Hunter Square art work is being left to rack and ruin - Iain Whyte

Body and Soul sculpture by internationally renowned artist Peter Randall-Page

My cultural reference is more local as it is the name of the sculpture by internationally renowned artist Peter Randall-Page that sits in Hunter Square at the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

Commissioned in the closing days of the Regional and District Councils it was installed in 1996 by Old Town Renewal. Unfortunately, lack of maintenance and enforcement meant the bowl-shaped sculpture became a litter dump, dirty water depository and thus a Legionella hazard.

During Fringe festivals it was covered up by the council and used as a condiment distribution point by adjacent hot food vans. Eventually, the cover became semi-permanent despite being a rather ramshackle plywood structure.

Councillors of various parties have attempted to improve matters. I’ve mentioned it on and off to senior officers since the days it became a “sauce stand”. Cllr McFarlane of the SNP was the most recent to formalise things with written council questions. He was informed it would be moved two years ago.

Last December, I mentioned to senior officials that the fly-posted and graffitied carbuncle of a cover had been broken and was a danger to the public. I was assured the sculpture would be moved soon. Last month graffiti arrived on part of the sculpture that peeks out under the broken cover. I was again assured action was imminent.

When I replied to a local resident highlighting it on social media there was a news story in another publication. More assurances yet it is still the same this week. No reinstatement. No relocation. No removal to storage. Not even a simple repair to the damaged cover.

This piece of public art sits within a UNESCO World Heritage Site in what our Lord Provost rightly describes as a “world class city”. But the sad story it tells is about the internal culture of the council rather than art. A culture that can fail to deliver even a basic sticking plaster solution to a very public issue.

Each time I pass, on my way from the bus to the City Chambers, it is a reminder of how much the council needs to change to become an organisation that delivers. The lyrics of the jazz standard are quite apt, “My heart is sad and lonely; For you, I sigh, for you dear only;”

The third line screams at the council “Why haven’t you seen it?;” The answer for Edinburgh should be “I’m all for you, body and soul”.