“Your Kindness Can Kill”
Giving cash to homeless people risks making their situation worse, not better, says Councillor Manda Rigby who launched a campaign called “Your kindness can kill” this week.
Manda, who is the Liberal Democrat Councillor for Abbey ward – in Bath city centre – has said:
“People think giving money to beggars is being helpful, but it is not, particularly as many people begging are not homeless and the money given to them is spent on drugs and alcohol.
“There are people who are genuinely homeless and who need support in a compassionate manner and we have established charities with the skills in place to support them.
“With this campaign, we aim to encourage people to donate to these charities – and to make it easy for them to do so through a text message donation number.
“The idea for this initiative came from a city centre PACT (‘Partners And Communities Together’) meeting at which the growing problem of aggressive, professional beggars, many of whom use large dogs to intimidate potential donors, was repeatedly raised.
“I am very pleased that we have been able to bring this campaign together using Ward Councillor Initiative funding from the Council.”
The campaign is backed by locally by Julian House, the Genesis Trust, the Big Issue and the Police, as well as local Big Issue vendors and homeless people.
To find out more about the “Your kindness can kill” campaign, please visit www.yourkindnesscankill.co.uk.
To donate £3 to the organisations who support homeless people in Bath, please text KIND”) to 70070.
The campaign was also featured in this week’s Bath Chronicle.
Lib Dems propose Committee for Bath
B&NES Liberal Democrats have proposed the creation of a Committee for Bath.
This proposal was tabled at the Council AGM yesterday evening. The Liberal Democrats called for a working group to prepare draft 'terms of reference' for the Council to consider later in the year. Councillors from all parties spoke in support of the proposal, which was then agreed unanimously by Council.
Councillor Ben Stevens, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Widcombe, has commented:
"Ever since the creation of Bath and North East Somerset Council in 1995, there have been calls for a particular voice for Bath. The democratic deficit in B&NES stems from the additional layers of representation found in North East Somerset – the Town and Parish Councils – which are not present in Bath.
"We envisage that a Committee for Bath could be a Council committee with a clear role for residents and stakeholders, as is the case for other Council committees. The Committee could consider a wide range of issues from a Bath perspective and feed in advice to the Council's policy process. In the future, this could lead to more devolution of decision-making.
"We feel this could be a very cost effective means of enhancing democracy in B&NES. The Council's existing facilities could be used and there would be no need for an additional precept for Bath tax payers – as would be the case if we were looking into Parishing or other similar arrangements."
Councillor Dave Dixon, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Oldfield, added:
"The success of the annual Bath City Conference – another Lib Dem initiative – shows that there is a real appetite amongst the residents of Bath for a forum in which the focus is squarely on our fantastic city."
The proceedings of the Council AGM may be viewed by webcast here: http://www.bathnes.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/135188
Towards a Transport Strategy for Bath
This week saw the launch of a consultation on a Transport Strategy for Bath. The consultation paper – prepared by transport experts Mott McDonald – is entitled "Getting Around Bath" and is intended to lead to more detailed policies on:
(1) A walking/cycling strategy to make Bath the UK's most walkable city;
(2) A parking strategy to support the economic growth but at the same time reducing the amount of off-street spaces within the city centre;
(3) Supporting greater use of buses and rail to reduce the number of cars entering the city;
(4) Continuing to expand our existing P&R sites, where we can, to reduce the number of parking spaces within the city;
(5) Better management of HGVs within the city;
(6) Finding a new location for coaches to park once they have dropped off visitors in the city centre.
The consultation paper was launched by Transport Cabinet member Councillor Caroline Roberts at the Bath City Conference held on 30 April. Caroline commented:
"This launch document is the start of a process where we will gather the view of residents and businesses from across the area, in order to design a long-term strategy for Bath's transport issues."
Dorian Baker, the Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Bathavon North by-election this month (polling day is 22 May – the same day as the Euro elections) commented:
"I am particularly keen that the emerging proposals for a discreet Park & Rail at Bathampton railway junction should be included in the Transport Strategy. This would help reduce the number of cars entering the city centre from the East, alleviating the poor air quality in the city centre and offering locals and commuters a 4 minute direct line to the city centre."
Note: the consultation is open until 25 July 2014. The draft strategy and consultation response form can be found on the Council website.
Dorchester Street
The experimental traffic restriction on Dorchester Street in Bath was ended earlier this week and all fines will be cancelled or refunded. The scheme was ended in response to public concerns – particularly related to signage – and after the Council confirmed that sufficient data about bus reliability and pedestrian safety has been gathered.
The traffic department at the Council has confirmed that all fines will be cancelled and any which have already been paid will be automatically refunded in due course, meaning that residents have no need to contact the Council. In addition, the department confirmed that Dorchester Street is now 'back to normal' and open to motorists.
The Leader of Council, Councillor Paul Crossley, said:
"Residents were clearly telling us that the scheme was not working; we have listened and we brought the experimental scheme to a close early in response to those concerns. We apologise for any inconvenience or distress caused during the operation of this scheme."
For more information on the experimental restriction, please refer to the Council's page on Dorchester Street: LINK
