‘Bristol Arena report is comparing apples with pears’

An official report meant to inform a decision on the location of the Bristol Arena has been criticised for lack of evidence and “glaring omissions”.

Slammed by one resident as “not worth the paper it’s printed on”, KPMG’s value for money study has arguably raised more questions than it answered, but company representatives say they have presented findings based on the information available to them.

The report dealt what could be a killer blow to the long-awaited project being built at Temple Meads last week with the assessment that a mixed-use development of offices, homes and shops at the site would bring more benefit to the city, with less risk to the council.

Meanwhile, alternative proposals put forward by a private company to build the project in one of the Brabazon hangars close to the former Filton Airfield would deliver an arena “with limited financial risk”, according to KPMG’s findings.

But the content of the report faced fierce criticism at an extraordinary meeting of Bristol City Council’s scrutiny board on Monday, with a number of people pointing out that it is tantamount to “comparing apples with pears” in weighing up the benefits of a “shovel-ready” scheme with one that is still in its infancy.

An image of what the YTL Arena at Filton might look like

New claims have also come to light from Arena Island Ltd, the company that won the formal tender to build the arena by Temple Meads back in 2014, which said it had offered the council £55m to cover project cost increases but was turned down with no explanation.

In a written statement, Arena Island Ltd said it was “disappointed by the lack of rigour from KPMG”, arguing that the report does not compare like with like – a feeling echoed by many councillors and members of the public.

“The report seems to be comparing a ‘back-of-a-fag-packet’ idea with a well thought out proposal,” said Olly Mead, a Labour councillor for Horfield.

“In value for money terms, we have a choice between a project we have almost no control over, and little to gain from economically as a city, or a project being built on land we own, run by an operator we have appointed, with a guarantee that the profits will cover the costs of repaying the loan.”

He said an arena at Filton would be a “gift” to controversial plans to expand Cribbs Causeway, to the detriment of Bristol city centre.

Gwyn Llewelyn of KPMG agreed that the body of evidence informing the comparison of the two sites is lacking – something that he says the report makes clear – but maintained that a realistic financial assessment had been made.

The site close to Temple Meads has long been earmarked as a site for the long-awaited arena

Eleanor Combley joined her Green Party colleagues in voicing “grave concerns” about the quality of information presented to KPMG, “glaring omissions” of the expected environmental and social impacts of each scheme and the quantification of risk.

She added: “Given these omissions and the impossibility of using a narrow financial study to compare a project that is ready to build with such vague and hypothetical proposals, I have to question why these reports were commissioned in this form, at a cost to the council of around £100,000.”

Summarising some of the issues raised by the scrutiny body, chairman Geoff Gollop outlined concerns about the comparison of a fully-formed proposal at Temple Meads, with “high level estimates” in Filton, questions over whether the figures in the report are accurate and the costs of any further delays.

Furthermore, it was heard that further work on developing proposals on the former Filton Airfield site, and carrying out any environmental impact assessment of building an arena there will only be carried out if owners YTL are granted exclusivity.

This essentially means that the council would need to ditch the Temple Meads site before any further information on the alternative location can be gathered.

Amidst a barrage of public statements and questions, one lone voice spoke out as a “staunch supporter” of an arena in Filton, with resident Daniel Ramage saying he is not alone in believing it to be the best location.

Brabazon Hangar at the former Filton Airfield

A further two public scrutiny sessions are to be held at City Hall on Wednesday at 4pm and Friday at 10am. Representatives from YTL are expected at the meeting on Friday and scrutiny members have also requested that mayor Marvin Rees is present on at least one of the dates.

Rees, who has so far remained silent on his preferred site, is expected to put forward his recommendation on June 25, ahead of the final decision at a cabinet meeting on July 3.

Read more: Nail in the coffin for arena at Temple Meads?