‘If Bristol Arena is not at Temple Meads it will be a betrayal of the people of Bristol’

In the two years since I have been freed from the burdens of public office I have bitten my tongue, and tried to be as supportive towards my successor Marvin Rees, as possible, in the broader interests of our very special city of Bristol which I continue to champion at both home and abroad. However, my patience only goes so far.

Since arriving here in 1965, I have spent most of my life striving to make Bristol a better place, as an architect, activist, social and cultural entrepreneur. It was a huge privilege to represent and serve the people Bristol as its first elected mayor, and I am pleased with what we achieved by putting progress before politics in what was a short but extremely eventful three and a half years.

One of Bristol’s many achievements (of which our hugely successful year as the UK’s first European Green Capital, was one of the most significant) was having a ‘shovel-ready’ plan to build the much-heralded arena at Temple Meads. It was deliberately sited at Temple Meads, the South West’s largest public transport hub, on land we acquired specifically for the project, for many good planning and economic reasons.

On Monday evening, three reports from accountants KPMG are due to be published ahead of a Bristol cabinet meeting to decide on the future of the languishing Bristol Arena project. They are typical ‘bean-counting’ reports void of vision or any social, cultural or environmental considerations. They are even void of input from the design team or selected contractors, who were not approached, or from Destination Bristol who represent and champion the principal cultural attractions in the city. They are clearly politically motivated and are far from being in the broader interest of the people of Bristol.

The Brabazon Hangar on the former Filton Airfield looks more likely than ever to be the home of a new arena

Many years ago it was realised by all ‘grown-up’ European cities that it is far more beneficial to the local economy to provide major sporting and cultural venues in their heart rather than on their edge. Cardiff is a wonderful example – as is Bath in a smaller way – of how a facility such as a sports stadium can bring a city to life. While an edge of city big-shed-in-a-car-park only serves itself and encourages people to jump in their car as the best or only option, clogging up the roads and causing horrendous queuing problems at the venue.

The great advantage of a city centre venue – especially one near a major railway hub serving cities North, East, South and West of us – is that it encourages the use of public and active transport and that those who drive and generally walk the ‘last mile’ boost the local economy on the way; as happens so spectacularly with the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, which has no dedicated customer parking apart for the disabled.

The three KPMG reports look at the Arena as planned at Temple Meads, at an arena at Filton as planned by Malaysian developers YTL who would own and profit from it, and at alternative uses for the Temple Meads site.

This third element is the politically skewed input to try to persuade us that we would benefit more from a conference or convention centre at Temple Meads, without proper consideration of the fact that the arena and a convention centre would be best sited to work together, as they have, for instance, done with such success in Liverpool.

My reason for concentrating on acquiring land around Temple Meads, resulting in the University of Bristol deciding to site its second campus there, was in order to present such opportunities. The profit to the city from those decisions has been spectacular.

An aerial view of Bristol University’s proposed new campus at Temple Meads

I only regret that I did not sign the arena contract before the election but did not imagine any successor would want to kybosh such a beneficial project, with planning, funding, contractor and operator all in place. It was ready to go and would currently be well on its way to completion as had been promised both during and after the election.

Yes, costs have risen but that is principally a factor of the calamitous fall in the value of the pound since Brexit, the construction inflation effect of Hinkley Point, and the two years of prevarication and delay in implementing the project. We have already invested some £15m pounds in the project at Temple Meads, apart from the site, bridge and infrastructure costs. Is that to be wasted?

As far as Bristol is concerned, an arena at Filton will not serve us well, clearly fails what is known as the sequential planning test designed to ensure the vitality of town centres and should not receive planning permission. However we do know that planning is too easily skewed by politics.

I shall support the mayor to the hilt if he resists the siren calls of YTL but have little hope that he will do so. Their game, led by their UK chairman, who ironically first approached me for support of their scheme some 18 months ago, is to strengthen their arm over negotiations for increased public expenditure on their public transport infrastructure at our expense, dwarfing their offer to pay for their arena, not Bristol’s!

At the time I called the mayor to warn him of this possible distraction and he assured me he was proceeding with Temple Meads and that it would be delivered by 2020. Little hope now.

If we don’t proceed with the Bristol Arena at Temple Meads but support the YTL Arena at Filton we shall have betrayed the people of Bristol, especially those who live in our greatest areas of deprivation, and those such as the Muslim community to whom I promised the Bristol Arena for their great annual celebration of Eid. Let’s hope it does not also mean we kiss goodbye to the prospect of hosting the Channel 4 headquarters in Bristol.

Bristol Arena is ready to go. Just do it!

George Ferguson at the unveiling of the name of Brock’s Bridge in March 2016, linking Cattle Market Road to Arena Island – photo by Jelena Belec

George Ferguson was mayor of Bristol from 2012 to 2016