Over half of the public statements received by the council were about the van dwellers, with one resident expressing his disgust at finding human excrement in bags dumped around the community.
The full council meeting which took place on Tuesday 12th November allowed some residents to voice their concerns to members of the council.
At the meeting one resident said: “We are tired and wary of finding carrier bags full of human excrement. They are nipping over the walls of the university and using it as a toilet… it’s disgraceful and we’ve got rights as well.”
Councillor Barry Parsons, chair of the Homes and Housing Delivery committee responded by saying: “we are absolutely committed to making sure that we enforce certainly anything that has to do with the health and safety of our residents.”
“It’s very important that we consider the impacts of vehicle dwellers on housed neighbours, house residents, we also mustn’t lose sights of their rights and their welfare,” he added.
Rob Bryher, the councillor for St. George West told us: “We are looking carefully at how we can provide more meanwhile sites so that van dwellers can have places that are more secure and reliable than being on the kerbside.”
The pressure on Bristol City Council has continued to mount over van dwellers in the city despite the new method to deter street parking.
Planters were lined along the streets adjacent to St. George Park to stop caravans from blocking the road view which was a major road safety concern.
Bristol has five different temporary Meanwhile Sites for vehicle dwellers that are currently living kerbside.
Welfare checks were conducted with van dwellers but Bryher admitted that more needs to be done. “We haven’t done enough to include van dwellers’ perspectives; I hope an upcoming policy review will address this.”
