The naked statue of a man which stood for months on a green in Bristol until planners ordered him taken down is making another bid for stardom.

Sculptor Rebecca Johnson-Marshall, of Marlborough Hill, Kingsdown, has put in a planning application for the "fully endowed" concrete statue on Montague Green, at the bottom of Kingsdown Parade and Montague Place.

She was forced to remove the original "pirouetting jester" figure, made with cement and papier mache, by city councillors on Bristol's development control committee last April.

But the artist vowed to fight on, claiming it would have been different if the sculpture had been of a woman.

She said the real reason for rejecting her application was distaste for a piece of public art that showed a man's genitals.

"If it had been a woman's breasts, that would have been different," said Ms Johnson-Marshall. "I thought the world had moved on, but obviously not."

The committee almost unanimously rejected their own officers' recommendation to approve the sculpture.

When many of Ms Johnson-Marshall's neighbours told her they liked the sculpture, she decided to make it a permanent feature.

But the committee decided it was not designed as a long-term installation.

"There were concerns about what it would look like in a couple of years' time," said a city council spokesman.

The council had received 45 letters – 33 in favour, 12 against.

Neighbours have been consulted about Ms Johnson-Marshall's plans to install a new almost entirely sand-and-cement statue on the same site - for three years only.

After that the hope is that the site can be used for other public art chosen through competition.

Comments in the consultation say that this a great idea. Several say how much people have missed the Jester since he was last on Montague Green.

Objectors last time said the jester's nudity was offensive and agreed with the council's public art officer's verdict that the sculpture was not good enough to be considered a permanent work of art.

But supporters said the sculpture "makes a positive contribution" and provided "an entrance feature" to Kingsdown.

Ms Johnson-Marshall said: "There's nothing offensive about the sculpture. It has genitals, but then every man has. I can't see what's wrong."

The new statue will be stronger and "slightly less sexually explicit", says its creator.