News / Bristol Arena
Destination Bristol chairman backs calls for no arena on Temple Island
Destination Bristol chairman John Savage has said that the city “can truly eat our bun and keep our penny” if Temple Island is regenerated by a private firm and an arena built by another private company elsewhere.
In an opinion piece published on Bristol24/7, John Savage says that an arena must be built at the risk of private enterprise, not built at risk to the public purse.
“The current unfortunate politicisation of a location for an arena as an isolated matter betrays the absolute need to be aware of and to strive to achieve the best uses for all of the limited land available,” writes Savage, also chairman of Bristol Chamber of Commerce who in 2017 stood as an independent candidate to become the West of England metro mayor.
is needed now More than ever
“There are better uses for the land at Temple Meads and we have a golden offer for provision of an arena elsewhere within the city and completely at the cost of the private sector.”
The vision for Arena Island from Legal & General and Zaha Hadid Architects
On Thursday, Legal & General unveiled their proposed mixed use development of Temple Island consisting of a conference centre and exhibition space, a 345-room hotel, 550 new homes, and two office buildings.
The following day, papers were released where council officers recommended that cabinet members put a halt to plans for an arena on the site.
It comes after Bristol mayor Marvin Rees criticised members of the city council’s own scrutiny committee for focusing on a “binary choice” between an arena next to Temple Meads or an arena at the Brabazon Hangars in Filton.
Ten out of 11 members of the cross-party overview scrutiny management board agreed that Temple Island is “the only viable option” for Bristol Arena.
For the last few months, the mayor has been attempting to rephrase the debate; in his address to full council in July asking firstly whether the council can afford an arena on Temple Island and secondly what is the best use of the site.
Planning permission was granted for a 12,000-capacity arena on Temple Island in 2016
Savage said: “There is now an identified and highly credible private investment proposition for Temple Meads and that includes a much-needed conference centre…
“I have great conviction that the current mayor has performed well against difficult odds and has become an impressive leader. He has successfully for the moment dealt with the appalling challenges of reduced funding for local government.”
Savage added that it is “unthinkable” that Rees should contemplate the use of more than £100m of public money to enable the building of an arena at Temple Meads.
He said: “This highly desirable addition to the cultural provision for the city should and must be at the risk of private enterprise.
“The alternative location requires no such public intervention apart from the modest cost associated with a short railway link, which would be provided anyway from a different public purse and which would, in any case, be very helpful to the anticipated population in that area.
“Decisions like these should be derived after a reduction of options and of confusing nuances of opinion down to the hard and salient facts and the strongest reluctance for the potential to misuse public money on what may be seen by some as iconic vanity projects.
“It looks to me, in this case, that we can truly eat our bun and keep our penny.”
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
