Each year the Bristol mayor gives a long lecture to a packed hall about his achievements, and most years also tend to see a shock new policy announced. However, many projects revealed in previous annual State of the City Addresses are yet to have happened.
Bristol is still waiting for powerboat racing to return to the docks, closing Park Street to cars, and an underground rail network, despite Marvin Rees revealing plans for all of these in previous years. He did, however, provide an update on the latter at this week's State of the City Address 2022.
It took place at Bristol University’s Wills Memorial Building, on Wednesday, October 26. This year’s address was Mr Rees’s penultimate before leaving office, and the first since Bristol voters scrapped the mayoral role in a referendum.
Read more: Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees' 2022 State of the City Address in full
Last year, Mr Rees announced a new consultation on closing Park Street, a main city centre road, to most through traffic. The policy was part of a plan to speed up bus journeys, and caused concerns among the street’s many traders. A public consultation was held on the plans to speed up bus journeys, including the Park Street closure, but so far the road is still open.
In autumn 2020, the country was in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, and so no big policy announcements were revealed during that year’s State of the City Address. This reflective speech was the last of the mayor's first term in office, before getting re-elected in 2021.
In 2019, Mr Rees revealed a new ‘Circle Line’ bus service to loop around Bristol. He said: “A Circle Line will connect the city’s central areas of Broadmead, Cabot Circus, Redcliffe, Temple Meads and Old Market every few minutes. Through traffic will bypass the city's central areas completely.” This new Circle Line service has not yet been introduced.
The main new policy revealed in 2018 was charging bus passengers a flat fare across the city. This was actually introduced, but other fares were increased at the same time.
The main topic of the State of the City Address in 2017 was plans for the mass transit system, including an underground rail network. This policy had already been revealed a few weeks earlier, when the Bristol Post received a leaked document, but it still saw a lot of focus during the mayor’s annual speech.
No construction work has started yet but in this year's speech, the mayor said: "We have continued the work to build a mass transit system that will transform the way we move around the city region. The economic and geological assessment work has been done.
"We are about to commit a further £15 million with our neighbours to take this work to the next stage. Overground and underground networks are fast, efficient, low carbon transport systems.
"They are essential for a modern, crowded city. Bristolians have waited long enough. There cannot be any U-turns, no shying away from the challenge of delivery for those who come next, be they Bristol councillors or the combined authority."
In his first State of the City Address, in 2016, Mr Rees revealed that he was taking part in talks to bring back powerboat racing to Bristol’s docks. Races were held for 18 years during the 1970s and 80s, but were scrapped after seven racers lost their lives.
In the 2016 speech, Mr Rees said: “In sport, Bristol has punched below its weight. I am determined to increase activity, participation, access and elite sport in the city. And I can share tonight, we are in discussions to bring powerboat racing back to the docks.”
Six years later, powerboat racing has not made a return to the docks. The mayor was asked to comment on this list of previous policy promises which have not yet happened.
In his Address this week, he said: "We have found a way to get stuff done. And the city needs that to continue.
"I am not saying we have been perfect or that we don’t wish some things had worked out differently. Every journey combines success with failure. But we learned as we went, made big decisions, grappled with complexity, faced the head winds and delivered."
He also shared "examples of delivery" that "actually got done or are in the process of getting done", citing the arena as his 'personal favourite'. He also spoke of ongoing infrastructure improvements such as bridge repairs, as well as housing developments, and low-carbon and net-zero projects.
The mayor added: "The truth is, when you first come into office, you are limited in your insights. We come into power through a system of retail politics characterised by the making of promises and offering of solutions to problems we think are important to you.
"But when you walk through the door ideology meets pragmatism. You must work with everyone, including unlikely allies, to change the systems and processes you can control, and influence those you don’t, so that things get done. All the while you have to pray the economic, political and social forces over which you have no control whatsoever such as inflation, wider stability and health end up working in your favour."
