Helen Godwin says she won't pay for free bus travel for asylum seekers out of the WECA budget.

But she has written to the Home Sec asking her to look at whether bus tickets should be issued:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On Labour's youth guarantee, what does 'a guaranteed paid work placement' actually mean? A week? A month?

The Bristol pilot scheme offers a two-week placement, but there's no guarantee of a job at the end of it (and it's too soon to know the results). www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Quite a shift in tone here from Barry Parsons, but also some challenges:

1. The council only has 66 meanwhile site pitches, and is aiming for 250 by April. So people in the other 350+ vehicles are going to have to go somewhere else. How many will end up stuck on a meanwhile site waiting list?

With more than 600 people living kerbside in Bristol, the council is asking what you think about a new plan to bring numbers down www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“The flag represents all of us in England, regardless of our original heritage”, says Tony Dyer, the Green leader of Bristol city council.

“We are an English city… we are also a city of sanctuary, those two things are not contradictory.”

Bristol’s Green council leader Tony Dyer tells BBC Bristol he's “happy" to see flags being flown across the city.

Says some people have approached the council because they feel uncomfortable, but “it's time for us to reclaim the flag”.

Despite the focus on hotels, most asylum seekers are accommodated in housing - often HMOs. But the pushback against HMOs is growing, esp in the north. A series of councils has moved in the last 6 months to tighten restrictions, while Reform bang the drum locally and nationally

on.ft.com/41J5aGk l

"It's being used as a tool to whip up people’s anger"

Council of Sanctuary status is being put under the spotlight in towns and cities across the country.

In Weston-super-Mare, plans to join the scheme could be scrapped.

Helen Godwin told @johndarvall.bsky.social that a new Comms Director, paid more than her, will help WECA tell its story to residents and government

Bristol set itself a target to be net zero by 2030, and it looks unlikely to meet it.

But the city has made faster progress than others since declaring a Climate Emergency, according to a council report.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Chaminda's work on the disability cuts has been invaluable.

This shows that contrary to many media assumptions that PIP cuts are primarily around mental health - they would affect lots of people with cancer, heart disease, and numerous other physical illnesses and disabilities.

People in Bristol voted to move to a committee system in 2022 - and the change only happened last year.

Now the government is telling councils they have to move to a leader-and-cabinet model, describing the committee model as 'unclear, duplicative, and wasteful'.

Away from the politics of it all, what actually are the welfare plans that the government is trying to get through?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...