The cost of the Bristol Beacon revamp has spiralled yet again by another £25million and now stands at an eye-watering £132million – almost three times the original amount. City council taxpayers will have to sink even more cash into the money-pit refurbishment of the Victorian concert hall at a time when the authority has announced widespread cuts to services including social care, libraries, parks and the council tax reduction scheme for the poorest families.
Mayor Marvin Rees’s cabinet is set to approve the increased bill that will come from additional borrowing to be paid back at £2.3million annually over the next 50 years, which means the local authority will have that much less every single year for the next half century. Members are also expected to cut all funding to Bristol Music Trust (BMT) which runs the city centre venue on behalf of the council.
The latest hike follows a massive increase in the total cost less than two years ago, from £52million to £107million, which the Labour cabinet approved with the backing of cross-party scrutiny councillors. Bristol City Council has already written off £69million on the project – a figure expected to rise to £93million because of payments due to main contractor Willmott Dixon – and the building, formerly the Colston Hall, is valued at zero in the authority’s accounts.
