Society of Merchant Venturers

• News / The Downs

  Calls to close road through the Downs to stop joyriders

  Residents are concerned about rising problematic driving on the historic green space

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• News / downs

  Action on caravans and Travellers on Downs ‘needed quicker’

  Housing chiefs at Bristol City Council are drawing up a new policy for van dwellers

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• News / downs

  Sheep graze on Downs as part of ancient legal right

  According to the Downs Act, at least one sheep must be tethered on the Downs once every five years

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• News / Transport

  ‘Long-term aspirations’ to close roads on Downs to cars

  Ladies Mile should be closed for a trial weekend, say advisers

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• News / Society of Merchant Venturers

  Calls to stop Merchant Venturers from managing the Downs

  The Downs is run by the Downs Committee made up of councillors and Merchant Venturers

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• News / Education

  ‘Society of Merchant Venturers should play no part in the education of children’

  MP Karin Smyth slammed the organisation after a damning Ofsted report of Merchants' Academy

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• News / Marvin Rees

  Rees: ‘I feel closer to some Cenotaph counter-protesters than Colston 4’

  Marvin Rees has given his last major speech as mayor of Bristol

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• News / slavery

  Report reveals Merchant Venturers’ connections to slave trafficking

  242,332 enslaved people were trafficked on voyages funded by Merchant Venturers

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