Barton House: Housing union tactics questioned after council meeting confrontation
ACORN have denied "intimidating" Bristol City Councillors, after disrupting a meeting for nearly an hour
A housing union trying to support residents of evacuated Bristol tower block Barton House is beginning to be questioned over its tactics, after a Bristol City Council meeting was disrupted for nearly an hour.
Members of the ACORN union, some of whom are also residents of the block, attended a meeting of Bristol City Council yesterday afternoon (December 12), but began shouting over proceedings and then confronted Mayor Marvin Rees, when they were told time had run out to ask questions.
Around 400 people were told to leave Barton House almost exactly a month ago on 14 November, after structural issues were found that could cause the building to collapse if there was a fire, explosion or similar incident.
Ever since most residents have been staying either in hotels or with friends and family and it remains unclear when, if ever, they will be able to move back in.
The Council Meeting
As is standard practice yesterday's meeting of full council began with questions from the public.
After the first few were asked without issue, former Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams was handed the microphone to ask about roadworks and was immediately shouted down by another member of the public, angry about his involvement with building regulations prior to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Williams, a former member of the coalition government between the Lib Dems and Conservatives, has previously admitted to having not read a coroner's letter recommending government action following a fatal fire in a block of flats eight years before the Grenfell disaster.
The meeting was paused because of the interruption and once it restarted, those in attendance from ACORN and Barton House were told there was only time left for one of their questions to be asked, despite 10 having been submitted.
This sparked an altercation when one ACORN member refused to hand back a microphone to council staff and the whole meeting was then adjourned, with the council's cabinet including Mayor Marvin Rees, leaving the chamber.
A confrontation ensues
After a short period where ACORN members refused to leave the public gallery, fearing they would not be allowed back in if they did, they then decided to confront Mayor Rees in the entrance lobby of City Hall, demanding he answer their questions.
With the incident filmed by Hits Radio, tensions got increasingly high as Mr Rees was followed by Acorn members back into the chamber, with one describing his actions as "scumbag behaviour".
In response Mr Rees could be heard saying ACORN are "not a union", and do not represent residents, adding he would not talk to them, with the ACORN members eventually leaving when it was suggested the police had been called.
Sometime later, well after the ACORN members had left and with the public gallery now empty, several police officers did arrive to support security.
ACORN: Who are they and do they represent residents?
ACORN are not just a Bristol organisation, but operate across the UK calling itself "a community organisation fighting for a better quality of life", particularly with regard to housing.
In Bristol, where more than 20,000 people are currently on a waiting list for council homes and the private rental market is one of the most expensive outside of London, they have long been calling for more to be done to solve the problem.
Last year Mr Rees created a Living Rent Commission featuring representatives from across the housing sector, to look at what could and should be done to make rent in the city more affordable.
However, ACORN were not invited to be involved, which began a war of words between them and the leadership of Bristol City Council.
Ever since the evacuation of Barton House ACORN have claimed to represent residents and have repeatedly urged council leadership and Mr Rees in particular, to meet with them, but Mr Rees has called their views "irrelevant".
Such comments have sparked fury among the group as some of their members are also residents of Barton House, but others appear to be more on the Mayor's side.
Jon Wisbey represents the Barton House Residents Association, which is not affiliated to ACORN.
He said: "ACORN seem to be very angry.
"They've got to the point where the council won't engage with them.
"When we're trying to work with the council to work out where we stand, we can't work with an organisation that the council won't speak to.
"I'm not saying they're not well meaning, it's just I feel that they don't really have our best interests at heart."
During the confrontation in City Hall Green Party councillors intervened to try and diffuse the situation.
One of them, Heather Mack, took to X afterwards to say she condemned ACORNs actions.
"I am an ACORN member and I just stood between ACORN and the Mayor and I want to explain why," she said.
"I believe ACORN went too far and were intimidating the Mayor and others in the administration.
"I do not believe intimidation has a role in our politics."
Jon said: "At the moment we're trying to keep them (ACORN) at arms length, purely so we can work with the council and not just get tarred as another bunch of anarchists causing trouble, because if we do that our voices ain't going to be heard, and our community will be destroyed...
"I think they (ACORN) need to re-evaluate their methods."
In a statement released after the meeting a spokesperson for ACORN said: "Evacuated residents are repeatedly denied opportunities to question politicians about their homes and families' future...
"After weeks of being disrespected, residents attending were understandably angry that having followed proper procedure, they were not allowed to ask questions about their immediate safety and futures.
"Residents chanted and asked for their questions to be heard, and the meeting was stopped and cabinet members walked out of the meeting...
"In the aftermath it was very disappointing to see a councillor and a journalist on social media describe Barton House residents' conduct as 'intimidation'.
"As extensive video footage collected will show, there was no intimidation.
"Residents were understandably upset having been treated with clear contempt by council leaders.
"These heightened emotions and confrontations could have been avoided if the Mayor or cabinet member of housing had answered invitations sent weeks ago to meet with ACORN block representatives to discuss the unfolding situation, but these invitations were met with dismissal.
"These invitations remain open."
Tomorrow (Thursday 14 December) will mark a month since Barton House was evacuated.