Damning report of what happened at Barton House shows a wider problem, says the man responsible
06:09, 14 Jul 2026
Barton House Medact Report Presentation
The man responsible for housing in Bristol said residents of the city’s oldest tower block were victims of a “systematic failure to listen to and respect” council tenants – from the council itself.
People living at Barton House suffered lasting trauma after council bosses at the time failed to notice the deteriorating condition of the building for years – until it became so bad that residents had to be evacuated without notice.
Now, following a damning independent report into the circumstances of this emergency evacuation, the man in charge of housing at Bristol City Council has admitted that those in charge at the time had a “culture of failure to recognize the needs of council tenants”.
In an exclusive interview with Bristol Live, Cllr Barry Parsons, chairman of the council’s housing committee, said the culture at City Hall for years before the evacuation in November 2023 reflected a systematic failure across the country to mistreat council housing and council tenants.
Cllr Parsons said what happened with both the Grenfell tragedy in London in 2017 and the emergency evacuation of Barton House was driven by a wider issue of stigma around council housing and council tenants.
“There has been a big change in attitudes towards council tenants,” Cllr Parsons said, citing decades of underfunding and austerity which have led to council housing being “seen as housing of last resort”.
“Council housing has undergone a process known as residualization,” he said. “Rather than being the original ambition – the ideal that council houses were for everyone and you could be a laborer or a doctor living in a council house – it was seen as housing of last resort and there was a huge amount of stigma attached to council tenants because of that.
“This means there is a systematic failure to listen to tenant voices and truly respect council tenants,” he added.
(Image: PAUL GILLIS/Reach PLC)
“There is a culture of not recognizing the needs of council tenants and accepting poor standards. This is true across the sector nationally and Bristol is no exception to this,” he added.
The Green Party has commissioned an independent review into what happened before and after the evacuation of Barton House, following tireless campaigning by residents of the house.
But while the report described failures of leadership, a lack of capacity and understanding, and missed opportunities to recognize the serious deterioration of conditions at Barton House, Cllr Parsons said the purpose of the review was not to find out who specifically was or should be held accountable for it.
When asked what consequences the lack of a pre-arranged mass evacuation plan and the manner in which the occupants were treated throughout the period had on those involved in the failures leading to the evacuation, Commander Parsons replied that there was no.
“That’s not really what we were trying to achieve in the report,” he said. “I know there have been people who have called for some return of individuals, but we deliberately did not want to do that with the report.
“It doesn’t mention anyone’s name and that was done deliberately because we wanted to make sure that Altair (the independent reviewers) was able to get as much interaction as possible and was able to give the fullest possible account of what happened, what decisions were made and when the information came to light,” Commander Parsons said.
Bristol City Councilor Barry Parsons (Green, Easton) (Image: Paul Gillies)
“What’s really important to us is that the report shows that overall the structure was inadequate. The board simply didn’t have the capacity, didn’t have the leadership, didn’t have the right structures in place. It didn’t understand how to use and interpret safety information, and the culture didn’t place enough emphasis on safety and risk management.”
“This is a system-wide problem, not an individual problem,” he added.
Within weeks of residents eventually returning to their homes in the spring of 2024, Mayor Marvin Rees’ term ended and Labor lost control of the council to a Green-led committee system.
Cllr Parsons outlined the changes the council had made since then, which he said were based on strengthening the structure of the housing department, appointing a person at chief executive level to be responsible for the council’s housing stock as a landlord, and focusing on safety and conditions for tenants.
A giant banner fell from the fifth floor window of the Bartons’ home (Image: Bristol Live)
“We have created a new housing executive, ensuring that the board has sufficient leadership and skills to manage these really, really complex homes that have increasingly complex problems as they age.
“We’re creating a whole strategy and safety department – that’s what the report said was missing. There was no clear accountability or management structure to make sure we were following the rules and making sure our homes were safe and that we were meeting all the standards we were supposed to meet.”
“That’s the core purpose of my role. I’m trying to make sure everyone in Bristol – we have a special responsibility to our tenants – has a safe home of a decent standard,” he added.