News / george ferguson
Seize chance of greater powers, mayor urges
George Ferguson has urged the leaders of Bristol’s neighbours to seize the chance of gaining greater powers from Westminster before the “window of opportunity closes”.
In his annual ‘state of the city’ lecture at Bristol University, the mayor said the people in the city and next-door authorities could not afford to miss out on the chance of more control over issues such as transport and house-building.
He said that following the announcement by the chancellor George Osborne of the creation of a mayor for Greater Manchester with more devolved powers, it would be “a major missed opportunity” if the Bristol region failed to join forces for similar powers.
In his second annual lecture, Ferguson announced the operator of the proposed new arena for Bristol would be announced at cabinet on December 2. He added the selected operator would bring “great experience” and “everything I’ve seen so far suggests this is a sound deal for the city”.
Bristol was in “comparatively good shape” according to the mayor, who celebrates his second year in charge as the city’s first directly elected mayor on Saturday.
But he said he was “acutely aware” that some sectors of the city were “truly left behind” by the economic recovery.
Opponents of the residents parking zones (RPZ) policy, which has dogged Ferguson since last year, were targeted.
He said traffic congestion was a problem and doing nothing was “simply not an option”.
“The combined effect of residents parking, 20mph zones and MetroBus, when added to local rail and cycling improvements plus conveniences like wifi and smart ticketing on local buses, will make a very positive difference,” he said.
He defended himself against accusations over the ‘one size fits all’ approach to the RPZ being rolled out across the city.
He said it there had been “a lot of nonsense” peddled which was “as far from the truth as it could be”.
Meanwhile, he hailed Bristol’s upcoming year as European Green Capital and urged people to get involved in the consultation on the future of the city’s library service.
He insisted he was “thriving” on the pressure of being mayor, and defended his record so far.
“It’s been a year of hard graft, long days, short nights, great highlights, and not a few brickbats – but I thrive on it all,” he said.
“I have made public promises – and I stand by them.
“That isn’t to say I’ve always got it right. But leadership is about being bold and willing to try things out. And for the most part I’ve done what I said I’d do, and significant progress has been made.”
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