Steve Woods

Written by a human.

  • TidyBS5 at the Neighbourhood Forum

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    The regular meeting of the Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Forum took place in Barton Hill yesterday evening and once again the problems of litter and fly-tipping were a prominent item.

    I gave a brief summary of what had been happening campaign-wise over the last month and there were also some excellent contributions regarding future actions.

    One new development was a cleanliness petition which attendees were encouraged to sign by local councillors Hibaq Jama and Marg Hickman. The petition will be going online shortly and a link to it will be posted here when it’s available.

    One new angle to the cleanliness campaign is the Tidy BS5 Volunteer of the Month. The December winner is Angela Smith, who organised a Sunday litter pick in November in Bloy Street with her neighbours.

    Angela Smith receiving her award
    Angela Smith receiving her award. PiEdcture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    The local police also support TidyBS, as can be seen from the photo below.

    Police and local residents show support for TidyBS5
    Police and local residents show support for TidyBS5. Picture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    Bristol Mayor George Ferguson will be visiting Easton & Lawrence Hill wards in January and his minders for that visit will be making sure that the litter and fly-tipping problems which residents and those working in the area have to endure daily are well and truly to the fore in his itinerary.

    One related matter raised was recycling in the area’s high-rise flats. Young local people are trying to get then instated in some local tower blocks. At present, some blocks dating from the 1960s and with over 1,000 residents have no recycling facilities at all. (Not a very positive message or good example from a city that’s only a fortnight or so away from being European Green Capital for 2015. Ed.). However, Deputy Mayor Gus Hoyt has been talking to researchers at UWE about recycling in high-rise blocks. UWE’s researchers have found out that when flats are given recycling boxes, the average recycling rate is only about 10%. In reality it is more economical and efficient to collect rubbish together and then sort it at the waste depot. Gus’ research is continuing and will no doubt lead to changes in recycling practices sometime in the future

  • Gaunt’s Ham Park supports TidyBS5

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Social Media

    This morning residents living around Gaunt’s Ham Park in Barton Hill became the latest to add their support for the TidyBS5 campaign to rid the streets of BS5 of litter and fly-tipping (posts passim).

    The picture below was posted online earlier this morning by Up Our Street.

    Gaunts Ham Park residents with banner
    Picture courtesy of Stacy Yelland

    The more support, the more chance there is that Bristol City Council will take the residents of East Bristol seriously when the raise their voices, something they have not always done in the past.

  • TidyBS5’s message spreads

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    The message about residents wanting BS5 to be kept tidier is spreading. Pictured below are some of the residents of Easton’s Bloy Street calling for cleanliness. The picture is courtesy of Stacy Yelland of Up Our Street.

    Bloy Street calls for a Tidy BS5
    Bloy Street calls for a Tidy BS5

    Last Friday, together with local councillor Marg Hickman, I attended a meeting with Up Our Street and Bristol City Council to discuss litter and fly-tipping in the area. Some very interesting facts came out.

    To begin with, the Neighbourhood Partnership area covered by BS5, consisting of Ashley, Easton and Lawrence Hill wards, is the worst in Bristol for fly-tipping, with 560 reports in the last quarter alone.

    Our old friends, the communal bins were discussed at length, particularly their role as a magnet for fly-tipping (posts passim).

    The opportunities for basing action on Bristol’s forthcoming tenure as European Green Capital 2015 were raised too. (If Bristol cannot clean its act up in places like the inner city, it’s in very grave danger of being Greenwash Capital instead! Ed.)

    Street clutter was also on the agenda, something the motorists’ friends, Bristol’s Tories, have noticed, particularly as regards the city’s proliferation of road signs.

    Turning to actions, as a result of the meeting, Marg and I will be visiting local schools to discuss litter, recycling and the like with pupils next year, in addition to which I’ve been asked to write a regular piece on rubbish-related matters in the quarterly local news sheet (also called Up Our Street. Ed.) that goes to Easton and Lawrence residents.

    As another way of publicising TidyBS5, Hannah Crudgington has suggested a monthly litter champion award for those public-spirited people out there who are prepared put themselves out to deal with what others have failed to put in bins or take home with them.

    Finally, other parts of the city, such as St Paul’s and St George, now which to emulate what’s been started in BS5.

  • Pointless paving

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    One thing living in Bristol for nearly 4 decades has taught me is that Bristol City Council is profligate and lacks competence.

    This was once again brought sharply into focus earlier this morning in a dead-end street called Clifton Street (map) leading to the back entrance of Easton CofE Primary School where I encountered the roadworks shown in the photograph below.

    image of dropped kerbs and textured paving on a dead-end street
    Bristol’s most pointless dropped kerbs?

    The view shows the entrance into the staff car park of the school, the approach to which has just been enhanced by 2 dropped kerbs and textured paving on each of the street’s two footways as part of works to replace the street’s kerbstones.

    There are only going to be two times in the day on weekdays when there is likely to be any traffic at all on Clifton Street – before and after the school day.

    As for the use of textured paving, this is generally installed to assist the visually impaired and I cannot see many visually impaired people using dead-end streets in Easton anyway.

