Wording rejected again for empty Colston plinth
COUNCILLORS in Bristol 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 yesterday, 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.
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.”
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 read: “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.