EXCLUSIVE: History Commission plans to publish Colston report next month
Those behind an official survey, which asked Bristolians what should happen to the slave trader statue, hope to publish their results in February
We can exclusively reveal that the We Are Bristol History Commission, which ran a survey asking Bristolians what should happen to the statue of slave trader Edward Colston, hopes to publish its results in February.
The statue of Colston was famously torn down by Black Lives Matter protestors during a demonstration in June 2020.
A year later, it was put on temporary display at the M Shed museum, while earlier this month on January 5, 2022, the so called "Colston Four" who were accused of criminal damage for tearing it down, were found not guilty.
The survey, which ran alongside the M Shed exhibit, asked residents if it should stay in a museum or face a different future.
When the results are revealed they will be handed to Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees who, alongside the wider Bristol City Council, will then make the final decision about what should happen.
Professor Tim Cole chairs the History Commission which put the survey together.
"First week in Feb, James, is what we're hoping for," he said.
"We're just finalising the date, but the idea is to have a kind of launch in the first week of February and to invite you and everyone else, so we'll do a press launch."
It's thought a photo shoot will be held to mark the results being handed to Mayor Rees, at which point he will be able to examine them for the first time.
To date nothing has been revealed about what the overall consensus is, with the issue sparking heated opinions on both sides.
As we revealed back in October we know "well over" 10,000 people took part in the survey but to date exactly what they said remains a mystery.
Originally it was hoped the results could be given to the council at Christmas time, but that was delayed.
We have been out in the centre of Bristol to get a snapshot of people's opinions.
"It's probably not going to happen but, why not melt the statue down and bring it into a new statue of a black rights activist and put it right back on the stage and change the plaque," a man called Theo said.
"Then we've reversed what it was from being someone who was racist being remembered from a statue, and put it to someone who's fought against the racism, to be remembered in the statue.
"My preference is to destroy the thing," he continued.
"It got chucked in the river, I was quite happy with the political statement of that."
Another man wholeheartedly disagreed.
"There's also quite a large silent majority, that probably think it ought to go back up on a plinth and be protected a bit better than it has," Phil said.
"It's our history.
"He was a benefactor of the city...they were all involved in the slave trade, we all know it was despicable, but that's life, that was history."
Mary, who spoke to us alongside Phil, agreed with him that the statue should not have been pulled down, but said rather than being put back up, it should stay in a museum.
"But you just cannot erase things," she said.
"They (Colston and other Bristol merchants during the slave trade) have done some good.
"They built schools, the Colston Hall (now Bristol Beacon), which is still being used.
"They're not pulling that down are they?"
A third man, called Neil who told us he works for a union in Bristol, offered a more measured view.
"I think it should be in a museum and stated why it was ripped down, what the people of Bristol thought about it, why they did it and explain the reasons all around it," he said.
"Let people learn from it.
"Bristol as a city...yeah it was built on that (the slave trade) and the money came from that, but at the end of the day things move on."
Which of these opinions is the most popular remains to be seen, but we could get a definitive answer very soon.