I’ve contributed a chapter to a new book called ‘Our City: Community Activism In Bristol’, edited by local democracy campaigner Suzanne Audrey. The book is made up of contributions from people who have pursued particular campaigns or highlighted particular issues in the city in recent years. Many of these have their roots in austerity and hollowed-out local governance, with a focus on the now-abolished mayoralty under Marvin Rees. There’s a section on city planning and my chapter is a distilled version of my long Substack investigation into how a proposal to build three large office blocks at the historic core of Bristol came to be approved. This revealed interference from the Mayor’s Office, the failure of the council’s planning managers to uphold the council’s own planning policies, off-the-record meetings, an astroturfing pseudo ‘community group’, and the tight-knit web of consultants, developers and corporate architects that are shaping Bristol’s built environment.


‘Our City’ is available from Tangent Books: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/pre-order-our-city-community-activism-in-bristol-edited-by-suzanne-audrey.

Or you should be able to find it in-store at Bristol Waterstones, Union Street.