'No legal basis for ignoring' Bristol BLM statue request

Marc Quinn's resin statue of activist Jen Reid was installed on the empty plinth in the early hours of 15 July 2020

There was no legal basis to ignore a request to install a sculpture of a protester on the vacant Edward Colston Plinth, a council has admitted.

Consultants Interpolitan Ltd applied to Bristol City Council to install a statue of Jen Reid last July - one day after it appeared on the empty plinth.

The council removed it but failed to register, publish or make any decision about the application.

Interpolitan has asked a government inspector to rule on the matter.

The non-determination appeal was heard in March, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Whatever the outcome, as the owner of the plinth the council has the final say about what is placed there.

A planning application was submitted the next day and the council removed the statue on 16 July 2020

Gary Rice, acting in support of the statue but not on behalf of its creator Marc Quinn, said the council had "acted unilaterally and unlawfully to reject the applications at registration stage".

The local authority argued the installation of the sculpture was "prejudicial" to the work of the We Are Bristol History Commission, set up after the Colston statue was pulled down, to produce suggestions for the future of the plinth.

Council development manager Gary Collins said city mayor Marvin Rees was determined the decision about what, if anything, goes on the plinth would be made democratically following "extensive" public consultation.

Mr Collins said: "We don't believe that the refusal to validate, or determine the applications was unreasonable.

"There was a very tense atmosphere within the city and the elected mayor's focus was on containing protest and avoiding further trouble within the city."

When asked by inspector Jeremy Sargent whether there was "any valid legal reason" for the council to turn down an application simply because it came at an "inopportune time", Mr Collins replied: "There's no legal basis for that really."

Mr Sargent said he planned to visit Bristol to view the plinth and the Colston Statue exhibition at the M Shed before making his decision.

A decision is expected in the next couple of months.