Bristol | Steve Woods

Bridge left on shelf too long?

12/11/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

Hardly a day goes by when the hacks at the Bristol Post exhibit the poor quality of written English so prevalent in the media nowadays; and today is no exception.

Writing about a closure of the A4174 Avon Ring Road and clearly out of his usual field of politics, reporter Ian Onions drops a real clanger which would doubtless have been picked up if the paper still employed proper, old-fashioned, omniscient sub-editors.

Having a shelf life – that’s another first for a bridge!

Shelf life is defined by Wikipedia as follows:

Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or just no longer on a supermarket shelf (unfit for sale, but not yet unfit for use). It applies to cosmetics, foods, medical devices, explosives, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, and many other perishable items. In some regions, an advisory best before, mandatory use by, or freshness date is required on packaged perishable foods.

No sign of a bridge in that list of products, unless it’s covered by “perishable items“. 🙂

The term for which Mr Onions was grasping was clearly “service life“, whose definition is once again supplied succinctly by Wikipedia.

A product’s service life is its expected lifetime, or the acceptable period of use in service. It is the time that any manufactured item can be expected to be ‘serviceable’ or supported by its manufacturer.

However, since the reports headline tried to create uncertainty about the length of any road, I reckon the Post’s objective was more concerned with whipping up emotions amongst its predominantly car-obsessed readership than with accuracy in use of the written word.
Greenwash Capital: stuff air quality, let’s build power stations

10/11/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities, Politics

If one only read the Bristol Post, there’d be no way that residents in the wider city would have any inkling that three polluting standby electricity generating stations were currently awaiting planning permission in the European Capital of Greenwash.

Fortunately, this dreadful development has been picked up by Bristol 24/7: and here’s the unsurprising bit; they are all in the more deprived parts of the city.

It is believed these power plants will form part of the Short Term Operating Reserve (Stor) network of reserve power banks which provide additional generating capacity to feed into the National Grid at peak times.

Firstly, a planning application (ref. 15/02310/F) has been submitted on behalf of Plutus Energy for a 48 unit diesel generating plant and 2 diesel storage tanks with a capacity of 22,000 litres for 6 Feeder Road, Bristol and Avonbank, Feeder Road, Bristol, (both in the deprived Lawrence Hill ward. Ed.) close to St Philips Marsh School.

Forty-eight diesel generators will doubtless chuck out a fair old quantity of particulates, which is a component of air pollution implicated in human cancer,heart and lung damage, and mental functioning.

The applicants have not conducted an environmental impact assessment for the site since its small size (0.5 ha) is below the threshold for such a requirement. Nevertheless, local ward councillors believe such an assessment should be carried out due to the size and impact of the proposed development.

In addition, some skulduggery is evident in the noise impact assessment that has been carried out. Edward Road was chosen for the noise impact, significantly further away from the site than St Philips Marsh School. Again, local councillors think this study should be reviewed and amended to include the impact on the school and the nearby Severn Vineyard Church.

A diesel generating plant somewhere in Africa

Despite the fact that inner city Bristol already has dreadful air quality, this is not the only dirty diesel generating plant planned for the city.

An application (ref. 15/04297/F) for another such facility has been submitted for Romney Avenue in Lockleaze, another of the city’s not so prosperous areas. Once again the applicants are Plutus Energy, who want to put 32 generators on this site close to a major housing estate and obviously care very little indeed for Bristol’s air quality.

Finally, yet another application (ref. 15/04420/F) has been filed by UK Power Reserve for 10 diesel or gas generators for in in New Gatton Road in St Werburgh’s, with ten 12-metre high exhaust flues.

Below is a short video on the St Werburgh’s scheme made by local residents.

It’s quite scandalous that UK Power Reserve and Plutus Energy are even considering putting polluting power stations in or next to residential areas. On account of the need for extra domestic heating and lighting, these back-up power stations are most likely to be used on cold, foggy winter days when something called a temperature inversion occurs; this causes cold air to sink, trapping the warm air in a bubble enveloping the city, thus enabling urban pollution to build up to dangerous levels, perfect for increasing the incidence of respiratory ailments. The fact that both companies have cut corners in the form of environmental and noise impact assessments shouldn’t be forgotten.

These dangerous unwelcome schemes should be thrown out by councillors.

Finally, a language note. Over in the United States of America, this dumping of dirty, polluting and generally unwelcome facilities on poor, deprived communities has a name – environmental racism. In Wikipedia, environmental racism is defined as follows:

Environmental racism is placement of low-income or minority communities in proximity of environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as toxic waste, pollution and urban decay.
Greenwash Capital – how serious is Bristol about tackling fly-tipping?

08/11/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Politics
I am indebted to my friend Julien Weston for the images below of yesterday’s fly-tipping on Jane Street, a notorious fly-tipping hotspot just off Church Road in the Redfield area of Bristol (posts passim).

