Row over underground

A ROW has broken out over the future of plans for a Bristol underground.

A secret report to the West of England Combined Authority says a tube train network for the city would cost up to £18 billion - more than four times previous estimates of £4bn.

The revelation came days after Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who is in charge of the region’s transport strategy as head of WECA, categorically said “no” when asked by a BBC presenter whether the city would ever have an underground system.

In response, a spokesperson for Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said his office “totally rejects" the WECA report, and Mr Rees himself accused the combined authority of a "staggering" lack of ambition.

The study by multinational consultants WSP concluded that an overground mass transit network would cost between £1.5bn and £1.8bn, but an underground would set taxpayers back 10 times that amount. The findings have not been made public but have been obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Plans for a mass transit system, with a mix of overground and underground networks, were announced by Mr Rees in 2017. WECA allocated £1.5m in 2020 to pay consultants to look into whether the system was feasible. Mr Rees put links on his blog to two of the studies that were favourable, but the third has never officially been published.

A spokesperson for Mr Rees said the latest cost estimates were the result of a "flawed approach" within WECA.

Mr Rees, who will call on WECA for another £15m to be spent developing mass transit, said: "I remain committed to the mass transit system, including the use of underground in central areas. We created the combined authority to find and build big solutions to transport and regional housing, and it is currently failing on both."

By Adam Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service