Gentrification Tales Vol. XI: Planning Objection

From: Clayton Blizzard

Date: 26/112014

Subject: Planning Application - objection

Ref: 15/888612/T

Dear Bristol City Council,

Are you out of your fucking minds?

Last time you tried this type of shit, there was a bloody riot and my mate got his ribs smashed in by some Welsh coppers and I got stuck trying to get through a baying crowd with a guitar and a bike and people got arrested and there was tension and some violence….

So, are you just ignorant, or downright reckless?
"You put your life in the hands of the highway designers
Your stride an unforeseen side effect
of the urban planners realised blueprint dream..."
That's from a song I was listening to as I walked near the area of the proposed development.

I saw some graffiti on a wall – nearby, near the proposed site, which read “Regeneration is gentrification”.  That about covers it, much more succinctly than I’m about to; but I know city councils do not respect brevity, and instead prefer long-winded, poorly-punctuated sentences.

I heard a pretty good poem about it, in a venue also very near the proposed site, and the aforementioned graffiti, which went something like:

Could we please just have

Five square metres of public space?

That isn’t sold for yuppie flats

In a country with a dwindling yuppie population

And a serious shortage of housing

For normal people?

Is it too much to ask

That we have space in the city?

Where we can sit and chill

Or laugh and run

Where our fun

Isn’t measured out by someone

In an office

And stewarded

By someone in an illuminous bib

Or council-crested jacket?

Could we maybe just pretend,

Just for once, just

Act like the city is run for the people that live in it?

That maybe

We declare, collectively, that we

Care more for the people who live on our streets

Than those who plan, build, buy, sell,

And profit from these?

-          No:

It would set a dangerous precedent.

So, you know – in the parlance of officaldom and opaque planning conventions:  I am concerned that the above-referenced Planning Application falls a long way short of the aspirations of local people and the letter of the planning regulations you wield when it suits you and disregard otherwise.

Of particular interest is the lack of “affordable housing”, as well as the definition of this porous term. 

I would also be strongly opposed to any attempts to gate off public spaces within the specified area – an aggressive act which would fly in the face of the prospective builders’ claims of inclusivity and respect for public spaces. 

There’s a really good speech about all this in Boyz n’ The Hood, where Laurence Fishbourne’s character explains the process of gentrification, and the reasons why guns and cheap alcohol are readily available in poor neighbourhoods.  If you haven’t seen it, you should.  I think it would give you an interesting perspective on the whole thing.

Gentrification:  Area with a bad reputation, low rents>artists move to take advantage of same>cool people move in to hang around and act arty>monied people move in to be near cool people>prices go up as reflection of newer residents’ spending power>all the cool poor people who attracted the wealthy are priced out>wealthy people leave as the area gets less cool.  Repeat.

It all sounds very attractive, doesn’t it?

Until you consider that it is mostly the council that will need to provide services for the many local people who are left out of, and do not benefit from, and are harmed by, the above process.

Or are you planning to renege on that responsibility….?

That would probably save some money.

Primarily, I’d just like to object to the privatisation of every square inch of space, and retain some for that most maligned and calumniated group: the general public.  You know, instead of selling it to someone who has never been here who will then rent it back to someone who is here, thus importing insecurity while exporting any profit.

I think that might make this lovely wee island an even better place to be.  I’d also like to register my disapproval of all the billboards in the area, while we’re at it – who decides to put a massive advert for expensive cars in a poor neighbourhood?  A fucking sadist, presumably.  What is wrong with you?

And another thing: how come no one answers the bloody phones at your offices any more?

Sort it out, please.

C.Blizzard

From:  Bristol City Council

Date:  6/3/2015

Subject: Planning Application - objection

Ref: 15/888612/T

Dear Mr Blizzard,

Thank you for submitting an objection to the above-referenced planning application.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept the objection, as it does not conform to the criteria set out in our policy document.

(Please see this document for further details).

In answer to your specific questions:

No, we are not out of our fucking minds.

I don’t know who makes the billboards, or who decides

Where they go and what they look like.

What is wrong with us is what is wrong with all of us,

And maybe power really does corrupt.

Furthermore, our funding from central government has been cut by

25%,

And since then, it’s been a massive struggle to, if you will,

Pay the rent –

The money has all been spent

And new buildings will bring

Much-needed money into the economy

Of this fair city.

So, you can shit off.

Regards,

Bristol City Council