After 18 months of the Tidy BS5 campaign (both formally with UP Our Street and informally with residents acting on their own initiative. Ed.) to tackle litter and fly-tipping in Bristol’s Easton and Lawrence Hill wards, the cleanliness of the city’s streets doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Indeed it seems to be getting worse.

Furthermore, statistics released by central government recently reveal that Bristol is the filthiest of the West Country local authorities when it comes to fly-tipping. Fly-tipping reported to the four unitary authorities that comprise the former Avon County Council area during the 2014-15 financial year are as follows:
- B&NES – 530;
- South Gloucestershire – 1,359;
- North Somerset – 2,343;
- Bristol – 9,709.
Jane Street and the rest of Easton and Lawrence Hill wards are part of the Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership. According to the city council’s website the Neighbourhood Partnership (NP) has the following purpose:

The Neighbourhood Partnership (NP) is about residents working with the Council to influence decisions. Its aim is to use local knowledge to make better decisions about what needs doing. It also has a small budget to spend on local improvements.

At the last NP meeting on Monday, 5th October 2015, the report of the Neighbourhood Partnership Co-ordinator promised the following change in the Area Action Plan in respect of Lawrence Hill/Church Road corridor where Jane Street is situated:

Increase responses to the ongoing problems of fly-tipping in Lawrence Hill, mainly Jane Street, Morton Street, Thomas Street, Ducie Road Car Park and Lawrence Hill.

The evidence of one’s eyes reveals that if there has been any increase in the local authority’s response, it must be starting from a very low, if not to say, almost non-existent base.

The fact that Bristol City Council allows this level of filth during its year as European Green Capital – and is seemingly helpless or hapless in tackling it – is an eloquent indictment of its treatment of its less prosperous wards like Lawrence Hill and Easton.

According to the European Green Capital website, the justification behind the establishment of the European Green Capital award is that:

Urban areas concentrate most of the environmental challenges facing our society but also bring together commitment and innovation to resolve them. The European Green Capital Award has been conceived to promote and reward these efforts.

If Bristol is prepared continually to tolerate the “environmental challenge” of high levels of persistent fly-tipping in its less prosperous districts, as well as lacking the commitment and innovation to resolve them, then I believe the city was awarded the European Green Capital accolade on false pretences.

Litter and fly-tipping are not only unpleasant to look at and live with day after day, they’re a hazard to health – both physical and mental.

Come on Bristol City Council, get your finger out and let’s not just have a tidy BS5, but a tidy city generally! Let’s see if you’re really prepared to deal with this serious level of environmental crime or are just going to carry on making placatory noises to angry residents who despair at your inability and inaction.

Footnote: my opinion of Bristol City Council’s ability and motivation to get to grips with environmental crime in Lawrence Hill and Easton has not been improved by the fact that I have reported 16 instances of fly-tipping – matching my highest daily count to date – to the local authority today. Help lighten my load by reporting fly-tipping too!
Two little words

05/11/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Language

A couple of weeks ago, on Thursday 15th October, Up Our Street held its AGM and the annual Thank You Awards (posts passim) at Trinity and once again Telling Tales Films were there to record proceedings.

The awards themselves were presented for the second year in a row by the local MP, who, following May’s election, is now Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire.

Below is a video entitled Two Little Words, which was recorded at the event and documents the importance of recognising achievement.
How long can you frown?

19/10/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Politics

Up Our Street has produced a film in conjunction with Bristol’s Telling Tales Films about being an active citizen.

Most active citizens become active after frowning and tut-tutting about problems in their communities, but there’s only so much scowling and muttering that can be done: action ultimately needs to be taken; and that starts with a smile. These East Bristol residents tell you how.

Up Our Street has also produced an active citizenship toolkit. To get one please give them a ring on 0117 954 2834.
Next local litter pick announced

19/10/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

More details have now been received of the forthcoming community litter pick (posts passim).

As previously announced the time and date will be 11.00 a.m. on Saturday 7th November and the meeting point shall be outside Masala Bazaar, 382-386 Stapleton Road, Bristol BS5 6NQ (map).

Up Our Street have organised this litter pick with local PCSOs and members of the local community are invited to come along and help to tidy up behind The Coach House pub.

Participants are asked to wear suitable clothing and footwear. This litter pick is not suitable for children due to the nature of the litter, which may involve sex and drugs litter.

For further information, please email community (at) eastonandlawrencehill.org.uk.
Spiritual leader moonlights as police officer

14/10/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities

Reading the captions on photographs in the local press can be a real education.

For instance, thanks to those dedicated people who write captions for articles on the Bristol Post website, I now know what a branch of discount retailer Lidl looks like, although I shall have to travel to Paignton to see the real thing.

However, far greater secrets can be revealed by photo captions. An article in yesterday’s Bristol Post revealed that, unknown to the rest of the world, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, is actually a police officer in Avon & Somerset Constabulary, as shown by the following screenshot.

His Holiness must have found some body-altering drugs during his recent visit to the Glastonbury Festival! 😉
Bristol’s rudest place name?

10/10/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Oddities

The other night conversation down the pub turned to Bristol place names.

