Could City Council Deal With Bristol City FC See Arena Built Near New Stadium?

A deal between Bristol City football club and the city council could see Bristol getting a 10,000-seat concert arena.

They are on the brink of signing a legally-binding agreement which could lead to an arena being built near the club's new £92 million stadium.

Deputy council leader Simon Cook said: "The club and ourselves want to work together towards the next stage which is an arena."

An exact site has not yet been earmarked for the arena but it would be close to the proposed stadium.

But an international company has already told the Evening Post they would be "very keen" to develop an arena if a site became available.

Mr Cook said: "The agreement is a marker in the sand to flag up that an arena is a bigger ambition."

He said the stadium provided a "one-off" opportunity to build an arena which the city was sadly lacking.

"We've got St George's and the Colston Hall but we don't have a big venue for the big rock concerts and we want to complete that circle," he added. "But we can't do anything until we have got the stadium."

Bristol City's chief executive Colin Sexstone said: "Our priority is obviously the stadium but we are happy to help in achieving the arena as much as we can."

The council is considering handing Bristol City two parcels of land worth an estimated £4.6m.

They include part of the car park and access off Winterstoke Road at the Ashton Gate ground and a disused allotment site next to the David Lloyd sports centre.

In return Bristol City would agree to provide a range of community sports facilities.

These include a community gym, setting up a junior football academy in south Bristol, facilities for a football-in-the-community project, the use of rooms at the new stadium, the use of the pitch on one day a year and the setting up of a community trust to provide a link between local people and the new stadium.

The total value of the community sports facilities is £370,000 a year.

In a report to the council Alun Owen, the council director in charge of major projects writes that the 30,000-seat stadium would generate £223m to the city economy over the next 20 years and create more than 200 jobs.

Other developments such as the proposed Sainsbury's supermarket on City's present home, Ashton Gate, would increase these predictions to £247m and about 360 jobs.

Mr Owen says: "The addition of an arena would further enhance these figures."

He says a major conference centre with hotel accommodation for 1,000 delegates which is part of the stadium plans would be an added bonus for the city.

He writes: "Bristol has suffered from an absence of a large conference venue with associated 'break out' space for smaller meetings and discussion groups.

"The new stadium design would greatly enhance Bristol's offer and allow it to compete in the national and international conference market. This would further generate earnings over the long-term for the city economy.

"Destination Bristol estimates that the city is currently losing between £5m to £8m per year of conference business as a consequence of not having appropriate large-scale conference facilities."

Cabinet councillors are expected to make a decision on the land sale at a meeting on Thursday week.

The night before, councillors will decide whether to grant planning permission for a Sainsbury's store to be built at Ashton Gate.

The proposed store is a major key in providing the funding for the new stadium. But the stadium can only go ahead if an application by Ashton Vale residents to get the stadium site designated as a town green is turned down.