Working With You, Working For You

In 2019 we asked you to back us as a brand-new group of independent-minded candidates. We wanted to reject party politics and put Portishead first, and thousands of you came out to support us with your votes. Every single one of our candidates was elected, giving us 12 out of 14 councillors on Portishead Town Council and 4 of the 6 councillors for Portishead on North Somerset Council. Thank you again for your support.
Since then we’ve been working hard for you, tackling the issues you told us about before the election and since. Here are some examples of our achievements over the last 4 years:
+ We worked with residents and North Somerset Council to protect the golf course from development with Town/Village Green Status.
+ We supported WASP and the long-awaited wheels and skate park is now under construction with help from community donations, grants from PTC and NSC and other grants that we helped WASP to source.
+ We protected Brackenwood from development by purchasing it for the benefit of the town.
+ We consulted residents and Wild Portishead on the future of the Slade Road playing fields and a new play area has now been built on the part of it that we own.
+ Improvements have been made to the play area at the Lake Grounds, with further upgrades to the area in the pipeline following consultation with residents.
+ More than 400 vulnerable residents were helped by PTC during the covid pandemic.
+ We helped to establish Portishead Warm Spaces and a new Community Hub.
+ A new CCTV system has been installed to help combat crime, and there is now additional parking enforcement in the town.
+ With your input and help from volunteers the Portishead Neighbourhood Plan is nearly complete, which will help to protect our heritage and environment from development. (This will go to referendum later this year.)
+ We increased our grants to local community groups including Portishead Christmas Lights, Portishead In Bloom, Portishead Town Football Club, Portishead Youth Centre and Citizens Advice, and a new process has been set up to help other local groups to apply for funding.
+ We began live-streaming all council meetings, encouraged resident participation, supported the independent chairing of annual Residents’ Meetings and increased communication via social media.
+ We’re working with local groups to help tackle food poverty and the cost-of-living crisis by setting up a fund to help those who need urgent assistance.
+ We’ve hosted regular meetings for residents to address their concerns regarding bus services to the bus companies and NSC. The X5 service to Clevedon and Weston has for example been safeguarded following these meetings and we’ve just seen the frequency of the X4 increased.
+ We installed bunds at Merlin Park to prevent further unauthorised access and damage.
+ We’ve supported local businesses by providing financial assistance to Visit Portishead to make improvements to its website.
+ We’ve been awarded over £400,000 of external grants to help deliver some of the above projects.
+ Over £1million has been invested in Portishead in the last four years.