As we head towards our Mayoral hustings on 18th March, TRESA is reproducing the pledges made by candidates. Marvin Rees is the current mayor and is standing again as the Labour candidate. Below are the pledges made in a speech to launch his campaign.
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Connectivity and Transport
We will deliver an underground and integrated public transport system with free travel for apprentices and students up to 25.
In the next few weeks, I will unveil my administration’s 15 year plan to transform city transport forever.
- The bus deal, improving infrastructure and services, with direct commuter routes, driving up patronage.
- Followed by a city centre circle line of rapid buses keeping traffic out of the city centre and improving city links in each direction, enabling the pedestrianisation of the old city.
- New train stations and improved frequencies,
- Then the mass transit system, including four lines with underground travel.
We have laid the ground and have the vision and commitment to get Bristol moving.
Economy
We will achieve a living wage city, growing jobs in a diverse economy and building on the success of the Channel 4 Hub, with opportunity for all Bristol’s communities.
Bristol has seen the growth of the high tech sector and the creative and media sectors. Winning Channel 4 was a huge success and they are already advertising jobs. They will work with us as we continue to put inclusion and sustainability at the heart of our economic values, with jobs in all sectors.
Environment and Sustainability
We will invest £1bn in clean energy, double the tree canopy, grow sustainable food in every ward and deliver our climate and ecological emergency plans.
We were the first city to unanimously carry the climate emergency in our council chamber… and the first city to declare an ecological emergency.
- The City Leap programme will transform our relationship with energy, reducing our carbon footprint.
- Growing food locally will help to tackle food poverty and will be integral to our city’s commitment to achieve the gold standard in food sustainability.
- Working with partners, we will invest money and land in planting trees.
Bristol is delivering the Green New Deal and working with cities around the world, through the global parliament of mayor, eurocities and c40 to tackle climate change.
Health and Wellbeing
We will enable people to live fulfilled, independent lives in their own homes for as long as possible and double the number of adults with learning difficulties we support into employment.
We have introduced technology to support independent living and Our HomeFirst service is returning people home quicker after a hospital stay while also reducing readmission.
Paying care workers the living wage and travel time and delivering a UNESCO age friendly city is more evidence of how we are delivering for our elders.
We will build council and social homes, building over 2,000 homes each year, of which 1,000 are affordable and reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation.
From innovation and awards, we’ve been recognised for the commitment we’ve brought to housing delivery, including the first real council house building programme in decades.
Tackling the housing crisis – with 12,000 on the housing waiting list, and over 500 in temporary accommodation – will remain our top priority. We have committed £85 million to accelerate home building, and £61 million for Goram Homes, our own housing company, while freeing up a further £15.7million to invest in building council homes.
Learning and skills
We will build new secondary schools, deliver quality work experience and apprenticeships, and deliver adult learning and youth opportunities, including two Youth Zones.
With current plans for new secondary schools we will provide the school places and choice parents want. We enabled three and a half thousand meaningful experiences of work delivered this year alone to our young people and many more are being supported into work. Two new Youth Zones, one in the north and one in the south of the city, will form a key element of our revamped youth services, delivering hope and opportunity for our children and young people.
Source: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/labours-marvin-rees-launches-2020-3847706
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees at his election campaign launch for 2020 (Image: David Betts Photography)