Who will pay to remove the statue?

NO doubt much correspondence will follow on the subject of moving the statue of Sir Redvers Buller.

While generally I am unmoved by the sort of overtly woke attitude which seems to surround this sort of issue, in this particular case I have no really strong feelings either way.

There is a practical reason for moving the statue, which has nothing to do with what Buller may or may not have done in the past.

In its present location, close to the college, the statue seems to attract more than its fair share of high jinks which not infrequently results in serious injury, or worse. A more appropriate position further away from the immediate attention of those tempted to scale it might help to reduce this.

That said however, as the statue was originally erected at the private expense of those Exeter citizens who wished to put it there, may I suggest that the same principle is applied to those who now wish to see it moved.

I understand that the relocation costs will be upward of £25,000 – a significant sum which I suspect many Exeter ratepayers would prefer to see spent on other projects.

If the majority of those who bother to respond to a public consultation support moving the statue, may I suggest that this is done at their own expense (eg by crowd-funding), so that the cost does not fall on already stretched public funds.

That would at least deter those who are merely virtue-signalling in their alleged support of the move, and might also go some way towards appeasing those who prefer not to see public funds spent in this way.

Paul Dunn Clyst St Mary, Exeter