About the Declaration

The Bristol Repair Declaration (v.1) was first distributed on 02nd February, 2022 at the Studio 5, Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, Bristol, as part TALES OF CARE AND REPAIR (20210-22).

The Declaration grew out of a series of workshops held throughout October 2021, bringing together people from across Bristol to explore a simple but urgent question: how can we strengthen local repair economies and create better conditions for repair?

Across the workshops, we crowdsourced statements from participants, including undergraduate students at the University of the West of England across Graphic Design, Fashion & Textiles and MA Production Design, and makers and repairers at The Factory, Knowle West Media Centre. We also worked with participants at a special edition of The Green Mingle, hosted in partnership with the former Bristol Green Capital Partnership (BGCP), now Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership.

Alongside this, we gathered perspectives from the Bristol Disability Forum, which campaigns for people’s right to repair their disability aids, and joined meetings of the BGCP’s Climate Action Project. This brought together six community neighbourhood partners to identify local priorities and co-produce climate action plans supporting Bristol’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030.

More than 300 people contributed to the first Declaration. Their ideas and experiences helped inspire the creation of the city’s Repair Coalition. Four years on, the Repair Declaration Debate at Chambers on Friday 16 October 2026 at 17.00 is an opportunity to take stock, by reflecting on what has been achieved and looking to how we can take things forward.