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ANNUAL TOAST TO THE CITY AND PORT OF BRISTOL

Bristol Shipowners’ Dinner
My Lord Mayor, Mr President, other distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for inviting me once again to join you at your annual dinner – and to propose the toast to those two great institutions, the City and the Port of Bristol.
At the previous dinners, held in the autumn, we have looked back on Bristol’s summers full of Balloon Fiestas, marathons, Harbour Festivals and other colourful events. Last year was as busy as any other. We took part in SeaBritain 2005 – a national celebration of the sea arranged for the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. The ambitious work on SS Great Britain was completed and launched last July. The new museum and visitors’ centre there are still being developed and will make an impressive introduction to our magnificent ship.
Bristol became a Fairtrade city and the award was presented by a banana grower from the Windward Isles. The Queen came to visit Knowle West – business as usual in fact.
Having the dinner in spring, however – if you can call this spring – it seems more appropriate to look forward to the year ahead. And what a year this will be – the 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth.

We know Brunel wasn’t really a Bristolian, indeed he never even lived here, but he shaped our city so comprehensively that you could argue that he adopted us. We have certainly adopted him and this year we are planning to do him proud.

As part of the commemoration, we can look forward to an investment of £15m in Bristol Brunel sites, with money going to the SS Great Britain, a new visitors’ centre at the suspension bridge and to Bristol University’s Brunel Archive.

A £1m grant from Lottery Heritage Fund will help towards an extensive programme of events including:
• exhibitions in the City Museum and @Bristol;
• educational projects for all Bristol’s children;
• a book on Brunel’s life
• and I am sure we will all enjoy what is billed as Bristol’s best-ever firework display on April 8th when the new lights for the suspension bridge will be switched on.

But we are not just celebrating a past genius this year; we are looking for new ones. Brunel 200 has called for 200 ideas on how to make Bristol an even better place to work and live, so that is something we can chat about later while we’re finishing our port or brandy. We will have to be quick though: the closing date is only a couple of days away!

What a far-sighted man Brunel was. He realised that ships would become larger and larger and that the river Avon and the Bristol Docks would no longer be able to cope. So he proposed a rail link from Temple Meads to Portishead, where there would be a deep water dock, capable of taking the large trans-Atlantic ships of those days.

Now there’s an idea! Commuters stuck in traffic on the way to work might wish they could travel on the railway if only it were functioning now, but I am thinking mainly about the other part of his plan – the deep water dock – and that brings me to the second subject of my toast – the Port.

You all know, just as Brunel did, that ships will carry on getting bigger and current facilities will not be sufficient in the future. Because of this, during the last year the Bristol Port company produced plans for a new deep water terminal in the estuary.

Our Port is a most appropriate spot for this facility with its excellent road and rail links and a natural deep water navigation channel only a mile away from the port.

We are better placed than our competitors, too - nearer to most of the places our imports come from and our exports go to.

The existing deep sea container ports are mainly in the congested south east and there is currently a shortage of capacity. So, the new development will fill a national need. It will enable Bristol to handle the next generation of large vessels. And, environmentalists will be pleased to know that the Company will be working on the project with English Nature.

Brunel’s tradition, that we try to follow, is to be constantly looking for new solutions to new challenges. And one of the greatest challenges facing us now is energy – how can we get enough for our needs: how can we use it without polluting our planet? The Port Company is making a contribution to these challenges too. Coal throughput has increased to 4 million tones in 2005. The port keeps Bristol Airport supplied with all its aviation fuel and provides 10% of Heathrow’s needs as well.

To set against the pollution that will generate, the Port will be building three wind turbines this year. They will provide 70% of the Port’s own energy consumption when the wind is blowing – which is quite often down there.

So there can be no doubt we have a successful Port and a vibrant and beautiful City. And equally there can be no doubt that the hard work of many of you here tonight has contributed to that achievement. In this year of Brunel’s anniversary I am sure you will be happy to join me in a toast to the Port and the City of Bristol.