Hi all and a petition to save Baltic Wharf Campsite

Hi all

Sorry for the silence, and for the length of this posting, but things have been happening.

• Our request, under the Freedom of Information Act (F.O.I.), for information about how the decision to close the campsite, and how the decision to use the land for a school was made, was refused. We went to the CEO of the Campaign for Freedom of Information (C.F.O.) and he gave us all the necessary ‘ammunition’ to refute their spurious reasons and an appeal has now gone in. If this is refused we’ll go to the Information Commissioners Office (like an ombudsman). If we have to do this it will take about six months to get a ruling; however the help we got from the C.F.O. is compelling and in other campaigns we’ve found it usually works. Really the council officials don’t understand the F.O.I. Act and just go to a default ‘secrecy’ mindset. Hopefully once we’ve explained it to them they might change their minds.
I won’t put it all on here but if anyone wants to read it all please PQ me with your email address and I’ll send it.
• The letter below is from the campaign organisers. We got enough signatures to ask the council to have an open debate on it. (If you remember the decision was made by the mayor on his own and even a lot of councillors didn’t know about it until it was published in the papers)The next meeting is 22nd July and it would be helpful if we all emailed or tweeted the Mayor to ask for it to be included

Hello Steph,

Here's the link to the Open Letter to the councillors on our website: http://savebristolcampsite.com/open-letter.php
I think one of the best things to do now would be to ask forum users to read the arguments and, if they wish, email the Mayor direct with their concerns. He's the person who will make the final decision. If he only came to visit the people and businesses that rely on the campsite users then he might not be so confident. A school bus would be a great way of transporting children to a site that actually needs re-development without compromising people's livelihoods and 30 years of having a great asset for Bristol - a win-win!

Here's his contact details:
Twitter @GeorgeFergusonx
Email https://www.bristol.gov.uk/form/mayor/contact-mayor

The lead Green Councillor on the issue (1 of 5) came to visit the campsite and the local businesses that would be impacted by closure. On Twitter he suggested that Mayor George Ferguson visit as it made him pause to think about his reaction.

If we can get the Mayor to allow us to organise a visit for him then that will be our best chance of saving the campsite.

Onward and upwards!!!

Matt

So – lets hope we can all work together and carry on using this lovely campsite for a long while yet.

Steph