WORK has begun to restore College Green to its pre-Occupy Bristol glory, amidst conflicting reports about how much the four-month protest really cost the tax-payer.

Protesters set up camp last October as part of a global movement about inequality, and left the green a muddy mess after they departed last month.

Two months ago Bristol city councillor Gary Hopkins claimed Occupy's protest would cost £100,000.

He's now admitted the total bill will be less than that but said it was too early to put a figure on it.

Council leader Barbara Janke doesn't know exactly what the bill is, and told reporters she's "heard lots of estimates".

Following a Freedom of Information request, a council spokesman has given a list of legal and staff costs totalling £13,000. This includes an estimated £3,000 on clearing the site of tents and rubbish; £1,250 to install fencing and £180 a week to rent them; £409 on security staff for the eviction; £285 on legal costs for the eviction and £252.25 on floodlights.

On top of that the Evening Post understands estimated the cost of council lawyers was around £7,600.

Repairing the green itself was estimated at £20,000 plus VAT but two local contractors have offered to do it for £4,000 plus VAT.

The protesters, meanwhile, say they will meet that last cost after cobbling together money from Occupy activists in London, Bristol Quakers and themselves.

But they say they will only give the money to the church and not to the council. If they don't meet the cost, the bill will be divided between the tax payer and the church, though the latter won't say how much of a contribution it will be making.

Whatever the final bill, the physical cost is clear to anyone who walks past the green. Muddy fields of Glastonbury are an obvious comparison.

Even within the council cabinet opinion appears to be divided over what the protest really achieved.

Mrs Janke said: "The opinions of the Occupy movement have definitely resonated with the people of the city. The church and the council are looking at moving these issues up the agenda. While I feel there hasn't been a revolution, things have changed."

Asked why the eviction was not carried out earlier, she said: "We saw the riots at Dale Farm and most people felt this was not something they wanted to see in Bristol.

"We did engage with them in a way no other city really did.

"The patience and the understanding of the dean played a major party in developing that relationship of trust. In my judgement the protest needed to resolve to depart itself."

Mr Hopkins, executive member for waste, said the protesters targeted the wrong organisations.

He said: "There are no banks here. When they first started people had sympathy but the longer it went on, more and more people got annoyed with the damaged to a much-loved public space.

"Any message got completely lost."

The Very Reverend David Hoyle conceded in hindsight some things could have been done differently.

He said: "The community was divided, we listened to them, we resolved this peacefully and I'm quite proud of that.

"There were certainly moments when people in Bristol were unhappy about how long it was taking.

"We could have evicted them earlier, I think they would have opposed it. They felt they had their say - my main aim in all this was for it to end peacefully."

Avonmouth firm CWT and Pilning based Elmtree Garden Contractors will be carrying out the work, which will start in earnest on Monday. It is expected to take six to eight workers five or six days to carry it out.

CWT manager Nick Whitcher said the £4,000 figure was agreed following negotiations between the two companies and the council.

He said: "We've had a long working relationship with the two companies and the council and we employ 50 people between us. Most are Bristol based so there will be pride in bringing this back. We thought it was better for us to help than the tax payer."

An Occupy Bristol spokesman, speaking to a radio station, said his group would meet the re-turfing costs. He said: "We're in the middle of putting it together now. We've got a few bob stashed away somewhere.

"We're keen to make sure we do what we can. We'll give it to the church, we're not going to give it to the council. The council has been completely negative, coming up with some really limp excuses."

Mrs Janke she would take the group's offer "in good faith".