📑 the essay from Emeritus Professors Colin Copus and Steve Leach can be found here 👉 localis.org.uk/publications...

You can register for the webinar here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/92e053... The report will be published shortly after the event.

Tomorrow Ill be alongside some great speakers at this webinar convened by @localis.bsky.social . The online webinar is based on an excellent new report from Professors Colin Copus and Steve Leach who pose some significant challenges and concerns for the New Local Government White Paper

Even before todays news questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat..., the plan was being readied for BCLP 2026, to evaluate Bristol's experience of the Committee model.

Plus should the legislation pass, there will be another BCLP iteration to evaluate the return of Leader and Cabinet model

The team also produced associated briefing videos with the excellent team from @beestonmedia.bsky.social www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea...

So in 2022 to fill the gap the BCLP team wrote and published the briefing report 'The Bristol Referendum Thinking Through the Options' bristolcivicleadership.net/wp-content/u...

In 2022 as Bristol was posed the question of further governance change to the Committee System, the BCLP team and Bristol Ideas noted a significant lack of mainstream balanced evidenced or structured discussion on the choice at hand.

But concerns remained: power was seen as too concentrated in one office, councillor scrutiny significantly weakened, and public trust & participatory pathways were still lagging

The 2002 Made a difference report found Bristol’s mayoral model dramatically raised the city’s profile, visibility jumping from 24% in 2012 to 51% in 2018 and delivered a clear long‑term vision (e.g., the One City Plan) and stronger global representation 🚀

In 2020 with the mayoral model embedded, the BCLP conducted a second evaluation and published 'Mayoral Governance in Bristol has it made a difference?' www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...

As metro mayors emerged the BCLP answer the question 'What can we expect from a Metro Mayor?' bristolcivicleadership.net/wp-content/u... MM bring clear regional leadership, devolved powers & long-term vision, but risk personality politics, limited scrutiny & constrained autonomy under central govt.

2015, 1st evaluation of Mayoral Model 'Impacts of Mayoral Governance in Bristol' bristolcivicleadership.net/wp-content/u... DEM gave visible, accountable leadership, boosted Bristol’s civic profile & clear decision‑making but concerns linger over centralised power, inclusivity & scrutiny deficits

In 2014 a short policy brief considered the Introduction of the Mayoral Model www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristo.... The brief highlighted a DEM boosts visible, legitimate city leadership and encourages innovation but trust, representation & public “routes‑in” still need strengthening.

The first report ‘The Prospects for Mayoral Governance’ came out in 2013. t.co/Isp56eBdRzm it found optimism for a Directly Elected Mayor, stronger visibility, streamlined decisions & potential public service gains but warned of concerns for low turnout, weak scrutiny & need for inclusive engagement

The Bristol Civic Leadership Project bristolcivicleadership.net has run since 2012, and has looked at the different iterations of local governance change and design in Bristol and the implications and experiences of these changes for democracy, structures and policy.

A collaboration between @uwebristolofficial.bsky.social and @bristoluni.bsky.social the project has benefitted from the experience, ideas and insights of a number of academic researchers more details of the team here: t.co/I78KLILXgr

It keeps Bristol as very much the governance experiment, being able to do little more than cope with, and adapt to change, from without and from within.

This is the story, so far, told through the outputs of the Bristol Civic Leadership Project

The government decision doesn’t come as a surprise. The desire of the centre to simplify governance options, combined with the consistently mooted logics of the benefits of executive models of governance in terms of visibility, accountability and centre to local ‘engagability’ remain