southbristolvoice September 2018 No. 40
www.southbristolvoice.co.uk
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Back on the skyline: Illuminated cross at Totterdown Methodist church MAYOR Marvin Rees has agreed to face councillors on the oversight and scrutiny board as he prepares to reveal his decision on whether an arena should be built at Temple Meads. The mayor is under mounting pressure as opposition councillors claim his apparent support for a rival arena plan at Filton could leave any decision he makes at risk of legal challenge. Former mayor George Ferguson called a Filton arena “a betrayal of the people of Bristol”. He said the mayor should step aside from the arena decision because he accepted “thousands of pounds” of hospitality from Malaysian firm YTL, the backer of the Filton plan. Marvin Rees has met YTL officials three times in the past year, twice in Kuala Lumpur at YTL’s expense. On one occasion
THE CROSS at Totterdown Methodist church in Bushy Park is lighting up the sky once more. Members of the church and the Totterdown community rallied to raise £1,500 to replace the cross after the first version, put up many years ago by volunteers, stopped working. The church is now asking for funds and willing hands to help decorate its hall and sand the floor. Email totterdownmethodist@gmail.com
Arena: ‘The mayor should step aside’ YTL paid for Mr Rees’s flights and accommodation; on another it paid for a meal and did not pay for the flights, said the council. No values have been given for the benefits, though Mr Rees told the BBC the accommodation was in a “£120 a night” hotel. Mr Ferguson says the flights alone will have cost thousands and the mayor’s office has “lost its moral compass” over the affair. “I think that this requires the mayor to disqualify himself from making a decision, and hand it to the full council,” he said. Cllr Gary Hopkins claimed
that not only the mayor, but his entire cabinet, should withdraw from the decision. The scrutiny board meets on September 3, the day before the cabinet debates the arena. Cllr Hopkins asked for the cabinet papers to be published early so the scrutiny board has time to consider them. Green party leader Eleanor Combley said a decision put the council at risk of legal challenge. The council says a legal opinion will be given to the cabinet on September 4. • STORY: Pages 4 and 5
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• BROADWALK SNOOKER HALL PROTEST 3 • DIESELS LIKELY TARGET IN CLEAN AIR ZONE 6 • IS WEEDKILLER SAFE FOR OUR STREETS?
• PLASTIC ATTACKS ARE GOING GLOBAL 10
• HISTORY: PIRATES AND SLAVERY 27-31
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