Bristol City Council has said streets in the city named after former slave trader Edward Colston will not be changed - unless the move is supported by "all property owners" on the road. Since the toppling of Colston's statue in June 2020, there have been continuous calls for reminders of the late slave trader to be removed from Bristol's pubs, schools and even streets.
But in response to a recent Freedom of Information request put to Bristol City Council about the name changes, the authority has said changes to street names cannot happen without "overwhelming support from property owners". What's more, those who do give consent for their street name to be changed would have to front the administrative costs to change legal documents associated with the changes.
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: "We require that all property owners on a given street provide their consent for its name to be changed, as such a move incurs administrative costs for those individuals/businesses to change legal documents etc. We have no plans to change this position.
