South West England · Public Accountability Monitor

Tracking power in the South West — and showing you exactly how we do it

Westward monitors public money, public decisions, and democratic accountability across the South West of England. Every flag we raise comes with a full explanation of the data, the pattern it matches, and the reasoning behind it. No black boxes.

View current flags How it works →

What we track — The Westward Accountability Framework

PATTERN 01

Downward transfers

Public assets or liabilities moved to community and voluntary sector organisations, often shifting risk without adequate support

PATTERN 02

Upward flows

Public money flowing to private or corporate entities — grants, contracts, infrastructure — where the public benefit case is underdeveloped

PATTERN 03

Connected decisions

Grants, contracts or approvals where relationships between decision-makers and recipients are undisclosed or inadequately examined

PATTERN 04

Accountability gaps

Significant decisions taken through delegated powers, urgency provisions, or exempt items that reduce democratic oversight

PATTERN 05

Trajectory changes

Policy reversals, broken commitments, and quietly abandoned plans — tracked against the public record over time

How a Westward flag works

STEP 01

The raw data

The original transaction, decision, or document — linked directly to the public source. You can verify everything we cite.

STEP 02

The pattern match

Which of our five accountability patterns this item matches, and why — explained in plain English, not algorithmic shorthand.

STEP 03

The significance rating

Algorithmically flagged items are clearly marked. Where a human editor has reviewed and verified, that is marked too.

Example flag · Bristol City Council spend data

SupplierNexus Infrastructure Ltd

Amount£340,000

Pattern02 — Upward flows: corporate grant, no public tender record found

SignificanceHIGH

ClassificationAlgorithmically flagged · Awaiting editorial review

Simulated example. All live flags cite real source documents.

Data sources at launch

Bristol City Council spend data WECA decisions & budgets Somerset Council spending Gloucestershire County Council Wiltshire Council spending SW devolution deal documents Planning portal records Companies House

All data is published under the Open Government Licence by public authorities. Read the full methodology →