‘I trust Marvin’s integrity and his desire to do the right thing’

I have never been a mad proponent of the necessity for an arena. I am connected to two other venues in the city and so there has always been a worry that an arena and any adjacent new venues would impact on the city’s existing night life offering and ultimately on the success of the two venues to which I am connected.

Notwithstanding that and having read lots of articles about the positive impact of arenas, I am agreeable to having one in Bristol and think the existing night life venues could probably weather the additional competition and might even gain from a huge addition to the city’s cultural offer.

I also have a keen interest in politics and the way power works in cities. I was the vice-chair of the referendum campaign that successfully fought for us to have a mayor and so I do see the current argument through that prism as well.

Whilst I do understand that some people genuinely feel passionately about the arena, I also feel the argument has to some extent descended into one about the mayoralty and Marvin’s performance.

Some of the loudest voices are:

a) the former mayor who, probably understandably, sees the purchase of Temple Island as a personal achievement and a failure to build an arena there as an indictment of his term of office

b) those who hate the idea of us having mayors so are using the situation as a way to argue that mayors are dictatorial and consider we should go back to a more collegiate way of running our city. I guess some of these critics are forgetting that prior to us having a mayor we were seen as a city where ambitions came to die or nothing got done because it was easier than trying to do something.

c) some former mayoral candidates who were unsuccessful in being chosen by the city or their parties

d) a few ‘wannabe’ mayors who are using this as a platform to launch their candidacies

I am not saying these people do not feel passionately about the arena or the city it just feels to me that other agendas are at play which could have swayed their stance.

What an arena on Temple Island could look like

There are also those who want to think there is a conspiracy at play. The conspiracy being that the people who think that Temple Island should be used for something different and/or that YTL should be given an opportunity to build an arena in Filton are all part of an elite cabal who want to sell the city down the river to corporate behemoths who are set on pillaging the city.

I probably will get accused of being part of this cabal because I sit on the board of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) alongside others who have come out in favour of Filton.

I would like to think of myself as an independent person with strong views about the city but am resigned to being seen as part of a conspiracy rather than someone who wants the city to progress in a way that includes as many as people as possible.

My final point is that I lived in Filton from the age of four to 13 so I know the area proposed for the arena well and have a soft spot for it, as I spent a lot of my time there and in the surrounding area whilst growing up.

The reason we moved to Filton is because my dad got a job at Rolls Royce to work on Concorde near to the very Brabazon hangars being proposed as a potential site for the new arena. So I guess I have a fondness for the hangars too as I do think they could be fantastic if converted into arena as they are a great part of the Bristol story.

The Brabazon Hangars sit overlooking the former Filton Airfield

Now that my biases are out there, let’s turn to the argument currently being played out.

The key question that Marvin is deciding on and announcing at the cabinet meeting on September 4 is whether Temple Island will be the location of the arena or whether as a city we should explore other options.

I am not going to say whether Legal & General should be given the job to develop it as looking at the scheme proposed by them it is a work in progress that needs more thought to ensure that it is architecturally and aesthetically something that we can be proud of and in keeping with the rest of the city’s skyline.

What I do know is that I am not sure the city could cope with the extra traffic which would be caused by thousands of people going to a venue in the centre.

I work and live in the city centre so for me I could probably walk there and back. But not everyone lives in the centre, which could lead to an increase in traffic into a city which is regularly at a standstill and completely congested.

People keep saying that most of the concert-goers will come by public transport but that is just not true. I am a regular concert goer and I do not always go by public transport even if the venue is in the city centre. I went to a show in Cardiff recently and the only thing I contributed to that city was the car fumes whilst we were stuck in traffic.

The proposed arena at Filton would be built within the 1940s Brabazon Hangars

The other argument being propagated is that the city will lose out economically if the arena is not built in the centre.

I know my personal concert-going is only anecdotal evidence but I do not think that it is automatic that you go to a concert and you go out to eat and drink and stay in a hotel. Sometimes you just go to see a show and go home and other times you have time to spend enjoying the city. I think this would be case wherever the arena is built.

The evidence being looked at by Marvin also seems to suggest that the city would gain more at a lower cost if there is a mixed use development on the Temple Island site and not just an arena and associated venues.

This has been scoffed at but I have seen nothing from anyone that says “a mixed use scheme will not deliver as much to the city economically” or “it will cost the city more”.

The evidence that I have seen says that a conference centre, a hotel, new homes and business space could be built on Temple Island and this will create more jobs and cost the city £120m less than an arena. This to me is a no brainer if £120m can be spent elsewhere on other things which the city and its citizens need.

Finally, turning to Filton and what people have against it and YTL.

Most of the criticism levelled at YTL seems to be that they are an international company that has employed a whole raft of people who have held important jobs in the city. I really do not understand why that is a criticism because that is what any international company coming to a city with big ambitions would do: employ people who know the city and how it operates.

Further, from what I can see YTL is a large international company but so are Live Nation and SMG, the two companies being proposed as the operators of the arena if it is built at Temple Island.

Should we look at YTL differently because it is Malaysian rather than American?

YTL Developments hope to transform the former Filton Airfield site into hom

The other main argument against Filton is that it is not in the city which is absolute rubbish as no-one from Filton I know says “don’t call me a Bristolian as I am from South Gloucestershire”. We are a city region as well as a city.

This to me is one of the worst arguments and further I suggest that everyone who is against the arena being in north Bristol should go and have a walk around Filton, Upper Horfield, Lockleaze, Southmead, Patchway and then come back and tell me that these areas and the people living there could not do with investment and a boost to their economy.

Sometimes I think that those of us who are fortunate enough to live in central Bristol are blinkered about what Bristol is and who should benefit from its bounty.

I know that south Bristol needs investment but Temple Island is not in south Bristol and the fact that more jobs will be created by a mixed use development on it should mean that the people living in the areas surrounding Temple Island will see more opportunities in any event.

From what I can see, if YTL are given the opportunity to deliver an arena in Filton and Temple Island gets developed along the lines proposed, then we could end up with more of the ingredients for a world class city than if Marvin took the easy route and bowed to the loud voices now.

I really do not envy Marvin as I think he is in a difficult position. I do trust his integrity and his desire to do the right thing even if he does something that is unpopular.

Marti Burgess is head of corporate at Gregg Latchams, one of the owners of Lakota, a trustee at Colston Hall and a business board member of the West of England LEP