If you are going to commemorate historic people in bronze at all (a separate debate?), then why not have them at ground level and in your face, rather than high atop some plinth, ignored by all except the town pigeonhood.

As for taking up bench space …. firstly, without the figure, there would likely be no bench at all; secondly, a bench occupied by a single regular human becomes unavailable to others unless you are on the pull or really really need a chat, in the way that a bronze occupied bench does not.

Finally, a reframe. If you don’t think of them as ‘art’, don’t bench-statues seem inoffensive in the same way as other ’street furniture’ such as pillar boxes and litter bins?

Suzzy