Edinburgh Council has approved a temporary ban on public art projects in Princes Street Gardens in a drive to move new statues away from the city centre.
This will work as a “temporary moratorium” until a “statue and memorialisation plan” and wider Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy are signed off.
This will not affect ongoing projects such as the memorial for Muriel Spark and a sculpture to commemorate those impacted by the Infected Blood Scandal, but would prevent any nascent memorial projects for the gardens.
Princes Street Gardens is one of the capital’s installation hotspots, with 21 statues and monuments standing in the gardens, and another two on the way.
When the Muriel Spark installation was in development in August last year, there was some discussion in the city council about instead constructing the statue in the Bruntsfield Links.
Councillors eventually requested council officers to find alternative memorial locations and “achieve a better spread across the city”.
Although it came too late to change the “Spirit of Spark” location, this advice now appears to have been taken up.
In a report for the Culture and Communities Committee last Thursday, council officers said: “There is a heavy concentration of monuments and memorials in the [Princes Street] gardens, and more proposals being received on an ongoing basis.
“Stakeholders, including Edinburgh World Heritage, City Councillors and event organisers have recently expressed concerns about the siting of new permanent statues, monuments and artworks in the gardens, and provided suggestions for consideration for any future proposals.”
They added: “It is recommended that Committee agrees a temporary moratorium on any future requests for locating new public art works in Princes Street Gardens, and that a statue and memorialisation plan with firm locational criteria to guide any new proposals is developed.”
In a question about geographical distribution of statues, Liberal Democrat councillor Ed Thornley pointed out that plinths – dotted around the city – often lay empty when statues have been removed.
Karl Chapman, Head of Heritage, Cultural Venues, Museums and Galleries, who presented the council officers’ report, responded: “We have considered it. We’ve got a new register of public art, and we’re looking to create a map which will then show where all the statues, public monuments exist.
“The piece of work we aim to pick up on is a heat mapping project which can look at alternative locations.”
He added: “It is absolutely an objective to have public art representing the places where it could and should be.”
The council’s public art panel meets on a regular basis, with a maximum of three proposals considered at each meeting.
Recent presentations have been received from the Sean Connery Foundation and Haemophilia Scotland, and these projects could become the first to be affected by the moratorium.
Culture and Communities Convener, Cllr Margaret Graham, moved to approve the report, and summed up her views:
“I’m quite supportive of having a moratorium to see how much space there is left and how practical it is to continue to put statues just in Princes Street Gardens when we’re trying to develop town centres and Edinburgh is expanding; there are so many wonderful parks around the city.”
