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Southport families 'blown away' by support for memorial garden

Claire HamiltonPolitical Reporter Merseyside
Sefton council A CGI impression of Southport town hall gardens at night. You can see the Atkinson art gallery with it's distinctive clock towerSefton council
CGI image of how Town Hall gardens might look

The families of the three girls killed in the Southport attack said they have been "blown away" by support for plans to create a memorial in Southport's town hall gardens.

Relatives of Alice Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Stancombe welcomed feedback on proposals to regenerate the area in front of the town hall and Atkinson art gallery.

About 300 people took part in Sefton Council's consultation on the scheme, which would include a landscaped performance space in tribute to the girls.

Southport MP Patrick Hurley said there had been "overwhelming support" for the project, despite some objections.

In a joint statement, the families said: "We are really pleased to see how far and wide the engagement has been in the consultation process on what we've always hoped would be a wonderfully transformative project for Southport.

"We attended a schools consultation and engagement event at the Atkinson with hundreds of local schoolchildren and we were blown away by their positivity and their fascinating views on the future of town centre spaces.

"We know there is much to do still before planning approval and before the works start on site, but we remain fully committed to delivering this project as a way of saying thank you to Southport and the community for the support they have shown all of us."

Press Association Flowers, cards and other tributes left outside The Atkinson in Southport in memory of the three girls killed in the attackPress Association
Flowers and tributes to the three girls outside the Atkinson art gallery in Southport, honouring the three girls who died in a knife attack at a local dance class on July 29

The plans have faced criticism from Southport Civic Society, which said they would remove historic features including pavilions, lighting and balustrades- harming the character of the gardens.

The society's chairman, Martin Perry, said the existing landscape outside the Atkinson art gallery would be "razed to the ground".

Responding to the concerns, Hurley said many features in the existing gardens were not Victorian but replicas installed in the 1990s.

He said: "I think people need to accept that renewal and refurbishment can mean change, but it can also mean improvement.

"We can't hold on to everything that's ever been built and say nothing can ever replace it."

He said people with "genuine worries" should be reassured that the plans were not for "some sort of high-rise steel and glass monstrosity", but something that would be "in keeping and very sympathetic with what's already there".

Lead architect for the project Pete Swift said: "We have a detailed inventory of all the elements we are removing, from the columns and balustrades to the paving slabs and benches.

"This will form the basis of a 'second-life strategy', where careful dismantling, rather than indiscriminate demolition, will give the project team the building blocks for more projects across the town.

"We are striving to waste nothing."

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