Marvin Rees: I'll build 4,000 homes and pay higher wages
LABOUR'S mayoral candidate Marvin Rees has revealed a package of promises as part of his vision for Bristol to become a world-class city.
Mr Rees, the favourite to become the city's first elected figurehead, said Bristol would elect one mayor but needed 430,000 leaders – the number of people who live in the city.
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Marvin Rees
He said: "My plan for Bristol sets out to make it a great place to live providing people with homes and supporting schools and families so our children get the best start in life. It will make it a great place to work by making work pay and securing our economic relevance by building the workforce the world wants.
"Bristol must become a city that realises its potential, has big ideas and sees itself as a big city on the national and international stage."
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Mr Rees said he wants to increase the number of primary and secondary school places while working with the NHS, leisure and sporting partners to prioritise children's health.
"This will include negotiating with central government for additional funding, greater local accountability for schools and a stronger voice for parents in planning and admissions," he said.
He promised: "I will abolish the charges for swimming for the under 16s during school holidays and the over-55s at all times.
"I will end the scandal of just 12 new council homes when Bristol has a housing waiting list of 14,500.
"Working with Housing Associations and the Local Enterprise Partnership, I will make existing land banks available and identify new funding streams to build 4,000 new affordable houses, while bringing empty properties back into use."
He promised to protect people living in privately rented homes with a tenants' charter and a register for landlords.
He said: "I will ensure an iconic Bristol arena is built and I will back both of our major football clubs in their plans to have Premier League stadiums. These venues will host the concerts, conferences and sports events we lose to other cities, act as a hub for our city's arts, culture and sports development and boost the local economy whilst sending a signal that Bristol is open for business."
Mr Rees promises to make Bristol the "apprentice capital" of Britain and, if elected, would set up a Jobs, Skills and Regeneration board to create more jobs.
He said he would help young people to travel more cheaply and introduce a learners' support fund to give financial help to 16- to 19-year-olds.
He wants to make Bristol a "Living Wage City" to ensure that the council and its contractors pay at least £7.20 an hour (the current minimum wage is £6.19 for over 21s).
He said he wants to make Bristol the leading child care city in Britain by harnessing the expertise in children's centres.
On transport, Mr Rees said he would work with operators to make travel cheaper and better connected.
He said: "I will work for Bristol to have integrated transport powers over bus, rail and roads. We will work with neighbouring councils and make full use of our rail network, reopening idle stations. I will introduce a Brunel Travelcard to make it easier to use different forms of public transport, and bring down the costs of daily travel. I will lobby government for the same powers over bus regulation as the Mayor of London."
He said he would also review the closure of adult care centres imposed by the Lib Dem council and introduce a Bristol Care Standard to apply to the inspection of care homes. He would also scrap the Lib Dem increased charge for meals on wheels.
Comments
by green_man
Monday, October 08 2012, 9:18PM
“@dicktator - "At least the Conservative candidate is a Chartered Accountant and can understand finance.
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Little chance of the Conservative candidate Geoff Gollop winning though, nor coming second after the first round of counting. Its unlikely that the Lib Dem candidate Jon Rogers can win or come second in the first round of counting either. In my view there is only one candidate able to keep Labour's Marvin Rees from winning - and that's independent candidate George Ferguson. Many people will cast their second preference vote for George Ferguson as a result.”
by BCFCfinker
Monday, October 08 2012, 8:22PM
“It's a good job talk is cheap because the cheques he'd be writing would be as rubber as they come.”
by dicktator
Monday, October 08 2012, 8:18PM
“At least the Conservative candidate is a Chartered Accountant and can understand finance. Marvin spouts the economics of Gordon Brown and what a fine mess that got the country into.”
by green_man
Monday, October 08 2012, 6:44PM
“For me Marvin Rees does come across as somewhat naive. George Ferguson seems to have more of a grip on the key realities of running our city.”
by nogbutt
Monday, October 08 2012, 1:28PM
“raising the minimum wage (for everyone, not just council workers and contractors), and building homes, are sensible ideas. but how the money works will be key. if the central govt. benefits, but leaves the mayor to raise money through council tax, i can't see things working. this "city deal" seems key, but the details are unbeknownst. the mayor will probably have to cut a deal with george osborne and his chums, and a left wing union guy might not be the best person to win the concessions that they'll need.”
by Paulienash
Monday, October 08 2012, 1:15PM
“I'm agreeing with pretty much all the other posters.
Once again a Labour 'man' telling us how much (of our money) he is going to spend and a complete lack of detail of where it might be coming for (at a wild guess I would say borrowed)
For the first time over the W/E I heard the first utterances of those three favoured (dreaded) labour letters when it comes to local funding P F & I. I'm guessing Marvin has been chatting to to the economic guru that is Ed Balls about how Marvin can leave a legacy a Bristol by using PFI. Unfortunately when they say legacy they don't mean massive overcharging, being ripped off by smart private companies and being left with a huge debt for our kids and their kids to pay off.”
by Marshwalker99
Monday, October 08 2012, 12:47PM
“As ever, here we have another politician trying to bribe us with our own money! The money doesn't come from anywhere else you know!
God help Bristol of this left wing loony gets in. He will cost us all a fortune.”
by bristolreded
Monday, October 08 2012, 12:23PM
“A lot more than 4000 homes needs to be built. It should be council housing.”
by november15
Monday, October 08 2012, 11:41AM
“This is a fantastic article and ideas from Marvin and it will be wonderful to see it all happen but where Marvin and his boss Ed Miliband speak of spend spend spend this government and existing councils are having to save save save becuase Labour bankrupt the country.
What we are going to see is the Torys and the Lib Dems sort out Britain's finances and only for Labour to be reelected to start their traditional process of slippery boom and bust.
Where as these land banks that you speak about Marvin? Are you going to sell Green Spaces which have just been saved by Neighbourhood Partnerships after Labour's last attempt to sell them all off but without a public consultation?”
by FromMendip
Monday, October 08 2012, 11:35AM
“I heard Marvin being grilled this morning by Radio Bristol's version of Jeremy Faxperson.
I still believe that Marvin is living out a Utopian dream but I will say he came across very well on the radio (he is a former Radio Bristol hack of course) even though he did skirt around how he would pay for his wish list, vaguely mentioning using pension funds at one point. His Linkedin entry is interesting too.
That Marvin is still one of the front runners shows the disappointing quality of the field as a whole.”