‘Neither witch hunt nor whitewash’

It was 12 months of controversy and accusations. Bristol’s year as European Green Capital was hailed as a success by some who cited the hundreds of initiatives and a lasting environmental legacy; for others it was a travesty, wasting millions of pounds on vanity projects and PR disasters.

Now, a new report looking at the legacy of Bristol 2015 and examining the role of the former mayor of Bristol George Ferguson has been published.

Commissioned by Labour mayor Marvin Rees, the report has exonerated the city council and Ferguson, claiming the year was a “considerable success” that has put Bristol on the world stage.

In response to the report’s publication, Ferguson said: “”Shame on those in this city who chose to use Bristol’s year as European Green Capital as a political football!

“Why is it that there are some people who cannot bear to see success and feel a necessity to knock good people’s efforts?”

He added: “Of course, in hindsight, there is always room for improvement in any major initiative of this sort. However, the European Commission and previous Green Capitals, including our immediate predecessor and partner city Copenhagen, have praised our programme as the most ambitious and successful to date, the only fly in the ointment being the negative messaging from within the city.

“I trust that the naysayers will now back the city and our new mayor in the continuing efforts to ensure Bristol grows its reputation as one of the most inspiring and greenest cities in the world.”

In one of his first acts as mayor, Rees – in the name of transparency – published hundreds of Bristol Green Capital receipts, a move which ultimately led to him splitting with Bristol’s chief executive Nicola Yates, who steadfastly refused all demands to open the books of Green Capital because it was a private company.

He also commissioned the report by the Audit Commission’s former chief executive Steve Bundred to examine Bristol 2015.

The key finding of the 38-page report’s include:

• Bristol 2015 Ltd performed well and the Green Capital year was a considerable success
• It contained creative eye-catching projects which captured the imagination of the public
• It engaged many schoolchildren and youth organisations and caused them to perhaps think about environmental issues in new ways
• It provided support in the form of grants to a number of small organisations and enhanced the external reputation of the city and resulted in a huge increase in visitor numbers.

However, the report did highlight some failings principally that “some elements of both the governance and specifics of the programme gave rise to adverse public comment and political controversy both during the year and afterwards, provoking hurt and disappointment among those feeling unjustly criticised and leaving others to feel their legitimate concerns were not properly dealt with”. 

The report also found that creating a company (Bristol 2015 Ltd) to run the years was “was right” and “reflected good practice” but said the “additional accountability demands that Bristol 2015 Ltd would be subject to, despite its arms-length status, was foreseeable and should have been made clearer to all concerned at an earlier stage”.

It also warned that in future careful consideration should be made if the mayor is on the board of a similar company and there should be “greater clarity about his role.

The report added: “The Mayor’s membership of the Board had both advantages and disadvantages. In my view, the former outweigh the latter but this is a finely balanced judgement. For the future more careful consideration should be given to these issues.”It also found that Bristol Green Capital “did not resolve the problems of exclusion within the city” but added that it “could not reasonably have been expected to do so”.

The 38 page report by the former chief executive of the Audit Commission Steve Bundred concluded: “In short, by any measures the year was hugely successful, popular and rewarding, with positive outcomes that are likely to last for many years.

“The challenge now confronting the city’s leadership is to devote the time and thought needed to address these challenges in advance of any future major initiative of a similar kind.”

Rees says the report must now draw “a firm, fair and impartial line under European Green Capital, showing it to have been ‘an undoubted success’, albeit one with a few bumps in the road.”

Andrew Garrad, chair of Bristol 2015, said he welcomed the report which found “we did a good job but could, of course, have done better”.

He said: “The European Green Capital was a first for Bristol and the analysis of that experience will be very helpful for future initiatives. Of course, any project of this type and scale could be improved in retrospect but it has been judged by our peers, the European Environment Commission and now an independent reviewer to have been “an undoubted success”.

Rees added: “This report is neither witch hunt nor whitewash. In fact I think it is sad that so many people’s hard work for this city was reduced to that kind of black and white narrative. What we needed and what I promised was to see where we could learn for the future, both from what went well and what went less well.

“I believe that the best interests of the city now require a clear line to be drawn under these issues.”

Read more: Open up the Green Capital books