No money budgeted for love locks artwork plan

Nothing has been done yet with the hundreds of "lovelocks" taken off a city bridge, despite a promise they would be transformed into a new artwork.

Over the summer and autumn, Bristol City Council stripped padlocks left by courting couples from Pero's Bridge over the harbour.

It said the move was necessary because of the extra weight, estimated to be up to three tonnes, they added to a structure already in need of repairs.

The council vowed to give the tokens of love a new lease of life after concerns were raised they could be sold for scrap, but as yet no money has been budgeted for such a project.

It was initially thought repairs to the bridge would cost £200,000, but a recent survey of the bridge found the structural problems were not as bad as originally thought and the works only cost £60,000, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But in an update given to the council's harbour committee on Tuesday, Cliff Brand, head of service for the Bristol Harbour Authority, warned people were continuing to add new locks.

Green Councillor Ani Townsend suggested spending the money that had been saved on repairs on public sculpture that people could be encouraged to add their locks to.

"It would save us money long-term and encourage people to put them somewhere else and not have to keep removing them continuously," she said.

Townsend said: "I work closely with the arts and culture team. There's a range of things that we've talked about which we could do. We just don't have the money to do it. People did get quite upset, understandably, about us removing them."

Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Brown, chair of the harbour committee, added: "Having stood in front of the press and said 'we are going to do something with all these locks that we've taken off,' and then we've not managed to do anything yet, I would like to see something done."

The bridge opened in 1999 and was named after Pero Jones, an enslaved man owned by Bristol sugar merchant John Pinney in the 18th Century from the age of 12 until his death aged about 45.

Attaching locks to the bridge quickly became a popular way for couples to symbolise their attachment to each other.

Locks were removed by the council a decade ago, but the bridge was covered again within a few years.

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