#Bristol's Billion-Pound Pipe Dream: An Unedited View Of Bristol Politics and Life.

From Decarbonisation Deals to Mayoral Consultancy: The Raw Reality of Bristol City Leap (of faith).

(Image: Bristol Post)

Well, here I go again, for yet another jolly old jape at Bristol life, raw, unedited version, and now my attention turns to a subject touted as the biggest deal of its kind in British history, with a headline figure for the partnership between Bristol City Council and US giants Ameresco put at £1 billion. It's an eye-watering sum for the city of Bristol to be ‘decarbonised’, but what exactly is Bristol City Leap (of faith), how does it work, and what difference is it going to make to Bristol?

Until now the Bristol City Leap (of faith) project - for the vast majority of people in Bristol - has had little impact. Its £1 billion deal has created headlines and troubled the city’s political twitterers, but in terms of visible change for the city, few would be able to describe who or what it is.

The Bristol City Leap (of faith) is a 20-year public-private partnership between Bristol City Council, US energy company Ameresco, its subcontractor Vattenfall Heat UK, and, as I've recently discovered, a certain former Bristol Mayor. The idea is to bring in over £1 billion of private investment to make the city carbon neutral by 2030. The "leap of faith" part comes in because the council is outsourcing this enormous undertaking, hoping private companies will succeed where public funding has fallen short.

The partnership works by leveraging the council's assets and land. The council leases land to the joint venture, which then uses private capital to build things like solar farms and expand the city's district heat network. In return, Ameresco gets to keep the revenue from these projects, with a portion of the profits supposedly making their way back to the council and the community. It's a complex, long-term deal designed to survive political whims, but its intricacy is perhaps part of the reason it remains so mysterious to the public.

So, what difference is it going to make? Over the first five years, the goals are ambitious: a projected 140,000 tonnes of carbon savings, 1,000 new jobs, and £61.5 million in "social value." They also plan to retrofit council homes to be more energy-efficient and expand the city’s district heating system. The jury is still out on whether these eye-popping figures will translate into a meaningful, tangible difference for the average Bristolian.

But here’s the kicker. I’ve certainly peeled back another layer on this particular Bristol onion, and it's a right old tearjerker. The partnership on the Bristol City Leap (of faith) isn't just with Bristol City Council, Ameresco, and Vattenfall. It would appear a certain former Bristol Mayor, or as he's more affectionately known locally, The Right Reverend, (now Lord) Marvin the Magnificent, of Stapleton Road, has also made a rather timely, shall we say, "entry" into the post-contract landscape, and seemingly performed his first recorded miracle!

And what a magnificent development it is! As I’ve so astutely pointed out, the former Bristol Mayor has revealed—with admirable transparency, one must note—that a company he set up, Three and Two Ltd., (which according to his track record of underground railway pipe dreaming equals five) has been paid by two organisations who signed major contracts with Bristol City Council on his watch. The timing, of course, is a masterstroke of cosmic synchronicity. The company's incorporation date, less than two weeks before his final day in office, is a coincidence of such exquisite precision you could set your watch by it.

And the clients? Oh, the suspense! One of the clients of Lord Marvin the Magnificent’s new venture just happens to be Ameresco. Yes, that Ameresco. The very same US giants who, purely by coincidence, of course, were awarded a £1 billion slice of the Bristol City Leap (of faith) to bring their expertise and investment to the city.

In other words, it's what some might call a "you're screwed" fate accompli, and tough on you, mate.

And now, the plot further thickens like a, you know, cup of cold vomit. In an undated article on Cambridge Management Consulting’s website, Lord Rees is named as someone who presented a Ted Talk on the role of cities and was listed on the company's board of directors. The company also lists Craig Cheney, the former finance chief in Lord Rees’ cabinet, as a managing partner. Who’d have thought it?

The Mayors Migration Council (any spare Channel boats, anywhere?), the Overseas Development Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania have all hired Lord Marvin the Magnificent through Three and Two Ltd. since his term as mayor ended. But, as an article in Private Eye noted, it is the inclusion of Empire Fighting Chance and Ameresco that have sparked the most comment.

It’s the perfect end to this chapter of Bristol’s raw, unedited life. A massive public-private partnership, shrouded in a £1 billion headline figure that few can comprehend, and now a former Bristol Mayor whose new private company just so happens to be getting paid by one of the main players. It’s a leap of faith, indeed, and it would appear some are landing rather more comfortably than others.

And finally, a cold dose of reality to finish off this jolly old jape. For all the talk of decarbonisation and £1 billion deals, a down-to-earth take would dismiss it as an overly ambitious, unrealistic goal that will be significantly delayed, if not outright failed, due to political and economic inertia. We acknowledge the need for change, but let’s be honest: the sheer difficulty and expense of transitioning away from established fossil fuel infrastructure and the resistance from powerful industries make it a monumental task.

Governments, of course, are driven by short-term economic concerns and the influence of powerful lobbyists. So, significant action on decarbonisation will be perpetually delayed due to political gridlock and a lack of genuine commitment. The numbers are frankly terrifying; the transition to renewables will be incredibly expensive, requiring trillions of dollars in investment. As research from Columbia University so helpfully points out, the scale of the investment needed, coupled with our existing infrastructure, makes a rapid transition highly improbable.

Technological limitations and consumer behaviour only add to the fun. We still face limitations with energy storage and grid stability, and convincing people to fundamentally change their lifestyles is, shall we say, a massive undertaking. In the end, the harsh, realistic view is that while decarbonisation is a necessary goal, the practical and political realities are so significant that the most optimistic scenarios are likely to take centuries, not decades, to achieve. So, maybe the Bristol-based Bristol City Leap (of faith’s) 20-year plan is just the first, smallest step on a very, very long journey. You know, rather like the pipe dream, underground railway, now defunct.

From where I'm standing, and given everything we've so thoroughly dissected, the Bristol City Leap (of faith) is a pipe dream as grand and elaborate as that underground railway. The numbers are astronomical, the partnerships are labyrinthine, and the promised benefits are so far in the future they might as well be written on the side of a spaceship.

We're told this is for future generations, but which one? The one after us? Or the one after the one after us? The simple reality we've explored—the political inertia, the economic hurdles, the consumer apathy—suggests this isn't a project that will be completed in decades. It’s a generational project, and perhaps not even our children's generation, but their children's, children’s, children.

It seems to me that the only people to truly see a tangible, immediate benefit from this particular pipe dream are those who will be making the most money out of this while it's being completed. The very same people who have "railroaded" consumers into signing up for this, whether they like it or not. It's nothing more than a get rich, or slow scheme for those who have a financial interest, and sod the consumers. The rest of you are simply left to take a very long leap of faith and hope that, someday, someone, somewhere down the line, you will land softly.