Bristol councillors overwhelmingly in support of city centre arena

Scrutiny councillors have told Bristol mayor Marvin Rees that an arena in the city centre is the “only viable option”.

Just one member of the scrutiny board said he would like to see the Arena Island project close to Temple Meads “shelved” in favour of exploring an alternative proposal for Brabazon hangar in Filton.

The recommendation followed more than 10 hours of debate this week about where Bristol Arena should be built.

Chairman of the overview and scrutiny management board, Geoff Gollop, summed up members’ thoughts at the end of a three-hour meeting on Friday; although he was careful to note that they did not include Labour councillor Donald Alexander, the only one of 10 scrutiny councillors who did not think an arena at Temple Island should go ahead.

Gollop, a Tory councillor for Westbury-on-Trym, said that the biggest concern members had about the Filton proposals was the potential negative impact on the city centre.

He said: “With the imminent planning decision on the Cribbs Causeway expansion members are concerned that relocating the arena to Filton could signal the demise of Broadmead as a retail centre and the transfer of trade out of the city centre to South Gloucestershire.”

Earlier in the meeting, Tom Brook (Labour, Bishopston & Ashley Down) had said sending the arena to Filton would be “reckless and a betrayal of our duties to the city”.

And during Wednesday’s meeting, fellow Labour councillor Jo Sergeant (Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston) said she would rather have no arena in Bristol if Filton was going to be the only option because it would “sign a death warrant for Bristol city centre”.

During Friday’s meeting, Sergeant expressed further concerns about the Brabazon hangar plans claiming that the firm behind the scheme, YTL, was trying to “have their cake and eat it”.

“But I think that cake has got a razor blade in it and we should not eat it,” she added.

The proposed arena at Filton would be built within the Brabazon hangar

Representatives from YTL and Arena Island attended Friday’s meeting to answer questions from councillors about their proposals.

When questioning YTL, Sergeant asked whether the firm had taken into account the impact of an arena at Filton on Bristol’s city centre “especially considering YTL is already in discussions with The Mall about parking provision”.

She added: “Do you really believe people are going to go to an arena in Filton and then stay in a hotel in the city centre? No they are going to stay in one of your hotels on your site.

“And when they want to go shopping they are going to go where they parked their car at the Mall and spend their money there.”

But Colin Skellett, group chief executive of the Malaysian investment firm, said she was wrong and it would not take anything away from the city centre.

Senior council officers and representatives from the independent auditors which created the value for money reports, KPMG, attended all three meetings this week.

Buckingham Group, the contractors for Arena Island, also attended Wednesday’s meeting to explain the firm’s position.

The only person invited who did not attend was Rees – who will ultimately make the final decision on where the arena is built.

Gollop expressed his disappointment that the mayor had not accepted the invitation, but urged him to take on board scrutiny comments when making his decision.

“It would be very unwise for him not to listen to what we have to say and that would be a sad day for scrutiny,” added Gollop.

The recommendation from the members of the scrutiny board went against the advice given to the council in the KPMG value for money reports.

The Arena Island site could become a mixed-use development – without an arena

During Friday’s meeting, Gwyn Llewelyn from KPMG said the best use for the Arena Island site for “economic potential for Bristol city centre” is to use it for an alternative mixed-use development.

The alternative proposals for the Temple Island site were presented to the scrutiny board on Wednesday.

The plans, which have been put forward by council officers, would see 400 homes, 26,000sq m of office space and a conference centre built on the site.

However, members commented that these plans were still at the very early stages.

The same concerns were also echoed for the YTL proposals at Filton. “Members are finding it hard to understand how the Filton project with so much uncertainty can be compared with the detailed information available at Temple Meads,” said Gollop.

There were also a lot of concerns raised about transport infrastructure and potential traffic congestion around the Brabazon hangar site.

YTL said they had been working with Network Rail to get a train between Temple Meads and the former North Filton station, as well as talks or a passenger line between Bristol Parkway and North Filton, which was closed in 1964.

But there was some skepticism expressed by members about how long this would take.

Fears were also raised about Bristol being left with no arena at all if YTL decided to pull out when they look into the proposals in more detail.

YTL has asked for exclusivity for six months while it develops its proposals further – which means the council would have to “ditch” the Arena Island project completely.

Olly Mead (Labour, Horfield) said if the council agrees to do that then it is “entering into a horse race where we have shot the only other horse running”.

But YTL said the the fundamental difference between the two projects for an arena is that the FIlton one is privately funded and there is “no risk being carried by public sector”.

The investment firm said they can turn the Brabazon hangar into an arena at a cost of £80m to the company.

A final scrutiny meeting has been scheduled on July 2 to discuss the cabinet report on the arena project – just one day before Rees is expected to make his decision.

Kate Wilson is a local democracy reporter for Bristol