Bristol Port sale: ‘Serious questions remain’

Councillors have been called to an “extraordinary” meeting on Tuesday to discuss the proposed sale of Bristol Port. Anthony Negus, Lib Dem councillor for Cotham, explains why he has forced the council to convene over the plans.

On March 3 the mayor approved the transfer of the Council’s freehold interest in the land forming the Port of Bristol for a payment of £10m. I do not know who would possibly welcome this policy (apart from First Corporate Shipping), which sets a hugely damaging precedent.

Previous administrations have taken a ‘City Fathers’ 150 year long-term view of the city’s assets, not a view based on a short-term political timescale.

Not only will this sell off a huge legacy of public land, but the proposal is to almost give it away for pennies in comparison to its real worth.

Further sell-offs of council land could follow, under the disguise of investment, that grossly short-change the residents of Bristol. I therefore called in this decision twice to expose the weaknesses and contradictions of a report that is far from impartial, appears biased and which has been clouded in secrecy. 

The mayor’s decision to sell the land was made based on a valuation, risk and due diligence report. But the decision, if it goes ahead, will have significant consequences for the area, especially in relation to what happens to the Henbury Loop and our ability to invest in and benefit from tidal technology.

The report was entirely “exempt” and extracts attached to the public documents did not reveal the Council’s true intentions.

We were only told that this would be a £10 million freehold sale; no other essential information was released to the public. This report was not made available for proper scrutiny until Lib Dem councillors demanded it.

Serious questions remain over how the Council has dealt with this situation. We were told that the report was ‘exempt’ from public or even councillor scrutiny due to ‘commercially – sensitive reasons’, which in fact were virtually non-existent. Only a small part of this document, if any, needed to be exempt but the contents have been denied to the public from which we must draw sad conclusions.

More fundamentally, far from being impartial, the report was biased and focused on playing down the Council’s advantageous position.

It did not provide a balanced evaluation to help develop an alternative proposal. I am not fundamentally opposed to giving up the freehold of this land, held in trust for the citizens of Bristol, but the deal has to be credible.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I are however incensed by the lack of vision displayed by the mayor by accepting such a small amount of income for the taxpayer. Indeed, selling the port land for £10 million would:

• Prioritise short-term investment over greater long-term value of the site.
• Give free rein to speculators to develop large commercial estates on the port site and lift restrictions on polluting industries at the port.
• Damage Bristol’s land-based involvement in securing a huge project to generate power from tidal energy across Cardiff Bay.
• Weaken the Council’s strategic role in helping to complete the Henbury loop line.
• Closed down the potential for using parts of the land for regeneration of the north of the city, and eroded our control over building supermarkets, waste incinerators, housing and much more on the site, with no benefit to the city.

This city should be more astute with its assets, assets that belong to the people who live here. We should not settle for such a meagre amount of money when the outcome has such significant consequences that have clearly not been thought through.

The decision to sell the land is at best inept and has not been handled in a proper manner. It is incredible that there is no provision for sharing in any increase in value over time on re-sale.

The Council have a moral responsibility to use the land to our greatest advantage – not sell bits of it off to the highest bidder in such a secretive manner.

The mayor should now set up an independent valuation of the site and arrange for a full, robust report to be debated and discussed at the next Full Council, so that all elected members can have the opportunity to discuss the situation in an open and transparent setting.