Barge bought by Bristol City Council for £1.4m broken up for scrap, Reports 'Bristol Live.'

Bristol's Bibby-on-Avon: The £1.4m Floating Palace for Migrants That Wasn't.

(Image: Bristol Live)

Following the excellent example set by the Bibby Stockholm on the south coast—which, as we know, was so successful it's being scrapped—our ever-beleaguered Green council thought it would be an absolute slam dunk to follow suit. A genius plan, really, to house visiting migrants in equally luxurious floating accommodation here in Bristol.

And what better vessel for this five-star vision than the magnificent Ebenhaezer? The plan was so foolproof it almost had to be true. As Bristol Live reported, a barge bought by a "cash-strapped council for £1.4m" is now being broken up for scrap.

Yes, you read that right. The very barge that was supposed to solve two of Bristol's most pressing issues—the need for migrant housing and a temporary harbour obstruction—is now just a collection of recyclable parts. The council’s "ransom" payment for the boat’s mooring rights, intended to clear the way for a new development, has turned out to be a tidy £1.4 million investment in a pile of junk. According to the council, the costs to fix the boat to "safely remain moored" far outweighed its value.

This truly is the Bristol way: copying ideas that have already failed elsewhere (much like the widely popular LTNs), and somehow managing to make them even more expensive. So, we're left with no barge, a £1.4 million bill, and a stalled BoxHall development that the entire saga was meant to clear the way for in the first place. A true masterpiece of planning and execution.

And, if you believe any of this, except for the housing migrant factor, I have a two-bedroom, detached bungalow for sale in the middle of the Sahara. So secluded, in fact, your nearest neighbour is a day's ride away. But it does have its very own and exclusive waterhole.