Bristol

Introduction

Bristol is a cathedral city and former port on the River Avon. It is a unitary authority, formed on the disbandment of the former county of Avon. Bristol and the other three former Avon unitaries (Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire) are often collectively called West of England. The Bristol urban area is the largest in the South West; this includes large parts of South Gloucestershire, and smaller parts of both other former Avon unitaries.

Bristol is just south of the junction of the M4 and M5 motorways, and is also well served by the rail network. Although the city’s central floating harbour is no longer used for trade, Bristol has commercial docks on the Severn at Avonmouth and Portbury (in North Somerset). Bristol International Airport, to the south of the city in North Somerset, is the region’s busiest airport. As a commercial centre, Bristol’s largest industry sector is banking, finance and insurance. Manufacturing is relatively low compared to national average; however, aerospace is still a key industry, much of this based in Filton (South Gloucestershire). Public administration and education employ large numbers; there are two universities in the city: Bristol University, and the University of the West of England (UWE), although the main campus of the latter is in South Gloucestershire.

Recent Visits

• on 24 November 2008, Jim Knight Minister of State for Children, Schools and Families, visited the Sir Bernard Lovell School
• on 13 November 2008, Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Tom Watson visited the Hewlett Packard Laboratories
• on 28 October 2008, Minister for Transport Lord Adonis was in Bristol to discuss rail services and performance
• on 23 October 2008, Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, visited companies working in the cultural sector in Bristol
• on 20 October 2008, Health Minister Phil Hope was in Bristol to attend an event on the reform of the Care and Support System
• on 1 October 2008, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills visited Aardman Animations
• on 1 October 2008, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, was in Bristol where he visited Fishponds Community School
• on 17 September 2008, Home Office Minister Vernon Coker was in Bristol to discuss HO elements of Local Area Agreements
• on 15 September 2008, John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, visited Airbus
• on 10 September 2008, Jim Knight, Minister of State for Children, Schools and Families, visited Bristol as part of a tour of new Academies and new build schools
• on 23 August 2008, Parmjit Dhanda, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government attended the UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade service of commemoration, and the launch of the new African Voices forum
• on 26 July 2008, Ian Pearson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, attended the 'Innovation Nation - Funding Research' event at Bristol Zoo
• on 17 July 2008, Baroness Vadera, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business and Competitiveness, attended the Regional Manufacturing Event at the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in Bristol

Demographics for Bristol

Mid-2006 Population Estimates

Figures updated annually. Last update August 2007. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Children and Learners

• Bristol and its schools have capital allocation of £19.9m for 2008-09, which will rise to £26.8m in 2010-11. Allocations for the three years 2008-09 to 2010-11, including ICT and the new primary programme, will amount in total to £71.4m
• due to its good track record in delivering PFI schools, Bristol was chosen to be one of the four pathfinder authorities in Building Schools for the Future (BSF). In June 2006 Bristol City Council and partners reached financial closure on the first ever Local Education Partnership (LEP), who are now delivering the city's BSF programme, the first stage of which is worth £173m. The latest new school under the BSF programme is the £30m Brislington Enterprise College, which opened in September 2008
• September 2008 also saw the opening of five new city academies in Bristol, bringing the total to seven academies, more than any other city in England outside of London. The new schools, including two that are joining the LEA from the private sector are: Bristol Cathedral Choir School (former private), Colston's Girls' School (former private), Merchants' Academy (formerly Withywood Community School), Oasis Academy Brightstowe (formerly Portway Community School), and Oasis Academy Bristol (formerly Hengrove Community Arts College). The two existing academies are: City Academy Bristol (formerly St George Community College, opened September 2003), and Bristol Brunel Academy (formerly Speedwell Technology College, opened September 2007)

Health and Well Being

• over £137m is being spent on major redevelopments within the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust precinct. These include Bristol Heart Institute, which is scheduled to open by February 2009. The centralisation of specialist paediatrics and Bristol Royal Infirmary redevelopment scheme are scheduled to be completed by 2012-13
• a £374m redevelopment of North Bristol NHS Trust's Southmead Hospital is ongoing. The hospital will be completed by 2013-14. This brings together services that are currently provided in two hospital sites to Southmead. Construction of a new Academic Centre, including a £45.5m pathology facility, started in 2007
• Bristol Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) is undertaking the development of community healthcare facilities in three of its most deprived areas funded through Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) and PFI. These are the £38.5m South Bristol Community Hospital in Hengrove Park that will serve the south Bristol community, Southmead Community Hospital and the £8.5m Eastville Health Centre that will serve the north Bristol community. These developments will provide primary and some secondary services i.e. diagnostics, therapy, minor surgery etc, thereby providing patients with enhanced access to services

