News / Tourism
Mystery proposed tourist attraction understood to be ‘The Arc’
A mystery proposed tourist attraction near M Shed has been rejected by councillors – but is understood to be The Arc, a controversial London Eye-style viewing capsule that would soar 79 metres into the sky above Bristol.
The structure, which would be a world first, was granted planning permission unanimously by city councillors in 2021 against the advice of officers to refuse because of the impact on views of the cathedral and other listed buildings.
It would have taken up to 42 passengers at a time on a 20-minute ‘flight’ from the roof of We The Curious, with a giant levered arm anchored in Millennium Square pivoting and lifting a glass cabin.
But it was never built, and a rooftop fire at the city centre science museum in April 2022 shut the venue for more than two years, by which time the team at We The Curious had second thoughts about the project and decided to drop it.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) now understands that the idea was put back on the table for a different harbourside location, at Princes Wharf – and has ironically been turned down by councillors despite advice from officers to progress it.
It follows the launch of a commercial prospectus by Bristol City Council and the harbour authority last September inviting expressions of interest for 19 sites across the harbour.
A report to the harbour committee said: “The market response was strong, with proposals being submitted across a wide range of uses and locations.”
It said each was assessed and officers approved some of the smaller proposals, while the ‘significant’ ones went to the committee for a decision.
The report said: “An unsolicited proposal has been received for a site that was not included in the Harbour Activated commercial prospectus – the proposal is for a visitor attraction at Princes Wharf which occupies both water and land space in the vicinity of the M Shed.
“Due to the high-profile nature of the proposal, Bristol Harbour Authority is seeking a steer from the harbour committee as to whether this should be progressed.”
The proposed attraction was not named in publicly available papers to the meeting on June 23, with all information contained in an exempt report, prompting a 50-minute session between councillors and officers behind closed doors to discuss commercially sensitive details.
But a source told the LDRS that it was The Arc.
In the public part of the committee, councillors described it as ‘the big one’ but were concerned that the idea was ‘untested’.
They voted against progressing it despite officers recommending taking it forward subject to the promoter ‘bearing all planning, funding, construction and commercial risk and submitting a best and final offer to the harbour authority which is acceptable to it’.
Members voted in favour of pushing ahead with proposals for the sites in the prospectus, although no details were made public about these submissions either.
Committee vice-chair and Green councillor for Hotwells and Harbourside, Patrick McAllister, said: “This is a really exciting visualisation and expression of Bristol’s attractiveness as somewhere to invest and try to build quite innovative facilities.
“I am hugely excited at the prospect of taking a lot of this forward.
“We need to be very mindful that some of the proposals we’ve been given are untested in the UK, particularly the ‘big one’.
“We need to make sure that there doesn’t end up being financial risk that ends up bouncing back on the harbour or the council.
“How confident are we that we can draft heads of terms and leases to make sure that any commercial or planning risk is firmly on the private operators and that it won’t be the harbour or the council that picks up the pieces if an operator goes bust and leaves something half-built?”
Harbour authority commercial manager Richard Pimblott replied: “We can be very confident in two [of the larger prospectus proposals], not so in the ‘big one’, as you described, from a commercial perspective because it’s untested and a lot of what I’ve seen so far doesn’t stack up.”
Councillor McAllister said he fully supported the recommendations to go ahead with plans for the 19 sites.
But he said of the ‘untested’, unsolicited ‘big one’: “My response is probably not yet or not at this juncture.
“But maybe in future, as we progress plans for the area more, it might be more appropriate to take another, more detailed look at it.”
The Arc’s glass pod would rise up to 67 metres, with the top of the structure 12 metres higher.
The planning committee was told in 2021 that it would be solar powered, move at 5mph, operate up to 18 hours a day, attract between 250,000 and 330,000 visitors a year and boost the local economy by £13.3m, with about 10 per cent of trips given for free or subsidised to people from deprived areas.
Main photo: Martha Fiddick
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