Mayor promises to steer ahead with underground railway

Marvin Rees has promised to push ahead with plans for a mass transit system.

Speaking at the Wills Memorial Building in his annual state of the city address on Tuesday evening, the mayor promised there would be “no shying away from the challenge of delivery.”

The annual state of the city address has promised much in the past including powerboat racing in the docks (2016) and a new ‘Circle Line’ bus service (2019), to name two that have not yet come to fruition.

But this year, Rees said that “it’s in the engagement, not just in loudly criticising or in the fashionable holding to account, that we make a democracy which will build an open, tolerant and inclusive city”.

During his speech, the mayor named Bristol Bears rugby player Ellis Genge, In Between Time founder Helen Cole and UWE Bristol professor Shawn Sobers as the city’s newest international ambassadors.

A mass transit system has long been in the works, with Tuesday’s address promising a renewed impetus in an overground and underground railway system.

“We have continued the work to build a mass transit system that will transform the way we move around the city region,” said Rees.

“Economic and geological assessment work is done. We are about to commit a further £15 million with our neighbours to take this work to the next stage.

“Overground and underground networks are fast, efficient, low carbon transport systems. They are essential for a modern city. Bristolians have waited long enough.”

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Read more: Finding a sensible solution to Bristol’s transport woes

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Rees also raised a word of warning to those who opposed his mass transit plans.

“There cannot be any U-turns, no shying away from the challenge of delivery for those that come next, Bristol councillors or the combined authority.

The mayor also celebrated the ongoing work to build the YTL Arena in his state of address, calling the project “one of (his) personal favourites”.

The arena is due to open in 2024, despite ongoing setbacks and opposition.

“I had to make a choice about what to do with Temple Island. The political wind from the council chamber, the twitterati and commentariat supported building the arena there against the financial intelligence.

“We could proceed with the decision based on this political noise or we could make the right decision based on the evidence. We made the right decision.”

Offices, a conference centre, a hotel and hundreds of flats will be built on land next to Temple Meads previously earmarked for an arena, which Rees scrapped – image: Legal & General

Rees added: “If we had built the arena, we would have carried that debt and the new building into the lockdown. The financial consequences of that would have been considerable.

“Instead we now get the homes, the hotel and the conference centre and jobs on Temple Island AND the UK’s third largest and Europe’s most sustainable arena.”

Housing was also presented as a major area of progress. The mayor celebrated the council-owned Goram Homes in particular: “We have started our own housing company Goram Homes building 268 homes in Romney House, Lockleaze.

“By giving them responsibility for housing delivery and social homes, we can build homes at a rate never before seen in Bristol – affordable house building at is already at a 12 year high.”

The new council committee system, due to replace the mayoral model in 2023, was also mentioned by the mayor.

Speaking about the future council decisions, Rees raised concerns that governance change “is a risk to future delivery”.

“I have shared my own concerns about that model.

“The success of the committee system will be partly judged on its ability to deliver. That will depend on its ability to work with the city rather than falling into the council chamber’s natural tendency to look inwards.”

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Read more: Mayor responds to press briefing row that led to media boycott

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Responding to a question after his speech from Bristol Ideas creative programmer Andrew Kelly, Rees criticised journalists, who continue to boycott his press conference after he barred local democracy reporters from attending.

“I can’t name you the last time a journalist actually interviewed me for more than half an hour to actually talk about the ins and outs of an issue.

“What you normally get is a pre-written story and then someone says, ‘would you comment on the story I’ve already written?’

“So there’s no discussion and debate and investigation. That undermines the quality of our political debate.

“And I think the other challenge about politics is that most people don’t interact with real politicians and real political debate, they interact with the journalistic interpretation of what’s going on, and too often it’s a clickbait-driven summary and opportunistic attacks.”

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

Read next:

• Marvin Rees’ state of the city address 2021
• ‘YTL Arena will be a complex Bristol can be proud of’
• Mayor or committee: What’s the referendum about?
• Funding for Bristol’s mass transit system system ‘at risk’

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