We’ve had so many inquiries from concerned councillors regarding the horrifying domestic abuse story we highlighted on Friday that we’ve decided to publish an urgent email sent, on behalf of the victim, to Bristol City Council housing boss PAUL SYLVESTER on Thursday that has gone unheeded and unanswered. We hope this shows just how potentially serious the situation is.
Letter received by Bristol City Council housing boss Paul Sylvester on 7/11/13 about his department’s failure to rehouse domestic abuse survivor (click to see full size version)
This email didn’t come out of thin air. It was a follow-up email to one sent last Monday to Sylvester’s boss NICK HOOPER, the leader of the council Labour group HELEN HOLLAND, and the globetrotting couldn’t-give-a-toss MAYOR GEORGE FERGUSON. It clearly outlined that a vulnerable domestic violence victim had been subjected to death threats the previous week and was in need of urgent rehousing. It has not even been acknowledged, let alone acted upon.
Indeed, on Friday evening Nick Hooper was issuing DENIALS to councillors that he had any idea what the issues we were raising were about. This means he either does not bother to read his correspondence or – that if he does – he sees nothing worth remembering when DEATH THREATS are issued to a working class Bristolian woman. How many of these cases is he ignoring a week?
It makes you wonder what’s going on with domestic violence policy at Bristol City Council. The victim applied for rehousing three months ago, has never been allowed to have a conversation with one of Hooper’s housing officers to discuss her situation, and every week is listed as about 30th in line to get rehoused. How bad must it be to be first in line?
The email has been redacted to avoid the victim being identified. After you have read this, we urge you – again – to get calling, get tweeting and get emailing to demand that posh, well-paid men at Bristol City Council start DOING THEIR BLOODY JOBS!
- GEORGE FERGUSON (Mayor of Bristol) – twitter: @GeorgeFergusonx; email: george.ferguson@bristol.gov.uk
- NICK HOOPER (Strategic Housing Service Director) – tel: 0117 922 4681; email: nick.hooper@bristol.gov.uk
- PAUL SYLVESTER (Rehousing Manager) – tel: 0117 352 1601; email: paul.sylvester@bristol.gov.uk
And ask yourselves – what are the chances that The BRISTOLIAN discovered the only person in the city suffering from domestic abuse who is having trouble getting rehoused?
It beggars belief that anyone – let alone a local authority housing manager – could receive an email like that, shrug their shoulders and think, “I’ll leave it ’til Monday”. It has all the appearances of willful negligence.
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Your redaction seems a litle heavy handed. It doesn’t seem necessary to have redacted the name and email of the person sending this letter.
Respectfully, we take the confidentiality issues at stake here very seriously – unlike those council officers who have spent the past two days quietly briefly against ‘Ms X’ to councillors and others, spreading inaccurate, out of context and in some cases wholly misleading information.
It is abhorrant that Council officers choose to brief lies to protect themselves and the Council’s reputation, rather than act to deal with errors.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the first response of the Council on all matters. Their second respoinse is generally to put out another lie as soon as the first one has been revealed.
We are ruled by disgraceful people and no election seems to change that fact.
In about five minutes there will be a detailed rebuttal of the public statement Bristol City Council has put out on Ms X’s case posted on this website.
Given how inaccurate and sloppy it is, you can imagine the flights of fancy they’ve been using in private, verbal briefings…