The Deputy Prime Minister has expressed his frustration at protest groups using judicial reviews to hold up the building of new football stadiums in Bristol. Nick Clegg was speaking after he took part in a question-and-answer session with an audience of around 200 people at Bristol's M shed museum. He was asked whether Bristol is lagging behind the other major cities with schemes such as Bristol Rovers new home ground being caught up in red tape. He said: "When it comes to major cities being unable to get major schemes of the ground I share some of the frustrations in the inability to get things done. What we have done in Westminster is given local authorities more powers and control over their resources and finances. The City Deal that we agreed with Bristol is a big part of that process. What we want is to devolve the decision-making process so that the major decisions are taken at a local level, the elected mayor is very much a part of that process. The mayor does have primary responsibility to get things done and it can be frustrating when schemes get bogged down in red tape. When it comes to Judicial Reviews we will be making an announcement on them next week and we have just carried out a review of the system. We do not want local authorities riding roughshod over communities and we need to make sure people are protected. But at the same time we do not want to see them used as a tool by minority groups to block schemes that the majority of people want to see take place. It is all about striking the right balance."
Mr Clegg (from the Lib Dems) needs to have a word with his Lib Dem colleague David Willingham, who is dead against Sainsburys and who was dead against a public debate involving Higgs calling him "irrelevant" in the debate. Wonder what Willingham thinks about Cleggs words!
