Arena, housing and mass transit - Marvin Rees’ aims during Bristol mayor second term
Marvin Rees says being re-elected the Mayor of Bristol is “more special” than being appointed the first time.
Mr Rees secured a second term after receiving 59,276 first and second preference votes in the election, which was counted at the weekend.
He managed to hold off a challenge from the Green Party’s Sandy Hore-Ruthven, who came second with 45,663.
In an interview with ITV News West Country, the mayor said he was determined to use his second term to deliver on an arena, build more affordable housing and develop a mass transit system for the city.
“We’ve run five years, so we have a record and people have voted for that record and what it promises for the future,” he said.
“Obviously, there is a difference between being elected for the first time and being re-elected and it’s actually more special because they’re not just voting for your promises. They’re voting for what you’ve shown you can do."
Voters in Bristol took part in four separate elections last week.
As well as voting for a new mayor, ballots were also cast for a new Mayor for the West of England, an Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner and ward councillors for Bristol City Council.
Labour’s Dan Norris was appointed the new Mayor for the West of England, Conservative Mark Shelford was named the new Police and Crime Commissioner while Labour and the Greens each won 24 seats in the local election.
'We're full of green policies'
Asked about his party’s performance in the local election, and the seats gained by the Greens, Mr Rees responded: “We’re full of green policies.
“This is an analysis that comes off the shelf but we wrote the climate strategy, we declared an ecological emergency and wrote it, we’ve put the sustainable development goals at the heart of city development in a way that’s got us attention from around the world.”
The rest of the candidates were as follows:
Sean Donnelly (IND) - 4,956;
Tom Baldwin (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) - 3,194;
John Langley (IND) - 1,528;
Robert Clarke (Reform UK) - 806;
Oska Shaw 389.
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