UPDATE: Time To Stop Playing Nice With Local Authorities. A Response to Bristol City Council

Following the lacklustre response from Heather Mack (see previous post) I today sent an email to her and the two councillors she named as having my email forwarded to.

Councillor Heather Mack Deputy Leader Bristol City Council

Councillor Martin Fodor Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee

Councillor Ed Plowden Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee 

Hello.

I am really shocked by the response. In view of the speedy reply I doubt you read the document I sent and you probably missed this paragraph in my email: 

"The total number of badger deaths stands at 150 badgers (March 2025 additions now push this to around 200) since 2022. There have been at least 8 otters killed.  647 adult and cub foxes and since the report was put together in early February we have had one heavily pregnant badger sow killed and three pregnant vixens who died and gave still birth to cubs at the scene (distressing for not just the wildlife responder but also members of the public.  Even while checking the dead animals the responded had to avoid speeding traffic on a city road. Total number of reported dead foxes is now well over 700."

We are talking about an estimated 1000-2000 wildlife killed and not out in the countryside but right here on the streets of Bristol where speeding seems to be common, particularly along long stretches of road. People out walking or walking dogs and crossing the road are in danger. If no traffic slowed down or moved further out while a wildlife worker in high visibility vest is doing her work what does that tell you?

Badgers have already been culled to the point that the national population will never recover and foxes have declined to such a degree that they too face near extinction (even the British Trust for Ornithology after its mammal survey suggested that foxes need to be Red Listed).  It is not a case of "other priorities" it is a case of either standing up for the environment we live in and protect the wildlife Bristol authorities keep bragging they are so fond of or just seeing hundreds more die -we are approaching 100 dead foxes as of today. The Green Party states as item 3 of "Our Core Values":

1. Humankind depends on the diversity of the natural world for its existence. We do not believe that other species are expendable.

There is an article on The Green Party page "Nature Is In Crisis" and, yes, it is in crisis and in Bristol we are seeing deer, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, birds of prey, otters and other species being killed by road users and this is tackled as a priority in many other countries.

The Green Party was voted in by many people who believed the promises and it is time that the Party actually steps up and becomes pro-active or sit back and accept the responsibility for doing nothing to try to save the wildlife that is important to our environment.

There can be no excuses -we are quite willing to provide photographs of all the dead badgers and foxes if required-  Bristol's wildlife is in crisis and people are looking to the Green Party to lead the way.

Signed

Terry Hooper

UPDATE

Hello Terry

 

Thanks for raising this issue. Your figures are worrying and I know will concern many people.  

It does, however, look like you’re giving a cumulative total not an indication of how many collisions there are each year in each place – maybe an annual tally can help make the case for road safety improvements at specific sites? Bear in mind these are always judged against all the other the projects vying for road safety funds and a cost-benefit approach is used, whether we like it or not.

 

Of course we want to ensure nature protection and recovery in the city and beyond. The city council is part of the West of England Nature Recovery Strategy which was developed and launched in autumn with support from us.  One of the locations you mention is Hicks Gate which isn’t in the city itself, though, unless you’re looking along the road within the boundary.

 

After signing the One City Ecological Emergency Declaration we have committed to managing more of the city’s land for wildlife and are actively seeking funds that can be used to do this - eg Nature in Cities [a bid we are awaiting news about]. While we’d like to have more funds we’re currently almost totally dependent on external grants or project monies for both nature and transport projects after 15 years of shrinking real terms budgets in local government. Capital projects like tunnelling will be hard to deliver when most of the funds are for land management so finding grants or sponsorship might be essential.

 

There are groups around the city promoting conservation and animal safety already, like the campaigners warning about hedgehogs crossing roads too. Sadly after I looked into this I found the current regulations only provide for official warning signs if there’s evidence cars have been damaged by collision, not the animals. I recently helped get clarity on whether the council or the Environment Agency is responsible for a grating stopping otters move along a stream under Hengrove Way, which is a first step towards seeing if it can be replaced to allow safe passage.

 

The recent preoccupation of the council on setting a legally balanced budget is very much how we have to operate at present. If this hadn’t been achieved through  all the efforts that led to a successful cross party vote in the council then government commissioners would come in and cancel services, asset strip the authority, and be in control of what takes place. The other councils facing this now have lost local democratic control or if they managed to avoid this they are now loaded with more debt and higher council tax, but little chance of any local discretion in non statutory services. This is not a situation I think you’d want to see when asking for us to prioritise investment including more traffic calming and road safety schemes.

 

I’m sorry it’s not what we want to see but in our cross party committees we’re currently dependent on finding ways to progress our ambitions within all the current constraints and budget problems we have inherited. What I can promise is that if any opportunities appear to do something I shall look at them and if we can then persuade the committee to agree we can progress some projects. We’re also pressing he government to follow through with the enhanced protections the propose Climate and Nature Bill would bring since statutory obligations should lead to better funding.

 

I hope this is some help and clarifies the things we’re trying to do to respond to wildlife loss at present despite the restrictions we face.

 

Regards,

Martin

Cllr Martin Fodor

Redland ward Green Party councillor

Chair of Bristol Environment and Sustainability Policy Committee

Here is the considered response (wildlife does not matter)