Bristol metro project in doubt after political row

The future of Bristol's Mass Transit Project is looking uncertain after disagreements over the way forwards

The future of Bristol's mass transit plan has been thrown into doubt, after political leaders failed to agree on how to progress.

At a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), metro mayor Dan Norris vetoed plans to spend £650,000 to explore route options.

He took the decision because they included underground sections.

"I won't waste a penny more of taxpayers' money on an underground," he said.

"I voted for overground options only because I believe an underground to be unaffordable and unrealistic."

His view was in contrast to the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, as well as the leaders of South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset Councils, who wanted all options to be explored fully before ruling any out.

Mr Norris has vetoed plans to spend any more money on route options

"Why should we have the cheapest, why don't we ask for the best?" Marvin Rees told the meeting. "Pursue the best until the hard evidence tells us it's not an option.

"We have not reached that point yet," he added.

Mr Rees has previously said that Bristol faces being "left behind" other major cities if it cannot create a mass transit network.

In the build up to the meeting Mr Norris and Mr Rees - both Labour - had publicly disagreed over the need for underground sections.

The meeting heard that the project would be susceptible to legal challenges in future if the authority had not considered all options fully, including tunnelling under busy roads in the City such as Gloucester Road and Church Road.

However, according to Mr Norris, "no amount of further analysis is going to change the basic facts".

"We need to stop pretending a project that everyone knows is not going to happen is still a viable option," he added.

A previous WECA report recommended the scheme go forward and said it was achievable.

Looking over previous feasibility reports and assessments of the scheme, the report by Mr Norris's own transport chiefs recommended that a new "more transformative system" would be needed.

Four routes were considered with potential tunnels under busy traffic hotspots

It's unclear now what the future of the project is following the stalemate.

More £2 million pounds has been spent on it so far.