IA hot, humid week day in the north-west Bristle,
As soon as a brief downpore, steam grows with brown grass on historical drudham, the iconic 12-sided concrete water towers are seen, followed by Georgian shops at the peak of Whitelads Road.
Stoke bishops around Vishal Parkland are the rich suburbs of Redland and Sanede parkWhere many families have worked hard to bear the houses that today command the seven-day price tags.
Joggers ploded the Toden perimeter paths well that lead them to the western edge of the park, where Cliff Edge Avon and Isbard Brunel’s famous Clifton Suspension Bridge views.
Sinking in history, the region, which was locally known as “The Downs”, was used as a normal land for long -term grazing, before, in 1861, in 1861, it became part of the Victorian Craze for the park construction, it was installed to become a place of “public resort and entertainment” for an act.
But today, for more than 160 years, it is not football or kite-gathering that is making this park famous-it is dozens of caravan and van.
The increasing number of vehicles and caravan on the roads dissecting Parkland has motivated some “caravan city” to dub, with increasing tension between home owners and van dwellers. It appears that the council is stuck between the two.
The issue on Downs represents a growing problem in a city with a housing crisis, with the latest council estimates between 640 to 680 living vehicles and caravan.
Now, city leaders, facing concerns over anti -social behavior and crime, are taking action. The boss is currently busy formulating a policy to balance the support for vehicle residents with demands from the local community.
But talking to those living in vehicles, there is no easy answer.
“I am confident that I have the right to come here,” Frankie Turton, which lives in a converted Ford transit van, decorated with flower stickers.
The 29 -year -old female charity worker sold her home in Warington to travel to Britain with her partner, and decided to live when she turned into a Bristol two years ago.
She says, “We made equal ideology friends and surprised how easy it was to park and stay here.” “It felt like a big adjustment at first – people tell you that van life is amazing, but they don’t tell you about Sh *** ING in a bucket – but you can save money and get freedom to go away on weekends.
“After arriving, I got a job in a nearby pub. I heard about the complaints, and did not tell the locals that I lived in a van. When I eventually I did, they would ‘never know’.
“I understand the concerns of some people, but I think we need to stop generalization. People here are for different backgrounds and different reasons. Yes, I am sure some people go out to the toilet, but it is only a minority.”
Ms. Turton – which has a bed, kitchen, shower, sink and power supply – says she and her partner are in the process of buying a house in the city.
She says, “I don’t especially feel stressed with the locals, but perhaps because we are going away soon.” “This is a complex situation and I do not think there is a solution without the restructuring of the society.”
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Many local residents are part of a campaign group, called Protect the Down, who recently submitted a petition to the city council, which was asked to “remove van-migration encroachments”.
Campaigners say that the park is not for people to live in vehicles, and claim that van is evidence of sexual offenses, threatening behavior and anti -social behavior. Some people say that they are very afraid of going out at night, while others are unhappy that the shrubs of claims are being used as a toilet in the open air.
Stress has made some changes.
In June, whereas Filming with BBCThe President of Tony Nelson, Protect the Downs, was allegedly pushed by a person from the Van-Nivas community during an interview.
“People are being excluded from using the park as it is now thought that people living in vehicles claim space,” Shikha says. “It is not right for anyone to stay in a residential road or park and claim it as your own place.
“Imagine your local park is used by those who feel that they have the right to live in it. Would you like to take your family to that park?”
Last week, the Green Party-run city council wrote to Housing Secretary Angela Rener for more money to address city-wide issues and create more social housing for “more options” for vehicle residents.
The city’s housing problem has deteriorated considerably since the Kovid epidemic. More than 22,000 Houses Councils are in the waiting list, while the housing rent has increased by more than 23 percent between 2020 and 2023.
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Green Party councilor Barry Parsons, who are in charge of housing, want more powers to remove vehicles from council land, and a new requirement for registration of ownership for caravan to help.
“We have wrestled a lot with it,” he says, when asked if people should be able to stay on vehicles on down. “Where we have come, we do not think that living in a single place on a vehicle in the same place is really a permanent housing option for anyone.
“We do not want to see the long infiltration of vehicles by the highway for a long time, we recognize that for some people they do something they choose to do and there are many people who roam around ….. But we think what our role is in this, instead it is really providing options to people.”
Five of the options are the middle sites – temporary sites for van duellers with access to toilets and flowing water – two more are planned to be opened soon. Overall, the sites have 67 pitches available, and the council is aimed at 250 by the end of March next year.
The people living in the caravan question whether this is the answer.
All over the friend Tyler, 30, Calvin Isles, 27, and 29 -year -old Anthony Owens, living on downs for “many years”. Each has its own caravan, which they say that they use as a living base for work in a nearby breaker yard.
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Sometimes they travel elsewhere for work, such as festivals, before returning.
“It’s dead LifestyleNobody has the right to stop me, “Sri Owens, who has a bicycle in his living area in the caravan.” We hurt the local people, we have a lot of shakers. [people shaking the caravan]They are doing so because they do not like us, they think we are ugly, but this is my legacy.
“We are here because it is safe for us from being isolated on the roadside elsewhere in the city.”
He says: “In the meantime sites, they are a good idea, but not enough, so they [the council] We cannot expect one of them to disappear. ,
On the other side of the Downs, in the shade of smart rows, there is another line of Georgian house caravan and van – but the remains of a torture caravan were also set about two weeks ago.
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Metal debris is undoubtedly a look in the road.
Tim, who does not want to give his nickname, lives in a van at a few minutes. He is a full-time plumber that decided to leave his £ 1,800-one month house in the city, and converted his van into his home, where he stayed for three years.
“It’s not a community here – you get some problems, but it would be unfair to paint everyone with the same brush,” they say.
“I like to live here, to save the freedom and money of the van. It’s not for everyone, van life, but it should not be something that people see below, want to push away. Most of us take care of this area, it would be good if we can all live together in harmony.”