Diversity scheme not about ‘tearing statues down’, says London assembly member

A London assembly member has said efforts to diversify the city’s monuments are not about “tearing statues down” and should focus on commemorating the capital’s “hidden history”.

City Hall’s £1m Untold Stories fund to support diversity among London’s memorials, statues and street names was launched last month to support “communities stories within the city”.

The scheme was launched following the establishment of the commission for diversity in the public realm, which aims to celebrate and commemorate London’s population and history.

But London assembly member Leonie Cooper has said the scheme “got off to a rocky start” and called it “bizarre” that there are more statues of animals in London than named women.

She added: “There’s a lot of hidden history there and I think it will be very welcome to many Londoners for it to be uncovered.

“I don’t think it’s about tearing statues down - I think it’s about commemorating new things.”

Her comments came after activist Toyin Agbetu resigned from the commission after he was accused of previously making anti-Semitism comments online.

The Labour member for Merton and Wandsworth was speaking at a  meeting of the London Assembly’s budget committee this morning (Tuesday, November 23).

She asked: “How successful has the mayor’s commission on diversity in the public realm been given that he got off to a bit of a rocky start with quite a poor appointment of someone who had to be removed fairly quickly?”

She added: “[Are] boroughs pooling resources with the GLA to address the rather interesting fact I understand might be true that there are more statues in London of horses than there are of women?

“I’ve not personally conducted an inspection so this could be an entirely made up story. If it’s true then it’s quite bizarre.”

Philip Graham, GLA growth director, said the £1m grant programme offering “small scale” funding to projects seeking to reflect London’s diversity had had good engagement so far.

He said he thought the scheme, alongside the two-year diversity commission, would be a “success” in developing the public realm and cementing new idea around representation.

He added: “There are definitely more statues of animals in London than of women.

“I haven’t had the animals broken down by species so I’m not sure of the equine element of that.”

And Ms Cooper joked that the statues “could be of female animals - as has just been pointed out by a colleague”.

Mr Graham said a “very significant proportion of London boroughs” were working alongside organisations such as Historic England and were “strongly committed” to diversity efforts.

“A number are already taking action by looking at the naming of parks, how they can invest in new memorials, monuments and changing street names,” he said.

He told the committee no resources had been pooled yet and the GLA would wait to see the outcome of grant application to the Untold Stories fund.

When asked why the commission’s £230,000 funding ends after the 2022-23 financial year, he said the scheme was meant to “kick start new ways of thinking” and set “best practice”.

And he revealed £750m had been earmarked for “at least three” new monuments while the commission’s findings would ultimately be incorporated into the London Plan.

Ms Cooper said: “I could have easily chosen another metric such as the LGBT community.

“As far as I know there are something like six rainbow plaques nationally - one was put onto Clapham Junction station to commemorate Oscar Wilde and another has been installed in Lambeth to memorialise the film My Beautiful Laundrette.”