Wherever one is, place names give a locality character. They commemorate local personalities, such as Mary Carpenter Place in Bristol’s St Pauls area, as well as national figures, e.g. Nelson Parade in Bedminster.

Others were named after the trades practised or goods traded on them. Bristol used to have a Milk Street and a Cheese Lane; it still has a Wine Street and a Corn Street, together with Old Bread Street.

Some street names are stranger and Bristol does not disappoint here either. There’s Zed Alley in the city centre, along with Counterslip down by the floating harbour. Counterslip is a corruption of Countess’ slipway, a reference to one of the long-vanished amenities on the then tidal River Avon of Bristol’s long-demolished castle.

However, odd street names are not confined to Bristol’s centre. Up in Clifton one can find There and Back Again Lane, whose signs are a favourite target for the larcenous intentions of drunken student. Just beyond Durdham Downs, towards Stoke Bishop, is Pitch and Pay Lane. The origins of the lane’s name apparently hark back to times of plague when goods and money would be exchanged by being thrown across the thoroughfare.

Besides food and drink, other bodily needs are also commemorated. Along with other medieval towns and cities, once boasted a Grope Lane – to use the polite version – where ladies of negotiable affection were purported to ply their trade. The earliest written reference to Bristol’s Grope Lane I’ve found relates to 1433. It was previously known as Halliers Lane. Nowadays it’s better known as Nelson Street.

Besides streets and roads, fields also have names: and it is to one of these that one has to turn to find Bristol’s rudest place name – Fockynggroue.

Below is part of the abstract of a paper by linguistics professor Richard Coates of the University of the West of England (UWE):

The lost field-name Fockynggroue is recorded in the perambulation which constitutes the bulk of a Bristol charter conjecturally of 30 September (inspeximus 30 October), 47 Edward III, that is 1373. This document was drawn up when Bristol was granted county status.¹ The field was in the region north(-west) of Brandon Hill between locations identifiable in modern times as Woodwell Lane and Crescent (names now lost, near and in St George’s Road) and Cantock’s Close.² A. H. Smith, the editor of The Place-Names of Gloucestershire, offered no explanation, although he had obviously reflected on it because he classified it in the element-index as containing a ‘significant word’ (i.e. not a personal name), but without further elaboration.³ Perhaps he thought it too risqué to dwell on or too obvious to deserve comment, but, if so, he omitted to address a consequent issue in the lexical history of English. He did not cite the additional forms given in Bristol Charters.⁴ These are taken from perambulations of the city boundaries taken between the granting of county status and 1901: ‘Fukkyngroue, Pocking, Fokeing, Foking or Pucking Grove’. The name certainly lasted till around 1900, when a printed abstract of title for Hither & Inner Pucking Grove from 1707–1842 and a sale agreement of 1899 for the place were in existence.⁵

In modern times Fockynggroue has been diverted from its past as a location of carnal pleasures. Where it once helped generations of locals enjoy loving trysts and the pleasures of the flesh, it now caters for the intellect, having been built over as part of the campus of the University of Bristol.
Community pick litter in Barton Hill

27/09/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Social Media

There have been some unkind words on social media that all Tidy BS5 campaigners do is moan about the cleanliness of Bristol’s Easton and Lawrence Hill wards on social media.

Yesterday those words were once again proved to be a lie (posts passim).

A photo call break during the pick. Picture courtesy of Up Our Street.

In brilliant sunshine a dozen or so volunteers turned up in Barton Hill Urban Park to clear away litter and rubbish. Those volunteers included local residents who saw what was going on and joined in. Others of all ages from those in primary school to pensioners expressed their support.

Bags for collecting the litter were kindly provided by Keep Bristol Tidy, the accumulated litter removed over the weekend by Bristol City Council, whilst the event itself was co-ordinated by Up Our Street.

Amongst those volunteers were local ward councillors Marg Hickman and Afzal Shah, both of whom have been invaluable supporters of the Tidy BS5 campaign.

Barton Hill Urban Park is just in Lawrence Hill ward, with its boundary abutting the dividing line with Easton ward.

The next community litter pick to be organised locally will be held on Saturday, 7th November between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm, with the assembly point being the car park of Masala Bazaar, 382-386, Stapleton Road, Easton, BS5 6NQ (map).
Dump the Mayor

20/09/2015 Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

It would appear that the communities of South Bristol are also getting fed up with fly-tipping too and want the long-promised Hartcliffe recycling centre opened as they believe it could help cure this local environmental blight.

Local campaigners have now made a video to assist their efforts in securing this much-needed facility (at present Bristol has 2 main council-run recycling facilities, both north of the River Avon and miles away from Hartcliffe. Ed.)

However, there is one obstacle in their way: the opposition of Mayor George Ferguson.

One would have thought that with the amount of waste produced by the city increasing and recycling rates declining, Bristol’s most senior elected official would leap at any chance of reversing this during Bristol’s year as the alleged European Green Capital, but it seems like he refuses to do anything at all to help improve the city’s poor, deprived and blighted communities.

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