ABSTRACT
Bristol is the sixth largest city in England, with a population of just under 400,000, although it serves a ‘city region’ of about 1 million (Tallon 2007). Since the abolition of Avon County Council in 1996, the actual conurbation of Bristol overflows into South Gloucestershire’s jurisdiction to the north and east and, to a lesser extent, North Somerset to the west, and Bath and NorthEast Somerset to the south (Figure 7.1). This has led to problems of strategic area coordination, particularly in relation to transport and public service provision (see Lambert and Oatley 2002; Lambert and Smith 2003; Boddy et al. 2004). For a large English city, Bristol has been relatively economically prosperous during recent decades, perhaps because it has always had a mixed economy which has not been overly reliant on declining manufacturing industries (see Boddy 2003; Boddy et al. 2004). However, there are pressures of economic and population growth in the city region, linked to concerns for sustainability and affordability. These coexist with long-standing social problems which remain entrenched in parts of the inner city and peripheral estates. Bristol, as a post-industrial city, continues to witness ambitious urban regeneration projects in the city
centre, continued expansion within the northern fringe of the city and social policy interventions targeted at the most deprived areas of the city.
