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Former mayor’s emails ‘unlikely’ to be reviewed in Barton House evacuation inquiry
Emails sent and received by Marvin Rees are “unlikely” to be reviewed by an upcoming inquiry into the Barton House evacuation.
When the council tower block was evacuated in November 2023 after fears the building could suddenly collapse, Bristol’s former mayor, now Lord Rees of Easton, was in Rwanda at a conference on local government.
Our city’s mayor being more than 4,000 miles away from our city might have affected decisions on Barton House.
But because his emails appear to have been deleted when he left office, the inquiry into the evacuation might leave some huge question marks lingering.
Councillors on the housing policy committee were asked whether these emails would be available to the inquiry.
The council will hire independent consultants to work with residents of Barton House to review what happened during the evacuation.
A written answer to a public question said that the consultants “will work with residents and stakeholders to co-design the scope of the review”.
“This is not an inquiry into the working activities of the mayor of Bristol, as such individual’s emails are unlikely to form part of this review.”
The answer added that the review’s findings would be shared with residents and published more widely.
These answers are usually written by an unnamed senior council officer, and signed off by a policy committee chair.
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Read more: Rees in Rwanda: ‘I’m leading’
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Green councillor Barry Parsons, chair of the housing committee, said: “The terms of reference of the review haven’t yet been set, and that will be done along with residents.
“I would expect that any evidence that’s necessary for that review should be made available to it.
“I really don’t know what specific evidence will be required for that review to take place yet.”
It’s unclear when the inquiry will actually begin. The evacuation happened more than 18 months ago and the Greens won the local elections promising a review more than a year ago.
The committee was urged to set up an investigation that “doesn’t just sweep things under the rug”.
Democracy activist Dan Ackroyd said any inquiry should look into how the council “cocked up an evacuation that led to people being traumatised because of the incompetence of the people involved”.
Ackroyd asked: “What the hell was going on that day? Did anyone in the mayor’s office try to prevent the evacuation from happening?
“It was inconvenient that the day of the mayor’s big speech in Kigali that he had this evacuation going on.
“I have reason to suspect that trying to manage an evacuation while hobnobbing at a conference is likely to lead to delays in making decisions and communicating with the public.
“The council needs to hold a proper inquiry, not one set up to sweep things under the rug.”
Former Bristol mayor Marvin Rees was in Rwanda when Barton House was evacuated – photo: Martin Booth
It comes as people living in Barton House could be given extra priority to find a new home, in a victory for campaigners including the community union Acorn.
The council is consulting the public about changing the way people waiting for social housing are put into four different bands of priority.
Acorn campaigner Fadumo Farah was recently offered a home away from Barton House, but said she would carry on supporting other residents.
She said the former mayor’s emails must be available to the inquiry, to prevent the council repeating its mistakes elsewhere.
Farah, who has previously campaigned for the Green Party, said: “I’m very disappointed about is the political games from Labour, the Greens and the Conservatives, about Barton House.
“When the (evacuation) happened, Labour was in charge, and they completely ignored us.
“When the Greens took over, they promised us band one priority, for which we’re still waiting. I don’t want Barton House to be a political game.
“It’s not a political game, it’s real people who are trying to have a stable and safe home. Even though I am getting rehoused, I’m not backing down, I’m still helping the residents.
“We need to make sure that the council does the independent investigation properly.
“All of the mayor’s messages and emails should be available so that we know exactly what happened. There was a failure of the council.
“All these things need to come out so that this doesn’t happen to other people, like in St Jude’s.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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