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Rees pledges to keep ‘iconic’ lovelocks
Marvin Rees has said it is unlikely that the lovelocks on Pero’s Bridge will be removed, calling them “a part of the creativity and iconic sights” of the Floating Harbour.
His comments come as a crowdfunder campaign to buy bolt cutters to get rid of the locks is gaining momentum, so far raising more than twice as much money as a rival campaign pledging to keep the locks.
The vast majority of Bristol24/7 readers also want to lose the locks, although a few are in favour of them remaining:
is needed now More than ever
One reader even had this unfortunate experience:
Rees said: “For me, the locks on Pero’s Bridge have become a part of the creativity and iconic sights that make our harbour the great tourist attraction that it is.
“Many of them carry great meaning to the people who put them there and hold memories of their time in Bristol.
“The bridge is part of the working harbour and must continue to be able to open in order for it to function.
“If locks get in the way some may have to be removed but, wherever possible, I would like to preserve these mementos and encourage people to express themselves in our city.”
Lib Dem councillor Mark Wright, whose ward covers half of the bridge, said: “These ‘lovelocks’ are symptomatic of the narcissistic, wasteful, throw away culture we now live in.
“Poor people on the other side of the world work in dangerous mines to extract ores, which are then processed by less poor people into metals, cast by middle-income people into shiny padlocks, shipped by fairly well-off people across the world to the UK, to be sold by well-off people in shops to mindless rich people who then immediately throw them away on a bridge.
“What I would like is for these people to have to face the poor guy who mined that ore and say to his face, ‘Remember that ore you spent time digging up for a living? Well I threw it away, for kicks, just because I can afford to’.”
The ‘lovelock’ phenomenon is believed to have started in Paris, where in June 2014 the weight of the padlocks on the Pont Des Arts bridge were blamed for the collapse of part of the parapet.
Marvin Rees is giving his his first State of the City address as part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas on Thursday from 6.15pm. Watch live coverage of the event on Bristol24/7’s Facebook feed.
Read more: Largest ‘love lock’ yet on Pero’s Bridge
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