British politician and former architect (born 1947)
George Robin Paget Ferguson CBE, PPRIBA, RWA (born 22 March 1947) is a British politician, former architect, and entrepreneur who served as the first elected mayor of Bristol from 2012 to 2016.
Ferguson was co-founder of Ferguson Mann Architects in 1979, where regeneration and historic building work formed the foundation of the practice. He was also the founder of the national architectural group Acanthus. He is a past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2003–2005) where "he was noted for championing the causes of education, the environment and good urbanism". He was a founding director of The Academy of Urbanism and a founding member of the British sustainable transport charity Sustrans. Ferguson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to architecture and to the community in the South West of England. In November 2012, Ferguson became the first elected mayor of Bristol. He was a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers before stepping down due to a conflict of interest upon becoming Mayor of Bristol.
Early life.
Ferguson was born on 22 March 1947, in Winchester, Hampshire. His father's military career took the family to Gibraltar, to the South and North of England and Norway before settling in Wiltshire. While in Gibraltar, Ferguson contracted infant polio. 
Education.
Ferguson was educated at Wellington College. Ferguson read architecture at the University of Bristol from 1965 to 1971. Ferguson has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. Apart from one year in London, Ferguson has lived in Bristol since beginning his degree in 1965.
Career in architecture.
Urban renewal and environmental sustainability were central elements of Ferguson's approach to design, exemplified by developments such as the Tobacco Factory. In 1978, Ferguson co-founded Ferguson Mann Architects and the practice won many awards for design. In 1986, Ferguson founded Acanthus, a network of independent practices committed to design and conservation.
During his career, Ferguson has written and presented articles, broadcasts and lectures on planning and architectural matters and sustainability, and appeared on the 2005 Channel 4 television series "Demolition". Ferguson fully stepped down from Ferguson Mann Architects after his election as Mayor of Bristol to concentrate on his new role within the city.
Regeneration in South Bristol.
Ferguson is noted for his role in the regeneration of the Bedminster area of South Bristol. In 1994, he bought the last remaining major building of the old Imperial Tobacco Raleigh Road estate for £200,000 to save it from demolition and regenerate it. The site, now named the Tobacco Factory, is a mixed-use development that includes the Tobacco Factory Theatre, bar, creative industry workspace and flats.
In 2003, Ferguson bought part of the long-closed Ashton Gate Brewery. The Bristol Beer Factory began brewing beer on the site in 2005 and has won national awards. In 2018 Ferguson moved back to Clifton, having lived in the Tobacco Factory for a number of years.
Politics.
Ferguson was one of the first three Liberal Councillors elected to Bristol City Council, representing Cabot Ward from 1973 to 1979. He stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals in the 1983 and 1987 general elections in Bristol West, coming second on both occasions with 29.4% and 31.3% respectively, after which he ceased any active political involvement.
In March 2012, Ferguson confirmed speculation that he was planning to stand as an independent candidate for Mayor of Bristol if the referendum on 3 May chose to adopt the mayoral system. Following the referendum, Ferguson resigned his membership from the Liberal Democrat party before announcing that he would stand for mayor, but explained that he had no intention to run as a party candidate. Ferguson ran as an independent but registered his 'Bristol 1st' party to distinguish himself from other independents on the ballot paper. In his campaign material, Ferguson stated "My only purpose is to make Bristol, the city I love, a better city for all. I have no political ambition beyond Bristol" and he set out his seven visions for Bristol. Ferguson campaigned on a platform of anti-political parties, often alleging voting for a Labour candidate would be a return to party in-fighting.
The election was held on 15 November 2012. On 16 November 2012, Ferguson was declared Bristol's first elected mayor, beating the second-place Labour candidate Marvin Rees by more than 6,000 votes including second preference votes. The election saw a low turnout of just 27.92% of the electorate participating.
Mayor of Bristol.
Ferguson was sworn in as the first directly elected mayor of Bristol in the Passenger Shed at Bristol Temple Meads station on 20 November 2012. On his first day of taking office, Ferguson implemented two policies, revoking Sunday car parking charges and announcing that the 'Council House', the administrative seat of Bristol, would be renamed 'City Hall'.
Ferguson appointed a "rainbow cabinet" comprising a deputy and five assistant mayors, drawn from four of the main political parties. He also appointed two youth mayors following a citywide election by the youth community. Ferguson took a portion of his salary as mayor in the local Bristol Pound. The salary of the mayor of Bristol was aligned with the salary of a UK Member of Parliament in 2013, and has not risen despite independent recommendations and a 10% increase in MP's pay to £74,000.
Ferguson's tenure as mayor of Bristol came to an end after one term in May 2016, when he was voted out of office in a landslide vote. Ferguson polled only one third of the total votes, including second preferences, against Marvin Rees who secured two thirds.
Public finances.
One of Ferguson's first challenges on election was to cut £35 million from the 2013/14 budget and plan for a further £65 million in spending cuts over the following three years as part of central Government austerity measures. Most of the savings in the 2013/14 budget (approximately £20 million) were achieved through cuts and changes in council staffing.
Over the next 12 months, the challenge had increased to cutting £90 million. Ferguson proposed to achieve most of the savings through staffing cuts and other efficiencies within the council. Several cuts proposed in the 2014–2017 draft budget generated feedback, such as a proposal to discontinue staff supervision at Hengrove Park. Following the 2014–2017 Bristol city council budget public consultation, Ferguson and the Council removed some of the proposed changes.
