Stolen sculptures cost almost £200,000 - council

A set of bronze sculptures stolen from outside a local authority's headquarters was worth almost £200,000, it has been revealed.

Thieves removed five pieces of artwork from plinths outside the Wakefield One building in Wakefield city centre on 28 November.

The sculptures, titled The Auguries: Last Call, were by British artist Andy Holden and were installed in 2023 as part of a £1m art trail.

A full meeting of Wakefield Council was told that West Yorkshire Police was no longer investigating the crime as the suspects could not be identified on CCTV footage.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councillors at the meeting on Wednesday heard the city centre art trail was funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Its purpose was to "animate" outdoor spaces with work by contemporary artists.

Hannah Appleyard, the council's portfolio holder for culture, leisure and sport, told the meeting the full cost of Mr Holden's artwork was £196,966.

Appleyard said: "It's important to point out this includes the artist's fee, research and development time, design time, fabrication and delivery of the sculptures, the plinths and an engagement event.

"All the artworks making up the Wakefield city centre sculpture trail are insured and we are progressing a claim to receive monies for the loss."

The police had been unable to identify the thieves, who had been "wearing hoods", according to Appleyard.

It was "impossible to totally mitigate against crime", but Wakefield One was not "considered a risky site", she added.

Appleyard told the meeting the council was talking to the artist following the theft.

The authority was "looking at different options in terms of having the artwork produced again, but we are also considering different locations to mitigate any further risk", she said.

Holden's work was said to represent the songs of native birds which were suffering rapidly declining populations.

Recordings of the birds' songs were turned into 3D waveforms and then cast in metal, with a QR code incorporated in each sculpture so people could listen to each them.

Describing his creation, Holden previously said the sculptures would be "a time capsule of songs that might soon disappear without due care and never be heard again".

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