The Government is on the cusp of approving a £95million bid to kickstart the huge Temple Quarter revamp, council chiefs believe. Hopes are high that funding is finally on the way to unlock one of the biggest city centre regeneration projects in Europe just weeks after Bristol mayor Marvin Rees accused Downing Street of broken promises when it was apparently left off a list of Levelling Up schemes.
But senior City Hall officers told a recent council meeting that an announcement now seems imminent and that advanced talks with Whitehall had reached the stage of agreeing terms for the major deal. West of England metro mayor Dan Norris says he is also optimistic that the money will be secured soon following a “very productive” meeting with Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy in Bristol.
The project would begin with a redevelopment of Temple Meads station, followed by a series of other big plans for nearby derelict land, including student halls, offices and a conference centre at Temple Island where former mayor George Ferguson had earmarked an arena. Temple Quarter, the first half of the multi-billion-pound, 25-year revamp for up to 10,000 homes and 22,000 jobs, will also have a new University of Bristol campus and a transport hub, while the second phase will regenerate a larger area at neighbouring St Philip’s Marsh.
