Bristol will never have an underground because it would cost up to £18billion, a bombshell secret report reveals. The eye-watering figure, in an unpublished document by consultants for the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), flies in the face of previous estimates of £4billion and repeated claims by city mayor Marvin Rees, who has long championed a tube network as part of a mass transit system.
In response, a spokesperson for Mr Rees says his office “totally rejects the report and its content” which they blame on a “flawed approach” by Weca. The revelation about the massive price tag comes just days after Labour metro mayor Dan Norris, who is in charge of the region’s transport as head of Weca, categorically said “No” when asked on BBC Points West for a one-word answer as to whether the city would get an underground.
Then on Thursday (February 23), fellow Labour mayor Mr Rees hit back in a Bristol City Council press release, saying the combined authority’s “lack of ambition is staggering”. The report’s findings, which are likely to be hugely embarrassing for Bristol’s mayor, have not been made public but have been obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
