14 things we learned from Marvin’s State of the City address 2018

In front of a packed Wills Memorial Building, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees gave his annual State of the City address on Wednesday evening as part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Here are just a few things that we learned:

1. Marvin says that he inherited “organisational dysfunction” at City Hall
“Having a local authority that is competent is one of those unfairly unbalanced things in life. It’s rarely noticed and it doesn’t fill people with joy when it’s delivered. But it is certainly noticed and people pay a heavy price when it’s not because leaders have no foundation from which to deliver.”

2. The city council is more than a “mere provider of services”
“We are maturing into an enabling organisation, making space and supporting people to get things done rather than caught in the bottleneck of council processes. It’s an empowerment approach that recognises that we are interdependent and requires the council to be more than a mere provider of services and become a development partner.”

3. He is launching a new city fund
“In the spring we will launch a city fund that could generate millions of pounds of ethical investment and provide a platform for benefactors to step forward to support their own city. This shows a real scale of ambition to transform the city and the board is already progressing hunger programmes, community cohesion and economic inclusion.”

4. “2020 will be a good time to get elected”
“The work we are doing will survive me and will open a door for future leaders to work with the city. 2020 will be a good time to get elected. The winner will inherit a city plan, a structure and a culture of collective city leadership tuned to delivery… and I might add a solvent local authority.”

5. He is committed to building 2,000 new homes – 800 affordable – a year by 2020
“With no existing affordability programme in place, we had a standing start. But in this year, we expect to complete 1886 homes, with 271 affordable. In 2019-20, we expect to complete 2,308 market rate homes, with 499 affordable and by the target year of 2020, we expect to build 1,533 market rate homes and 916 affordable.”

6. He will not make life difficult for car drivers
“We will not repeat the errors of recent years in pretending that cars will disappear if we make life difficult for car drivers, nor will we ignore the economic impact when we do transport planning. But we will have an impact on congestion and on people movement by presenting real choice. We must generate mass transit options that are better, cheaper and easier than car travel.”

The Metrobus heads from th Long Ashton park & ride into town

7. There will be “equality” for bus travel across the city
“We are in the process of working towards a Heads of an Agreement that sets out a joint relationship based on long term and sustained public and private investment in the bus system. Working with our partners in the West of England, the aim of the agreement will be to double bus usage to 20 per cent of all journeys through:

• doubling the frequency on main routes
• greater service stability through increased enforcement of bus lanes and highway improvements
• use of new technology to inform where services are most delayed
• extension of quality and frequency services into less well-served areas.
• extension of quality services into less well served areas
• and a single flat fare zone covering the whole city

8. He is planning for a mass transit system “appropriate for Bristol’s future needs”
“We’re not talking about the London tube with 200-metre long trains. A key element of what makes it possible and quicker is we may not even need rails or track – some automated systems around the world just run by following a simple white line painted on the floor. But we are clearly planning for a segregated, mass transit system using tunnels and infrastructure appropriate for Bristol’s future needs.”

9. Bristol has bid to be the UK headquarters of Netflix
“I brought together the media and creative sectors and we worked together to pitch for Channel 4’s relocation and we remain shortlisted in the final six. And we have taken a similar approach to bid for Netflix, who are looking for UK bases and we are looking at what we can do to position Bristol as a hub for production studios, a real opportunity in the creative marketplace.”

10. Work continues to transform the Cumberland Basin into the Western Harbour
“On this very stage last year, I announced the development of the Western Harbour that will expand the city centre to the west, creating a new residential district. It will deliver over 2,500 new homes in a mixed use site. Planning work is now under way for the replacement of the ageing and outdated roads and bridges with a new transport layout that will include the moving of the bridge or possibly even, replacing it with a tunnel.”

11. An arena at Temple Island would have been a “security issue”
“A Temple Island arena would have paid £400,000 a year in business rates. The mixed use development will pay approximately £3m a year in business rates and council tax. The flawed transport plan would have brought 3,500 cars each sell-out night into Temple Meads with nowhere to park. The arena was too small to qualify as world class. And the proximity of the Temple Island arena to the train station was a security liability.”

12. The 2020 election campaign has already begun
“If there are people who want to… put the public money and risk to one side, they are doing so for political gain, not for the good of our city. If there are people who see (the arena) as a totemic issue to campaign or even stand for election on, and some are clearly launching their campaigns early, then they are selling the city short.”

Bristol’s new international city ambassadors: Chris Sanigar, Ivor Anderson and Carolyn Hassan

13. He has invited three people to be international ambassadors for Bristol
“These are people who already travel the world in their line of work. As official Bristol ambassadors, we will add to their ability to present our city to different international audiences. So, tonight I have invited well-known local artist, DJ Bunjy, also known as Ivor Anderson; Knowle West Media Centre’s innovative Carolyn Hassan; and Bristol’s boxing legend, Chris Sanigar, to be our first city international ambassadors.”

14. He doesn’t play political football
“We are now delivering. Delivering with a council leadership dedicated to delivery and responsive to the elected priorities. Delivering with the council and city partners, working together for a common aim for the first time ever… Delivering, because instead of playing political games and focussing on personal attacks, we are focussing on the things that matter for Bristol.”

Read more: 10 Questions: Marvin Rees