters.
News of the shortlist on the council’s website makes no reference to Bristol Nights.
Main photo: Thekla
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