New stadium’s green failings could cost city World Cup bid
By Bristol could jeopardise its chances of winning World Cup host city status if the new stadium at Ashton Vale is not made more sustainable, a Liberal Democrat councillor has warned.
With just 24 hours to go before a council planning committee decides on the plan to build a 30,000-seat stadium near Bristol City Football Club’s existing ground, Councillor Neil Harrison has urged the members to take into account the green agenda.
New stadium: Just 24 hours before planning committee makes its decision
The Cotham Lib Dem has made his views known in a public statement to the Development Control Committee (South and East), and speaking to Bristol24-7 he said that there were “lots of missed opportunities for sustainability”.
He added that the plan was not in keeping with the city’s bid to improve its green credentials and could count against it when the Football Association (FA) comes to decide on which UK cities would be chosen to host World Cup matches in 2018.
“In essence, the proposed stadium has very little in the way of sustainability features,” he said. “It does have rainwater capture, which is good, but no commitment to a building standard, no onsite renewable energy and no specific energy efficiency features that I can see.
“We are trying to cut the city’s carbon footprint and here we have a major new development that will increase it, so there’s a policy objective not being met there.
“And the FA are pushing the sustainability issue very hard, so it would jeopardise the World Cup bid if we produced a stadium that wasn’t sustainable.
“I am not opposing the application, but if it goes forward it needs to be more sustainable.”
The eagerly anticipated planning meeting at the council house tomorrow starts at 6pm, and is expected to be a baptism of fire for some of the councillors on the committee.
Chairman of Bristol FC Steve Lansdown said today in the Evening Post that the stadium would be a “national and international showcase for everything that Bristol has to offer. As a Bristolian, I am proud of my city and I believe that a facility like this is long overdue.”
Urging councillors to approve the application, he added: “I want this stadium to represent Bristol for a hundred years and more.”
The nine councillors on the committee:
- Cheryl Ann: Lib Dem, Manor Farm
- Jacqueline Bowles: Lib Dem, Southmead
- Fi Hance: Lib Dem, Redland
- Simon Rayner: Lib Dem, Kingsweston
- Mary Sykes: Lib Dem, Hengrove
- Lesley Alexander: Con, Frome Vale (Chairman)
- Mark Weston: Con, Henbury
- Royston Griffey: Lab, Hartcliffe
- John Bees: Labour, Kingsweston
Fears have been raised that the intense pressure created by the issue would affect the judgement of the councillors on the committee.
Bristol City Council said today that to “carefully manage the public participation section of this meeting” both sides of the debate would be given – in true footballing terminology – 45 minutes to put their case forward.
But the fears for the committee were rejected by Cllr Harrison. He added that there was no reason the committee had to approve the stadium plan outright tomorrow and this did not necessarily wreck Bristol’s World Cup host bid chances.
“If they are on the committee they have had the training. Too much experience can be a bad thing and you want people with an open mind – but it’s certainly a baptism of fire!
“I don’t think there’s a problem. There’s a range of options if they are not convinced – they could approve the plan in principle but reject some of the details. I am sure they will come to the right decision.
“It’s not unusual for decisions not to be approved outright at the first meeting. We need to demonstrate there is a viable plan on the table. We don’t need to be signed sealed and delivered tomorrow, contrary to what many people have said. Another range of results would not derail the bid.”
Meanwhile, Bristol City FC have announced record losses of £6.56million for the year ended May 31, 2009.
Released for the first time on its official website, the club’s losses increased from £1,997,779 for the previous financial year.
Woodburner is correct. This project is likely to bankrupt Bristol City, cost the Council Tax payers dearly, destroy the greenbelt , all for a couple of measlly world cup games.
Stop this madness!
Sustainability issues just add weight to the growing unviability of this vanity project.