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Bristol Leader and Mayor Diaries for May 2026

Bristol Leader and Mayor Diaries for May 2026

The Leaders Diary for May 2026 has just been published. I don't understand why this is published two months after the month end.

The diaries are published on the BCC Website:

Leaders Diary for May 2026

It was a quieter month for Tony Dyer with 82 Appointment in May 2026 compared with 96 Appointments in May 2025.

Categories of Appointments

Tony Dyer was appointed Deputy Mayor for WECA in May Will he be spending more time deputising for Helen Godwin to ensure he earns his £19K a year?

Whilst flag raising has been a popular activity in Bristol, Tony has only attended 2 flag raising events this year.

Other Appointments

Leaders Forum Government for Tech conference

Tony spent 3 days in Madrid at the launch of the "GovTech Manifesto". The Manifesto has been mentioned a lot, but there is no trace of the actual manifesto itself. Perhaps Tony has got one. Surely they wouldn't have launched the manifesto without actually publishing it!

Tony was the only representative from the UK.

Did Tony share his experienced of the botched Housing IT System?

Shaping Bristol's Development Future Networking: with JBP & Turley

JBP

The Leaders Diary has already exposed meetings with JBP.

Bristol City Council and JBP have got strong links:

  • Mark Bradshaw — Bristol councillor 2006–2024, former cabinet member for transport/place; now JBP Senior Counsel.
  • Helen Holland — Bristol councillor for 33 years, former council leader and cabinet member; now JBP Senior Counsel.
  • Simon Cook — former Bristol City Council leader and assistant mayor; now JBP Senior Counsel.
  • Stephen Williams — former Bristol councillor and Bristol West MP; now advises JBP clients on engagement with government.
  • Ellie Milone — previously spent 6½ years in Bristol City Council's Mayor's Office; now a JBP Account Director working on housebuilding, local-government and infrastructure accounts.

Turley

Turley have worked on many projects in Bristol. They were also involved in the Bristol Heat Network.

A key part of our role was ensuring planning conditions were kept to a minimum to enable the development to commence within the tight delivery programme. This involved negotiations with the planning officer and clarity on the construction method during the determination period to reduce the number of planning conditions attached to the permission. Furthermore, we successfully negotiated longer construction.
What was Tony talking to JBP about this time?

Meeting with Entace representatives

Entace is a multidisciplinary group that specialises in the acquisition, development and management of projects in both the commercial and residential sector.
Our philosophy is simple. We create and build spaces which are full of light, considerate to the environment in both design and operation while also promoting safety in the ‘new normal’ we find ourselves living and working in.

On their website they highlight this property conversion :

16 Orchard Street (Airbnb): We are currently converting this period property at the very heart of Bristol located behind the Bristol Hippodrome. This will be serviced accommodation for up to 14 people. Our Orchard Street renovation project will be completed in the summer of 2021.

They should update their website as this conversion was supposed to be completed 5 years ago.

They also delivered the Eco Studios on Clanage Road.

This site is used for Matchday Parking where they operate "surge pricing".

James Sweetnam is a Director of Entace, and he is also a Director of Stadi Tech UK who sell Parking Tech Software. (which is used for the Clanage site parking)

Did they discuss property renovations, or new parking enforcement technology?

UKReiiF (UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum)

Tony spent 3 days in Leeds at the UKREiif 2026 event where he took part in a number of panels:

I wonder if Tony talked about the challenges with City Leap, or the rising rent guarantee for Temple Quarter?

UN Forum of Mayors 6th Meeting of the Bureau

The 6th Meeting of the Bureau takes place in Geneva on 12/13 Oct 2026, so this meeting was probably to discuss the agenda for the meeting.

The UN Forum of Mayors elected its bureau for the 2026 Forum:

  • with Eckart Würzner, Mayor of Heidelgerg, Germany as Chair
  • alongside Vice-Chairs Pavlína Springerová, Mayor of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
  • and Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, United Kingdom.
  • Christina Kitsos, Vice-Mayor of Geneva, Switzerland, was elected as Ex Offcio member. 
The Forum will bring together mayors from across the UNECE region and beyond to exchange experiences, share best practices, and adopt an outcome document reflecting shared priorities, emphasizing the essential role of local governments in delivering a sustainable future.
Should our Council Leader (not a Mayor) really be spending time with Mayors from across the world when there are plenty of things he should be sorting out in Bristol and his Southville Ward?

Lord Mayors Diary for May 2026

On the 12th May 2026 the "Mayor Making Service New Lord Mayor, Cllr Yassin Mohamud" ushered in our new Lord Mayor.

But the Lord Mayors Diary has not been updated with any appointments after 16/06/2026. The diary is usually updated every 2 weeks. Does the new Lord Mayor not get the same level of diary support as the previous Lord Mayor?

You can explore these Diaries yourself on BU Reports.

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