Planners refuse wording for new Colston plaque
It's the second time it's been turned down
Councillors have refused to accept the suggested wording for a new plaque on the empty Colston statue plinth for a second time.
Bristol City Council development control committee voted 3-2 against approving the text because it said 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston’s monument was originally unveiled “celebrating him as a city benefactor”.
The exact same wording was again presented to members on Thursday, April 10, despite the fact that they rejected it as unacceptable at their last meeting in February and were promised they could help to rewrite it.
The only difference this time was that it came with an explanation from ‘We Are Bristol’ History Commission chairman Tim Cole about why the words were chosen and that it would now be accompanied with a QR code next to the plinth to provide people with much more information and historical context.
Committee chair Cllr Ani Stafford-Townsend (Green, Central) said members had expected constructive discussions when they met planning officers, Mr Cole and Bristol deputy mayor Cllr Asher Craig (Labour, St George West), cabinet member for equalities, after February’s meeting.
But Cllr Stafford-Townsend told councillors on Thursday that the meeting had been “terse” and accused Cllr Craig of not acting in good faith because she refused to accept any changes.
Cllr Guy Poultney (Green, Cotham) said: “It is to be regretted that the applicant Bristol City Council felt they couldn’t compromise, that they couldn’t deviate from the wording the committee saw last time.
“Given the committee made it very clear the wording as proposed was unacceptable, I don’t see how it has become more acceptable now.”
He said the changes suggested by the committee included removing the references to Colston being celebrated as a benefactor and also to Black Lives Matter because those could not be considered purely factual or neutral.
Cllr Poultney said: “The wording can’t be seen as a simple factual statement – it ignores large chunks of history while making assertions.
“The mention of Colston being celebrated as a city benefactor isn’t placed there in context.
“I appreciate this might reflect what someone’s idea of neutral is but I don’t see it that way.
“I agree with the notion of something short and factual but that isn’t what we’ve got here and I’m baffled as to where the pushback is coming from in the council to reduce the wording that’s proposed down to something less controversial.
“It seems relatively uncontroversial to cut it down.
“I don’t know why the Labour administration won’t compromise but I don’t think we should either.”
Cllr Stafford-Townsend said: “Part of the concern is the use of the word ‘benefactor’.
“It’s a particularly sticky word for a lot of people who have an objection to it.”
Cllr Lorraine Francis (Green, Eastville) said: “We were tasked with reviewing what was said.
“We reviewed it but it wasn’t changed at all because there was a reluctance to change the original statement.
“I’m left at an impasse because I get that uncomfortable feeling of being told ‘this is what it is, you need to accept it’.”
She said her preference would be the simple statement: “The statue of Edward Colston once stood here, 1895-2020.”
Cllr Lesley Alexander (Conservative, Frome Vale) said the wording needed to be as simple and factual as possible and that the proposed text was exactly that.
She said: “The average tourist is not looking for a history lesson, he wants to know why we’ve got an empty plinth, and if he wants more information, it says it can be viewed at the museum and more information given, so it’s fine as it is.”
Cllr Andrew Varney (Lib Dem, Brislington West) said: “The wording is factual, it is neutral, it will serve hopefully to bring this city together, and with the addition of the QR code, that will provide further information and more nuanced understanding of what has gone on at that site and who that person was.
“So I have no hesitation in supporting this application.”
After voting against the officers’ recommendation to approve the wording, the committee decided unanimously to defer the application until their next meeting on June 5.
The proposed plaque would have said: “On November 13, 1895, a statue of Edward Colston (1636–1721) was unveiled here celebrating him as a city benefactor.
“In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the celebration of Colston was increasingly challenged given his prominent role in the enslavement of African people.
“On June 7, 2020, the statue was pulled down during Black Lives Matter protests and rolled into the harbour.
“Following consultation with the city in 2021, the statue entered the collections of Bristol City Council’s museums.”
The toppled statue is on display at the M Shed in an exhibition on protest.