STATUES and monuments across Leeds are to come under scrutiny following the Black Lives Matter protests.

Leeds City Council announced the review as part of its response to “an ongoing debate around statues of some historic figures.”

It will be led by the city’s first female BAME ward councillor Alison Lowe, who represented Labour from 1990 to 2019 and is the chief executive of mental health charity Touchstone.

The move follows actions by other local authorities across the country who have seen demonstrations and protests – including the toppling of the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

Leeds City Council leader Councillor Judith Blake said: “We’re incredibly proud of our diverse multicultural city here in Leeds and particularly proud of the relationships we have and the work we do with our communities across the city.

“It’s absolutely crucial to us that we keep those relationships strong and everything we do is done in a spirit of dialogue, consultation and, most importantly, listening to people’s views.

“We have decided to look at the statues we have in the city and understand their background to ensure our city’s rich multi-cultural history is appropriately celebrated and represented and also to identify any gaps that exist.”

Earlier this week demonstrators daubed graffiti on a statue of Queen Victoria in Woodhouse Moor. Council officers have since cleaned the statue up.

Cllr Blake said: “As a council and a city we will always support freedom of speech and people’s rights to express their views in a peaceful and respectful way. However, we do have established policies regarding graffiti on public property and will continue to enforce these.”

The decision to instigate a review is being questioned by the Leader of the Opposition Conservative Group on Leeds City Council, Cllr Andrew Carter.

He said: “We are still in the midst of a global pandemic and the country is still in lockdown. The council taxpayer of Leeds is picking up the bill for cleaning up acts of vandalism and will also have to pick up the bill for a commission on statues that won’t actually get to the root of inequalities or seek to address them. An independently run commission is one thing but a cobbled together body to examine statues in Leeds formed as a knee jerk reaction to race relations protests won’t make the lasting change those protesting want.”

“Some of those historical figures who are being vilified are the very people responsible for us having the freedom to protest in the first place.”

“We should constantly look for opportunities to create art and public realm that celebrate those who have made significant contributions to our city and that reflect the wonderfully diverse communities within it. We should study the past, learn from it, use it, sometimes be ashamed of it, but we should never, ever erase it. Vilifying British heroes who helped preserve our freedoms is unacceptable.

“Tearing down the statues that tell the story of our city and the journey we have been on will do nothing to address inequalities and injustice that still exist today and that we must do far more to resolve.”

“Rewriting our history to tarnish the great things we’ve achieved will not help to narrow the deeply entrenched gap between the wealthiest and poorest in our city.”

“Assassinating the characters, flawed as many were, of some of those who paved the way for Leeds to be the dynamic, multicultural city it is today will not help the communities who’ve been entrenched with poverty for decades and frequently left out of the prosperity of the city.”

“There are an array of modern heroes that have inspired many and deserve recognition when the opportunity arises but right now, the council should be focussed on dealing with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, addressing the funding crisis the council has brought upon itself, firing the city’s economy back up and backing our businesses, bringing communities together and addressing the entrenched poverty and disadvantage that exists in too many parts of our city.”