Critics of Bristol underground need to ‘stop talking city down’

Critics of the £4bn plan for a Bristol underground need to “stop talking the city down” according to Marvin Rees.

The city’s elected mayor said he was “extremely concerned” that opposition councillors have opposed his plans to build a mass transit system which will include underground sections of railway.

The mayor also raised concerns about a key public consultation on the mass transit system, which has now been delayed for an entire year.

The next step in drawing up plans for the underground network is consulting the public on options, but this was due out in January.

A mass transit system would see three or four routes built in Bristol, with underground and overground railways.

The scheme was estimated to cost £4bn several years ago, but will have almost certainly increased in price due to years of delays and high inflation.

During a cabinet meeting on December 6, Rees said: “We have done the structural and the economic studies to underpin the delivery of a mass transit system for the greater Bristol region, including underground and segregated overground routes.

“This is the only way we’re going to transform the way people move around the city, and with these studies done it’s extremely concerning that at the last full council, all the opposition parties expressed opposition to a low-carbon mass transit system.”

During that last full council meeting on November 8, councillors were debating how the city could be made safer for cycling, in response to thousands petitioning Bristol City Council to build more bike lanes.

Labour claimed introducing the Clean Air Zone and building a mass transit system would make the city safer for cyclists – prompting stern criticism from opposition parties.

In October, Rees pledged to spend a further £15m on drawing up plans for the mass transit system, during his State of the City Address.

He also criticised journalists claiming he “couldn’t name the last time” he was interviewed for longer than half an hour – but then later failed to respond to requests for an interview on exactly how the £15m would be spent.

For the mass transit system to move forward, the West of England Combined Authority needs to launch a public consultation on options for the scheme. This was initially due to go out in January 2022 but it’s currently unclear when, or if, the consultation will be launched.

During the cabinet meeting, Rees said: “I’m concerned that the public consultation on mass transit that was due to go out last January, followed by two further missed dates, is still not out. My administration has done all we can and all we needed to do to put the foundations in place.

“We need the metro mayor (Dan Norris) to get the consultation out, we need a commitment to the investment of the next tranche of money, and we need to drive the next phase forward. We need opposition politicians to stop talking the city down, to stop being a drag on the scale of infrastructure development we need, and to be more ambitious for our city.

“Mass transit I believe is going to be one of the first tests of the committee system’s ability to deliver against the scale of challenge and opportunity that’s in front of us. We simply cannot let Bristolians down again on another failed transport solution.”

Later in the cabinet meeting, the council’s plans to cut staff from the strategic transport team were heavily criticised by trade unions, Green councillors and a former Labour cabinet member for transport. They said cutting staff from this team could “hamper the future committee system” by reducing the council’s ability to plan for major transport projects.

Main photo: Glasgow Subway

Read next:

• Underground feasibility reports released by Rees likely to be ‘inaccurate’
• Mayor promises to steer ahead with underground railway
• Unclear how additional £15m for mass transit will be spent 
• Labour councillors suggest recruiting bus drivers from overseas

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