‘Bristol should host Commonwealth Games’

The remarkable medal tally and personal achievements of Team GB recently in Rio have generated a lot of positive publicity and brought sport to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. As in London, the British cyclists made a huge contribution to our finishing second in the overall medals table.

No doubt, we shall soon witness similar inspirational performances from the ‘superhumans’ participating in the Paralympics due to start later this week.

It is not surprising therefore that such sporting endeavour has prompted a campaign for Bristol to build its very own velodrome and family cycle centre. The idea certainly has merit and it is easy to see the appeal of such a facility in our city.

Of course, funding such a development will always be the biggest challenge, but so far as location is concerned, I would look to see if it could be housed in the old Brabazon Hanger at Filton.

This site actually falls within our city boundary and, at one time, was considered by some to be a better option than Temple Meads for building the Bristol Arena.

However, if we are to really regard ourselves as living in a forward looking, ambitious city, why stop there? Now, is surely a time to explore the opportunities of promoting Bristol and the South West on the world stage.

So, I would argue for us to be much more bold and explore the possibility of making a regional bid to host the next available Commonwealth Games in 2026.

Fellow core cities Birmingham and Liverpool have already declared their interest in so doing as they have recognised the ‘regenerative potential’ of hosting such high-profile, large-scale, global spectacle.

Of course, the benchmark for hosting the ‘Friendly Games’ successfully, especially in terms of long-term sustainability, remains those held by Manchester in 2002. 

Not only did this event provide the catalyst for substantial urban regeneration for the northwest, it produce a sporting and cultural legacy which has seen the city itself promoted to one of the premier places to live in the UK.

I have read various cost-benefit analyses of this event. The financial figures are hefty but not insurmountable (unlike the colossal demands placed on a host city contemplating securing something like the Olympics).

The bill for Manchester came in at £300m, whilst the comparable sum for the Glasgow Games have been put at £575m. However, in return, these cities got world-class venues, including amongst others the Manchester Velodrome (£9.5m) which was originally constructed for their Olympic aspirations but is home to the British Cycling Team; the City of Manchester Stadium (£112m), now a premier league football ground; a purpose-built Aquatics Centre (32m); and a national Squash Centre (£3.5m).

Importantly, most of the funding for this infrastructure was met by central Government, Sport England, the National Lottery and private sponsorship. In fact, the total costs to local taxpayers was – astonishingly – merely £14m. Estimates of the economic return for this outlay vary but some sources report that by 2008, £600m extra had been invested in the region and about 20,000 jobs created.

Now, I am acutely aware that this bid proposal has the potential to attract scoff and scorn. Bristol has historically a poor record in delivering stadia and could struggle on its own to find enough suitable sites.

However, a collaborative plan with our neighbouring local authorities in the West of England Partnership, probably involving the devolution package, could make this a viable possibility.

One can easily imagine that Bristol could hold gymnastics and other indoor competitions in the new, flexible, 12,000 seater Arena. Our universities in Bath and Bristol might be able to provide bases for the aquatics events.

I am sure an athletics venue could be built, perhaps in South Gloucestershire, and any sailing or rowing (if included in a future Games programme) could be held – as they were for London 2012 – at Weymouth or Dorney respectively.

Rival English cities have already stolen a march on us and are busy looking into how they might host the games in ten years’ time. A final decision in this matter will be confirmed by the Commonwealth Games General Assembly in September 2019.

In Liverpool, they are beginning with a strategic review or assessment of their existing assets, plus finding other sites, as well as identifying the finance and key infrastructure (transport) needed to host this multi-national, multi-sports occasion.

For example there were 71 participating nations at the Glasgow Games with approximately 4,950 athletes taking part in 18 different sports.

So the Southwest is already starting behind the curve. Like the proverbial tale of The Hare and the Tortoise, I believe ‘slow and steady can still win the race’.

But this will require enormous ambition and vision on the part of our civic leaders to at the very least get this process started and explore all of our options in this regard. For, in an increasingly competitive world – both nationally and internationally – we have seen that to stand still is often to risk falling behind.

Mark Weston is leader of the Conservative group of councillors at Bristol City Council.

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