    I wonder how much this municipal largesse by the city’s highways department has cost the public purse.

    If the city council really wanted to spend money on roadworks in Easton, there’s plenty of other stuff that needs attention, as shown in the example below.

    damaged Stapleton Road pedestrian refuge
    Picture courtesy of Hannah Crudgington

    The damaged pedestrian refuge shown above is on Stapleton Road, just a couple of hundred metres away from Clifton Street. Local residents have been attempting to get the council to repair it for over 6 months, after it was damaged by a bus driver with delusions of driving competence. These efforts have so far come to nought.

    In the recent TidyBS5 residents’ rubbish summit (posts passim), it was stated that council officers frequently intone the words “It’s the inner city” as an excuse for lack of action. Clearly this only works one way, i.e. when the lack of action concerns something either highlighted or desired by residents; when the initiative comes from within the council, there’s apparently no object, no matter how pointless what is proposed. I’ve encountered this ‘not invented here’ syndrome before in local authorities.

    It’s normal to see a spate of daft council spending in March each year, just before the municipal financial year runs out. This year it seems that Bristol City Council is providing the residents of Easton with an early Christmas present in the form of dumb expenditure.

  • Technology encourages boys and poorer children to read for longer

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Tech

    New technology is unlocking the key to the biggest problem that has been bedevilling the education world for years – the poor performance of white working-class boys in reading, The Independent reports.

    The Early Years Literacy Survey shows the role touch-screen devices play in the home and pre-school learning environments.

    image of Kindle ebook reader

    Figures show that a higher number of children from low income groups (DE households) are more likely to read stories on touch-screen devices for longer and use them for educational activities than those from high income groups (AB households). Findings show that:

    • Twice as many young children from DE households than from AB households read stories on a touch-screen for longer than they read printed stories (29.5% vs. 17.4%);
    • A higher number of children from DE households than AB households use technology more for educational activities than for entertainment (43.2% vs. 30.4%). Figures also reveal that boys are more likely to use touch-screen devices for reading and educational activities for a longer period than paper;
    • Twice as many boys as girls look at or read stories on a touch-screen for longer than they look at or read printed stories (24.0% vs. 12.0%); and
    • More boys than girls use a touch-screen device for educational activities than for entertainment (36.0% vs. 28.2%).

    The survey also found that 91.7% of children aged 3-5 have access to touch-screen technology at home and access to touch-screen technology in early years settings has doubled since last year. Moreover, the majority of pre-school teachers and practitioners said they would like to see more touch-screen technology in use in early years environments.

  • Turnip Prize shortlist announced

    Steve WoodsMedia, Oddities

    The Cheddar Valley Gazette has announced the shortlist for this year’s Turnip Prize.

    toy sheep in a cardboard tray labelled ewe-kip
    Ewe-Kip, one of the works on the Turnip Prize shortlist

    This annual award goes to the person who has created something they perceive to be rubbish art.

    The shortlisted works for this year’s award are: Ewe-Kip by Drunken Shepherd; Gogglebox by Abby; Pensive by Leafy; Stick another Shrimp on the Barbie by Aunt Sponge; Ginger Nut by Trees R Green and Breast in Plant by Mike Atkinson.

    The Western Daily Press has a gallery of all the shortlisted entries.

    The presentation of this year’s Turnip Prize will take place at 6.30pm on Monday 1st December at The New Inn, Combe Batch, Wedmore, Somerset.

  • Skip Bins of Easton – the extended version

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    An extended version of the original Skip Bins of Easton was produced for screening at last Monday’s Tidy BS5 Residents’ Rubbish Summit (posts passim).

    The summit itself was attended by 26 residents plus 2 local councillors, Marg Hickman and Hibaq Jama, as well as the city council’s neighbourhood manager, Kurt James. Some very clear messages came out of the summit about (the lack of) enforcement and the abuse and unpopularity of the area’s communal bins (aka skip bins. Ed.).

    group photo of residents at Tidybs5 meeting
    Residents spell out their message at the TidyBS5 summit

    Another message that came out clearly was highlighted by Councillor Jama. She’s challenged council officers about the substandard level of service received by the residents of BS5 (principally Easton, Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill) and BS2 (principally St Pauls and St Werburghs). She related that officers use the mantra “It’s the inner city” as an excuse for their lack of action. The meeting also gave a clear message that this attitude is also not acceptable.

  • Takeaway turns up heat on fly-tippers

    Steve WoodsBristol

    Chinese takeaway Sun Hing on Stapleton Road must have had some trouble with fly-tippers in the past.

    As a commercial outlet, the takeaway is required by the council to have – and pay for – its own contract with a waste disposal service.

    If one has paid for a service, then one evidently doesn’t want others (ab)using it for free.

    The sign below has recently appeared above Sun Hing’s bins in Newton Street.

    photo of bins and sign outside Sun Hing takeway on Stapleton Road

    There actually is a CCTV camera covering the bins, but it is out of shot.

    Hat tip: Hannah Crudgington.

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