No plinth space for Queen Mum

Proposals to place a statue of the Queen Mother on the vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square have been ruled out by the committee appointed by Mayor Ken Livingstone to decide the future use of the site.

The committee's decision reopens the emotional controversy about the best site for a Queen Mother memorial. The current favourite locations are outside her home at Clarence House, or in the East End.

Instead, there will be more controversial displays of art like Ecce Homo, the life-sized statue of Christ erected on the site by the artist Mark Wallinger, or the inverted resin cast of the plinth put there by Rachel Whiteread, which was compared to a Fox's glacier mint.

In a decision that will disappoint the passionate advocates of the Queen Mother proposal, the committee has recommended that the plinth be used for a changing exhibition of contemporary sculpture.

Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat London spokesman, who put down an Early Day Motion in the Commons calling for the Queen Mother's statue to be on the plinth, said: "It is very disappointing. A poll of Londoners today would, I am sure, back the proposal for a statue of the Queen Mother on the plinth. I hope at least that the advisory committee has discussed this with the Royal Family."

A member of the committee said the decision had been "unanimously supported" and that "there was not much public interest" in the Queen Mother idea. The Mayor will now have to decide whether to act on the committee's recommendation.

He is almost certain to back it, as he has already given his approval in principle, and has also argued that a memorial to the Queen Mother should be built in the East End.

Nor will the Royal Family challenge the decision. "The occupancy of the plinth is up to the committee responsible," said a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman.

"Any suggestion that a statue of the Queen Mother should be put on the plinth has not come from the Palace." It has also been suggested her statue can be placed next to the monument to her husband, George VI, looking down on St James's Park from Carlton House Terrace. Buckingham Palace said that "what and where a memorial to the Queen Mother should be is a matter for a number of organisations and not just Buckingham Palace".

It will, they say, be considered carefully and slowly. "At the moment our priority is the Golden Jubilee."

The decision should bring to end a decade of debate about the plinth, which was originally intended to carry a statue of King William IV. This was never erected, due to the king's lack of popularity.

Popular suggestions for use of the fourth plinth have included an equestrian statue of the Queen, Nelson Mandela, and racehorse Red Rum. Mayor Ken Livingstone has also suggested the removal of the statues on two other plinths in Trafalgar Square, to the colonial generals Sir Henry Havelock and Sir Charles Napier, but his committee has not considered this idea.

Any idea will be part of the £50 million transformation and part-pedestrianisation of the square by the architect Lord Foster of Thames Bank, which the Mayor is backing.