Council officers face axe over transport shake-up
DOZENS of Bristol City Council officers are facing the axe with some having to reapply for roles that don’t yet exist at the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), sparking alarm from unions and opposition groups.
It is understood up to 100 jobs could be cut in strategic transport and city design, with proposals branded “worrying” and “dangerous” set to come before cabinet next month.
The council says the Government’s 2016 devolution deal that set up Weca put the combined authority in charge of the region’s transport but that “Covid and other pressures delayed the transfer of those powers and functions” from City Hall.
It is “now seeking to move this situation along to ensure these strategic functions sit in the right place”, having not done so in the six years since then despite persistent calls from transport campaigners and when it now faces a gigantic budget blackhole and needs to save millions of pounds.
But it is understood there will be no automatic transfer to Weca via TUPE employment regulations that protect pay and conditions, and everyone affected would be made redundant and have to apply for about 30 newly created roles.
The future of staff in the city design team is less certain and appears to be part of a wider restructure of the planning department, with no obvious place for them in Weca.
Opposition councillors have expressed “grave concerns” while Unison says it is expecting “mass redundancies and major problems right across the council” from budget savings.
Tory councillor Richard Eddy said the scale of the changes in strategic transport, which oversees all major transport projects and policy in the city, would strip Bristol of the expertise and ability to design and deliver schemes, while Weca might not champion its priorities.
He said: “I appreciate that the Labour Mayor of Bristol has said ‘everything is on the table’ in the current round of budget savings, but these proposals look ill-considered and risk reducing Bristol City Council to the status of a parish-pump operation.
“I also fear that Bristolians’ transport priorities may not be Weca’s, so its policies could be imposed on us as if it was some sort of occupying power. These plans look half-baked, risky and dangerous.”
Green councillor Emma Edwards said: “We are very concerned about apparent proposals to cut skilled teams who provide important services that help to shape our future city.
“We call on the mayor to release the detailed proposals immediately, so the full impact and risks can be assessed by councillors.”
Unison Bristol branch secretary Tom Merchant said: “We have a set of principles where an outsourcing of staff is threatened.
“Firstly, as a rule, staff hate being transferred to third-party organisations.
“Secondly, in this case, the staff are really proud of the work they have done for the council and many of them feel this will end all they have worked for.
“If the members call on us to lead them into action, we will do so.”
On strategic transport, a city council spokesperson said: “Weca receives funding for major sustainable strategic transport matters on behalf of the region such as the £540 million City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and also retains ultimate accountability for such spending and delivery of outcomes across the region.
“Covid and other pressures have delayed the transfer of those powers and functions but we are now seeking to move this situation along to ensure these strategic functions sit in the right place.”
Labour metro mayor Dan Norris, who heads Weca, said: “The West of England Combined Authority is currently looking at structures across transport teams to make sure that they are set up to successfully deliver with the substantial amount of funding won from government.”