Multi-million pound plans to transform an old magistrates court into an enterprise hub for deprived young people are in tatters after Bristol City Council dealt a crushing blow. West of England metro mayor Dan Norris has branded the decision “appalling” and “nonsensical” while others called it “outrageous”.
Creative Youth Network (CYN) had already secured £4.25million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and more than £1million from elsewhere and required just the final piece of the financial jigsaw – £758,000 from the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) – to begin work. The charity, which was run until the start of 2022 by Sandy Hore-Ruthven, the Green candidate who finished second behind Labour’s Marvin Rees at last year’s Bristol mayoral election, was ready to refurbish the derelict Victorian building in Bridewell Street, with the money and full business case expected to be rubber-stamped at Weca committee on Friday, April 8.
The Labour incumbent won with 56.5 per cent of the vote, with the Green candidate receiving 43.5 per cent after first and second preferences were counted. But the city council effectively blocked the move, jeopardising the entire scheme, called The Courts, and the millions of pounds already promised.