Following Ferguson's term an independent report, the Bundred Report, identified that there were substantial savings of over £29 million that had been falsely accounted by his administration, and that Ferguson had presided over serious "leadership failures" that had led to a shortfall in city budgets. Kerry McCarthy MP brought the issue to national attention at Prime Minister's Questions where she described the "abject failure by the previous mayor [George Ferguson] to get a grip on council finances." Police confirmed that they had received complaints of fraud over Ferguson's budgets in the lead-up to the 2016 Mayoral election, and suspicion that the true state of the Council finances had been deliberately covered up to aid Ferguson's chances of reelection.
Traffic and transport.
Ferguson had expressed his determination to tackle traffic congestion by trying to force a change in the city's culture and get people out of cars and onto buses or bicycles.
Residents parking zones (RPZ).
In March 2013, Ferguson announced plans to expand existing residents parking zones across the city, in order to reduce the number of commuters driving into the city. The plans were scaled back in June 2013 following public consultation and "heavy criticism".
Ferguson made changes to new schemes to reflect feedback from the public, including introducing a traders permit and making the first 30 minutes free in all new areas. Ferguson has maintained that his RPZ proposals enjoy a high level of support from the "quiet majority". However, in January 2015, the council's own statistics revealed that over 90% of Clifton respondents in a request for feedback had objected to his plans.
Ferguson's plan to expand RPZ across the city was contentious. The roll-out was beset by protests in several districts of the City where streets in Easton and Montpellier were barricaded to prevent the implementation. The project infrastructure, ticket machines and painted lines have also been widely vandalised costing an estimated £30,000 in repairs.
Speed limits.
Mayor Ferguson spearheaded the roll-out of a £2.3 million programme of 20 mph limits across the city, following pilots in Bedminster and east Bristol in 2010. In November 2014, Councillors passed a motion calling on Ferguson to give Neighbourhood Partnerships the power to decide on 20 mph limits for their communities.
In February 2015, Ferguson was caught breaking the speed limit in a Bristol City Council fleet car whilst driving at 35 mph in a 30 mph area on a journey from Avonmouth along the Portway. He went on record saying it was "a stupid mistake" and apologised for it. He stated "Speed limits are there for a good purpose. We should respect them, and I do respect them." He was later mocked on the popular BBC Two television show "Top Gear".
Metrobus.
Metrobus, previously Bristol Rapid Transit (BRT), is a scheme developed jointly by the West of England Partnership: a partnership between Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Councils. In development from 2006 it received government backing in November 2013. During the Mayoral election campaign, Ferguson pledged to cancel the proposed BRT scheme if he was elected. When he came to office, Ferguson made minor amendments to route proposals rather than cancelling the project. In July 2013, Ferguson announced that surrounding local authorities had approved the changes he'd proposed to the route of the planned BRT2 to avoid it running through the Bristol Harbourside area. The system, renamed Metrobus, was also changed to use modern low emission vehicles which were later dropped as a cost-cutting measure. However, protest groups who challenged the route, cost, and feasibility of the scheme accused Ferguson of breaking the electoral promises laid out before his election.
A second challenge to Ferguson's support of the Metrobus project came when the next phase was submitted for planning consent in March 2014. Objections to the application were raised over the proposed felling of a large number of mature trees, to the loss of Grade 1 agricultural land at Stapleton that Ferguson had previously promised in his election manifesto to protect, the damage to the setting of Grade 1 Listed Stoke Park house and Grade 2 Registered historic landscape surrounding it, and the lack of public consultation over the proposals. Following the approval of the scheme in August 2014 work began in January 2015 causing further protest, and activists set up camp in trees the council were about to fell. Ferguson's support for the project remained resolute. With Bristol's status as European Green Capital in 2015, Ferguson reiterated his support for the scheme and referred to the developing protest as "a challenging situation" and claimed he had "done more than anyone to minimise the environmental effects of the Metrobus project". Protesters attended a press event at which Ferguson was present with Government Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss planting the one millionth tree of the national Big Tree Plant programme. At it, he accused the protesters of "blowing this issue out of all proportion".
City branding and international travel.
Ferguson has referred to Bristol as a 'brand' and himself as "Bristol's Brand manager". During a 12-month period from January to December 2014, Ferguson and his entourage took six international flights. Ferguson's international travel as Bristol Mayor exceeded that of London's mayor Boris Johnson in the same period.
Sale of Bristol Port.
In March 2014, Ferguson expressed his intention to sell the freehold ownership of Avonmouth and Portbury docks which had been retained by the city council since the leasehold was sold in 1991. Controversy surrounded the sale from the beginning.
On 1 April 2014, Ferguson decided to sell the port to The Bristol Port Company for £10 million. However, elected councillors felt the valuation report undervalued the estate because the Bristol Port Company had a £13.7 million annual turnover during the years 2013–2014. Ferguson's peers also felt the deal lacked transparency. 
On 1 June 2015, 16 councillors voted against the sale, while 41 backed the sale. Following the vote they referred the decision back to Ferguson for reconsideration. Ferguson approved the deal on 16 June 2015.
At the same meeting, the assistant mayor with responsibility for property and transport, Mark Bradshaw, expressed his opposition to the sale. Later in the evening, the Ferguson