Outgoing mayor says city facing multiple challenges

Mr Rees wished his successors "all the best"

Bristol's outgoing mayor has used his last cabinet meeting to urge his successors to show "serious leadership" in order to tackle the multiple challenges facing the city.

Labour mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, conveyed urgency to whoever takes control of Bristol City Council after the local elections on 2 May.

He cited the need to meet the needs of a growing population amid a housing crisis; a climate emergency, international migration, and Bristol's "entrenched inequalities".

Chairing the council's public meeting at City Hall, he outlined the key issues facing future leaders, and added "I wish you all the best."

Marvin Rees led his final public meeting at City Hall on Tuesday

Residents voted to scrap the role of a directly elected mayor in a landmark referendum in 2022, and replace it with a system of cross-party, decision-making committees, which will be introduced after polling day.

Mr Rees told Tuesday's meeting: "We've had almost 100 cabinet meetings since 2016. Nearly 1,100 papers have been considered.

"This is a £15b economy on a 42-square mile plot of land with nearly half a million people which could be 550,000 within the next 26 years.

"How we meet the challenges of meeting the needs of that growing population in a city that's been characterised by entrenched inequalities and fractures in the past, one that is gentrifying at a rate of knots, as well as one of the least affordable core cities outside of London.

"These are serious challenges and meeting those needs in the context of a climate and ecological emergency."

'Serious leadership'

Mr Rees said countries would come under increasing pressure from the migration crisis, and of the "political instability" that could come with it.

"Bristol has played a leadership role in those areas and it's going to take serious leadership to take that forward, so I wish you all the best," Mr Rees said.

He also thanked cabinet members past and present, councillors and members of the public who had taken part in the debates since he took up the post in 2016.

Mr Rees also thanked council officers who wrote policy reports and implemented decisions.