Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Tackling inequality at the heart of city’s vision
MORE than 100 leading figures in Bristol gathered yesterday to launch the city’s vision for the period to 2050.
The 50-page plan contains hundreds of ambitious milestones that the authors want the city to achieve over the next three decades.
They include cutting inequality and pollution while improving health outcomes and delivering improvements to connectivity and sustainable growth.
Delivering more affordable housing to accommodate the city’s growing population was one of the other vital ambitions.
The ‘One City Plan’ was launched by mayor Marvin Rees at an event at City Hall yesterday morning.
The audience was made up of business leaders and senior figures at other public sector organisations.
However, opposition councillors were critical that they were not invited.
Among the other delegates to speak was Jonathan Allan, chief commercial officer of Channel 4, which is preparing to base one of its regional headquarters in the city later this year.
Mr Rees said: “As a city, we are responsible for shaping and investing in our future and so the One City Plan describes the Bristol we want to live in.
“While it’s important to recognise this is very much a first draft which will need evolving, it is most importantly the first time we have brought the city together and partners have created a long-term plan together.”
The main thrust of his remarks was that inequalities were holding the city back.
As well as being broken down decade by decade, there is also an overarching vision of how partners would like the city to look by 2050.
It falls under six priority themes – health and wellbeing, economy, homes and communities, environment, learning and skills and connectivity.
Improvements to mass transit public transport, an increase in cycling and much greater digital connectivity were key aims.
The plan will be held by the City Office and is available to view online at www.bristolonecity.com. It is a first draft and it is expected that over time the process for developing the plan will increase in sophistication.
The 50-page report that accompanied the launch was full of quotes from political figures and academics. A section on aspiration and inspiration saw remarks from Mr Rees sandwiched between quotes from former US president Dwight D Eisenhower and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.