“They need to remember that it’s our council, funded by our council taxes”
Benedict Cumberbatch filming Sherlock at Bottle Yard studios in Bristol
Bristol City Council has again refused to reveal whether the council-owned Bottle Yard Studios makes a profit for council taxpayers – and if so, how much – as the future and governance of the biggest film and TV studios in the south west is under scrutiny once more.
The city council this month declined a Freedom of Information request from investigative journalist and council transparency campaigner Andrew Lynch, who asked the council to publish even the most rudimentary financial figures connected to the Bottle Yard’s operations.
The studios in Hengrove, in particular how much they cost to run and their future, have been in the spotlight over the past year or so. The previous Labour administration began the process of reviewing whether the studios should be sold, mainly because it is understood the facility requires multi-million investment over the next few years to keep its place as a popular and much-used film studio.
The new Green Party-led administration pressed ahead with plans to sell the studios but earlier this year announced that a deal with a buyer had fallen through and the council would be going back to the drawing board with regards to the future of the studios.
Councillors were told that just the process of marketing the Bottle Yard for sale and then the ultimately failed negotiations cost taxpayers £430,000.
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The Bottle Yard is one of Bristol’s major cultural success stories. The council-owned facility is based in a former bottle factory and has been the venue for a huge range of major TV and film production, and its presence has then helped Bristol itself become one of the leading cities in the country for the film and TV industry to make movies and programmes.
But the council has never published any financial figures on how much the studios cost to run, how much income it receives from the production companies and how much of taxpayers’ money has been required to invest in the past few years.
During a council meeting earlier this year about the future of the Bottle Yard, a senior council officer told councillors that the Bottle Yard did, indeed, make money for the council, but the public has not been told any more than that.
Previous requests from both councillors, journalists and members of the public to see the Bottle Yard accounts have been rebuffed by the city council on the grounds that they are commercially sensitive – that publishing the numbers would give too much information to rival film studios or production companies.
‘Sanditon’ being filmed at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios (Image: RED PLANET/ITV)
With major new investment reportedly required, and the sale falling through earlier this autumn, Andrew Lynch submitted a Freedom of Information Act request asking for sight of the accounts, pointing out that if the council executive officer was able to tell councillors the studios were profitable, it must mean accounts exist.
This week, Mr Lynch’s request was denied by the city council, who said that collating such information would take more than 18 hours of officer time, and so the council did not have to agree to it.
“People have been asking about the state of the Bottle Yard Studios’ finances for years,” said Mr Lynch. “How can we run these brilliant, world-class studios and not know if they make or lose money?
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“There’s also a sense that senior council officers don’t think the public have a right to know how they run the council. In recent years we have had the Bristol Energy shock and the Beacon shock, with council taxpayers left with huge bills for dozens of millions of pounds, while our politicians and, occasionally, council officers have moved onwards and upwards,” he told Bristol Live.
“One senior officer, the director of economy of place, reportedly said the studios were profitable. If he has seen the numbers, why can’t we? And the studios were prepared for sale.
Bristol Costume Services at the Bottle Yard Studios(Image: Hannah Baker)
“Do officers expect us to believe that no financial statements were prepared for potential buyers? No wonder they blew £430,000 on a failed process,” he added.
“I can’t be sure who is pulling the strings here, but they need to remember that it’s our council funded by our council taxes. The council does not exist for the benefit of anyone but the citizens of Bristol,” he said.
Bristol Live asked Bristol City Council a series of questions about the Bottle Yard, its finances and the denial of Mr Lynch’s request on the grounds it would take an officer too long to produce the accounts.
The council was asked if the accounts exist, whether the studios make a profit, why the council doesn’t publish the accounts, why it would take such a large amount of officer time to produce the accounts, and why the length of time it would take was given as a reason, rather than previous reasons that it was all commercially sensitive.
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The city council didn’t answer the questions directly, but a spokesperson at City Hall said: “The Bottle Yard Studios is a commercial TV and film studios that successfully operates in a highly competitive market and is one of the main driving forces behind our region’s internationally renowned creative sector.
“As a commercial operation, detailed financial records are considered commercially sensitive as disclosure of such detail could impact the studio’s ability to operate in this market and hinder our ability to continue to bring major productions into Bristol and the wider region. As a council service, the studios financial operations form part of the council’s annual statement of accounts, with the latest draft publication available on our website,” she added.