Category Archives: Merchant Venturers

RED TROUSER GATE: The latest desperate cover-up attempt

News is coming in that at least one Bristol City Councillor has demanded an explanation and a legal view on David Bishop’s dodgy Railway Path land sale from the city solicitor Stephen McNamara. McNamara has replied by providing no opinion … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Developments, Easton, Environment, FOI, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | There are 8 comments

This greenwashed and unpleasant land

If you’re at a loose end tomorrow you might like to pop down the Watershed where for a hundred fifty quid you can attend ‘This green and pleasant land: a one day conference’. It’s nothing less than “a candid look … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Developments, Easton, Environment, Merchant Venturers, Transport | Tagged , , , | There are 11 comments

RED TROUSER GATE: local government policy and democracy: a post structuralist interpretive approach

Time to return to the council’s latest response to Vowlsie’s complaint. Having had to cave in to the inevitable and admit the Railway Path land is covered by the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy as the Blogger pointed out over … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol East, Developments, Easton, Environment, FOI, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics, Transport | Tagged , , , , | There are 3 comments

RED TROUSER GATE: whose land is it anyway?

Among the many treasures to be found in the council’s FoI release on the Railway Path land sell-off are some emails that reveal the huge influence of Square Peg’s large corporate agents – such as solicitors Davies and Partners and … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Developments, Easton, Environment, FOI, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | There is 1 comment

RED TROUSER GATE: PR news

The Evening Cancer might not be prepared to report on their columnist, George Ferguson’s role in dodgy public park land deals but they’re more than happy to give his poncey Tobacco Factory bar some free publicity. “George flies the flag … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Bristol Evening Post, Developments, Elections, Local government, Media, Merchant Venturers, Southville | Tagged , , , | There are 8 comments

The magical effect of multi-millionaire Merchant Venturers on Bristol City Council

If you want to see in close-up how Bristol City Council operates one rule for normal people and another for its multi-millionaire property developer clients, take a look a look at the documents they’ve published about their sell-off of our … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Developments, Easton, Environment, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | There are 27 comments

David Bishop: the game's afoot

He’s quoting bloody Shakespeare!!! Something’s going down … Possibly David Bishop after documents were released today by Bristol City Council under Freedom of Information legislation that pile increasing pressure on the beleaguered city council planning boss. These documents clearly demonstrate … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Developments, FOI, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics, Transport | Tagged , , , , | There are 5 comments

They don't know what they're doing! Pt 3

Bish at his desk with attentive middle managers (still from Jan Ormondroyd’s 2008 production of ‘No Questions Please, We’re Incompetent’) It’s a competitive field, but I think my Bristol City Council story of the year is shaping up to be … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Bristol East, Developments, Environment, FOI, Green Party, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , | There are 4 comments

They don't know what they're doing! Pt. 2

“Asked by Mrs Janke if he could explain how the sale of the park affected the Area Green Space plan, Mr Bees’ answer was: “The area is well served by green space.” Bristol Evening Post, October 15 2008 Bristol’s new … Continue reading

Posted in Activism, Bristol, Bristol Evening Post, Developments, Easton, Environment, Labour Party, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | There is 1 comment

Insignificance

Back in February, in their Parks and Green Spaces Strategy (pdf), the city council had this to say about the Bristol and Bath Railway Path: Bristol has a number of strategically important green links, providing important traffic free cycling and … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, Bristol East, Developments, Easton, Environment, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Transport | Tagged , , , | There are 5 comments