Metro Mayor Dan Norris did spend £10,000 of taxpayers’ money on a bus scheme advertisement unlawfully, a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority Committee (WECA) has ruled.
After nearly two weeks of delays, the committee ruled the expenditure was “clearly unlawful”.
However, because no one from Bristol City Council attended the meeting, the committee refused to pass a formal resolution that it was unlawful, and plan to take no further action or blame individuals.
The emergency meeting held by WECA was scheduled for December 1st however it was adjourned due to absent members and then again on the 12th.
WECA felt “very strongly” that Bristol City Council and Mayor Marvin Rees should have attended the meeting to contribute to the decision made by the committee.
Marvin Rees did not send a representative to the expenditure meeting.
In a letter seen by the BBC, Mayor Marvin Rees described the debate “improper” and that he will not be attending.
This comes after concerns were raised in April on Norris’ choice to cover 4 buses in advertising of WECA’s ‘birthday buses’ scheme.
The scheme was to promote anybody in the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and North Somerset Council area bus travel for free on the month of their birthday
The buses featured huge photos of the Metro Mayor with his dog. Since then Norris has been come under fire claiming these adverts were self promotion and unlawful spending of taxpayers’ money.
Councillor Claire Young, leader of South Gloucestershire Council, noted the concerns made by the public in the meeting expressing the time taken up on the matter and the cost of the meeting; as well as stating they would much rather be focusing on the ways they can improve bus services.
David Redgewell, a committed bus campaigner and member of the Bristol Transport Board, backed Mayor Dan Norris’ choices with the bus ad.
Adding that the meeting held today came down to marketing issues and Mayor Norris and his team were under a lot of pressure, he said: “We were in desperate times we needed to market the bus network, we were cancelling buses, we had no drivers. The mayor put everything into it.
“They said it was unlawful, but then they also said that at the end of the day they were taking no action. So if they wanted to really make it unlawful and vote against the Mayor and vote against to say it was really unlawful and there would be punitive action, they didn’t do that.
“They took the view that we need to sort out the marketing department here”.
Unbelievable that this announced on the night WECA should have been looking at unlawful expenditure directed by the Mayor's Office. https://t.co/VLPfbrBm4q
— Cllr Andrew Brown 🔶🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@andrewbrownld) December 12, 2023
Andrew Brown, Lib Dem Councillor for Hengrove and Whitchurch described the absence of Mayor Marvin Rees and consistent adjourned meetings “concerning”, adding: “There’s no secret that the authority has had governance issues within the organisation and there’s been political issues in terms of the relationships between the authority and constituents.
“The constituent authorities and Metro mayor do not seem to be improving anytime soon.
“We’ve seen that in the way that meetings have been cancelled, adjourned and short notice starting late.”
Cllr Brown is not the only council member that has criticised. In an earlier interview on the ‘birthday bus’ campaign Steve Smith, Conservative Councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze, said: “You have to be aware when the taxpayer’s paid for it. There is a line that you don’t cross, and it’s my view that he was certainly skirting over that line if not completely crossing it with these [adverts].”
Metro Mayor Dan Norris has regularly defended himself, arguing that mayors should be visible and he was not interviewed prior to the report being published.