Crime

• Bristol has a strong track record in tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) as a Home Office trailblazer authority, a Respect Action Area, and having being awarded Beacon status for Preventing and Tackling ASB in 2007-08
• the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) committed £6m of funding in 2007-08 for parenting classes in the 40 Respect Action Areas across the country, and over the next three years has committed a further £218.5m to support delivery of the Youth Taskforce Action Plan. In addition to this, Bristol is one of 69 authorities to receive a share of almost £60m over the next two years to deliver the Youth Crime Action Plan through early prevention, non-negotiable support and enforcement
• in 2008-09, the Safer Stronger Communities (SSC) Fund and Basic Command Unit will bring nearly £1.6m of funding into Bristol to help the Safer Bristol Partnership address crime on behalf of the Local Strategic Partnership. The Integrated Offender Management scheme is being cross-funded £280,000 from SSC capital, Police funds and Safer Bristol, to develop a new approach to manage offenders in Bristol. There is also further funding for Neighbourhood Renewal transitional projects around anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, hate crime and youth inclusion projects - £750,000 for 2008-09, and £650,000 in 2009-10
• Bristol is an Intensive Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) area, the only one in the South West. Over £3m has been secured under this programme for 2008-09 to help drug misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment
• launched in Bristol in October 2008, Operation Safer Bristol is a 2008-09 initiative funded with £67,000 from the Home Office National Partnership Improvement Fund. Over a 6-month period, multi-agency teams will operate at hotspot locations throughout Bristol and its surrounding borders with South Gloucestershire. A two-pronged approach of co-ordinated crime reduction activity will have a beneficial impact, reducing drug supply and drug related crime across the city, and engaging local communities in developing and delivering community safety activity in their local area

Transport

• funding of £23.3m has been allocated to the four West of England authorities (Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire) as part of the Local Transport Plan funding settlement for 2007-08
• £1.5m of Transport Innovation Fund was awarded to the four West of England authorities to investigate feasibility of road pricing
• five Safer Routes to Schools schemes have been introduced into the city. These are 20mph advisory speed limit zones, which embrace a total of 23 sites and 36 schools
• two new parking schemes have been introduced, one in association with showcase bus corridor schemes
• the four West of England authorities have been granted programme entry for the Greater Bristol Bus Network. The £42m contribution from the Department for Transport (DfT) (total cost of project £69m) will provide 10 new showcase bus routes. It will include bus priority measures, improved bus stops, real time information and new buses. These measures will improve the speed, reliability and comfort of bus travel
• the four West of England authorities have collaborated to produce a Joint Local Transport Plan, covering 2006-11, to meet transport needs and choice, and improve access to jobs, education and services

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• the Bristol Partnership, the city's Local Strategic Partnership, was allocated £23m from 2001-06 by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF). £8m of this was used to tackle crime and social problems, including racial harassment, truancy in Knowle West, and burglary in Southmead
• Bristol did not receive any funding under the new Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF). However, they were awarded over £5m transitional funding, which will gradually reduce to zero by 2010-11. This funding is aimed at ensuring projects developed under NRF have an opportunity to be mainstreamed
• over £8.3m was committed under the Single Regeneration Budget for projects to reduce the gap between Bristol's deprived areas and the rest of the country, and improve the quality of life for local people. This scheme ran until March 2007

European Funding

• over £730,000 of European Social Fund Objective 3 has been allocated to the Avon & Somerset Probation Service’s Crossroads (West of England) Project, which targets residents aged 18 plus for whom a criminal conviction is a barrier to employment
• over £7.4m has been allocated under the South Bristol URBAN II programme to support regeneration and renewal in Hartcliffe, Withywood and neighbouring areas. Focusing on the needs of young people, URBAN II has been very successful, and now shares its experience and good practice with other urban areas in the UK and across the EU. The programme is now fully committed, and is currently in its closure phase
• £10.6m was allocated between 2001-08, under the Objective 2 Bristol Action Plan (BAP), addressing social and economic exclusion in the five most disadvantaged wards of the city. Nearly 40 projects have been supported during this period. The plan is now fully committed, and is currently in its closure phase