Bristol City Council is set to take over a digital technology company once its partner in the venture pulls out.
The local authority currently co-owns Bristol is Open with the University of Bristol.
Known as Bio, the joint venture was set up three years ago to create a city-wide test bed for the kind of digital technology needed to create so-called ‘smart cities’.
Its fibre ring and wireless mesh network infrastructure could eventually support city-wide connectivity to support better services such as transport and healthcare.
But the council wants to take the R&D company and turn it into a digital technology supply business, so the two partners are parting ways. Bristol Grand Prix 2019: Race cancelled as organisers stick to their principles
The university has agreed in principle to sell its 50 per cent share to the council, and, on Tuesday (April 2), the Labour-controlled cabinet gave its backing for the purchase.
It also approved Bio’s high-level business plans to fulfil its existing contractual commitments, which will require an extra £395,750 of funding in 2020/21.
But the circumstances of the buy-out have made some councillors nervous about what the council might be getting itself into.
The Bio take-over was discussed at the council’s overview and scrutiny management board on Monday.
David Lawrence, interim shareholder liaison director for the council, told board members that the university had signalled it wanted to pull out of the company because its interests lay in R&D rather than supply.
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But Conservative group leader Mark Weston, councillor for Henbury and Brentry, was not convinced by the explanation.
He said he found it “surprising” that part way through its agreement with the council the university was “suddenly trying to divest itself of its obligations”.
“That makes me very nervous as to why they’re doing that,” Cllr Weston said. “It makes me more nervous for ourselves about why we are taking that on.”
Board chair Geoff Gollop, Conservative councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze, said he had a “real problem” with the buy-out of Bio because, although its aims were”fantastic”, he did not know how much investment would be needed over the next three years.
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“I think it’s a real issue of how much that funding is going to be and whether we can afford to do it,” he said.
But Mr Lawrence said that, together, the council’s investments provided “massive opportunities” for the city.
He said: “If you take City Leap, if you take Bristol Energy, if you take Bio, [there is an] opportunity to provide connections around the city that will eventually lead to people to be able to stay in their homes for longer.
“There are massive opportunities, not all of which we have identified yet.”
