Girders for Potters Fields Park

Have you heard the fairytale about the shepherdess who lost her sheep and then found them again in the rice pudding? If not, read on.
There is a planning application (10-AP-3257) to erect some old girders from 9/11 in "Potters Field (sic) Park".
This is supported by Southwark Council.
The objective, according to the “9/11 London Project Foundation” (who have made the application), is “TO HONOUR ALL THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON NEW YORK CITY ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2001”
It is a highly objectionable aim to honour in any way the terrorists who died as a result of 9/11.
In no way at all should Southwark or Potters Fields Park be associated with such an objective or such an ugly collection of memorabilia.
To defile the lovely Potters Fields Park in this way would be a disgrace. Can someone please put a stop to it?

Surely this really refers to the victims of the atrocity and not the terrorists...perhaps it is just not very well worded.

Actually, why should we be putting up a memorial to those who died in New York anyway?

Will there be accompanying memorials for all those who died in the wars started as a response to Sept 11th (against countries which had nothing to do with Sept 11th)?

Anyone know who the '9/11 London Project Foundation' represent? It does seem curious that we should be erecting a monument to those who lost their lives in New York, in Potter's Field. I can't make any connection, unless the management structure of the More development, who appear to have a big say in anything that goes on in the area, has an american bias. I'd be surprised if Southwark Council agreed to this.

The whole point of the original post is a pretty pathetic attempt at wordsmithing, to try to get people to object to the 9/11 memorial.

As far as I understand, there is no intention for it to relate to the terrorists who died. This is a link the original poster is making to try to support his objection.

He should post any evidence of the 9/11 Project Foundation wanting to do so here... hopefully something more significant than a poorly worded statement in the planning application.

The present proposal for a 9/11 memorial is not supported by the Potters Fields Park Management Trust, who as landlords would have to give their permission for its installation.

I'm trying to find out whether the foundation will continue to seek planning permission in spite of the lack of agreement with the park's owners/management* but I haven't had a response yet.

The planning application seems to be being rushed through the system by the council's planning department - it's going to planning committee next week even though the consultation period won't have expired.

(* there is nothing to stop the foundation seeking and gaining planning permission in any case, but if there's no realistic prospect of the memorial being installed, it's pointless)

Ivanhoe wrote:

Actually, why should we be putting up a memorial to those who died in New York anyway?
Will there be accompanying memorials for all those who died in the wars started as a response to Sept 11th (against countries which had nothing to do with Sept 11th)?

Couldn't agree more. A memorial to September 11th would be at best embarrassing.

I have no objection to the 9/11 Foundation putting up some kind of memorial somewhere. After all, there were quite a few people from the UK who died in the attack. I do object, however, to the suggestion that some clanking monstrosity be placed on Potters Fields; it's not a memorial garden and I wouldn't want it to become one

I find it quite bizarre that they should even be thinking about this. Riverside Parents has been trying to get some small facilities on the part for years, some swings or whatever, for the kids. To encourage its use by families and children. They've always been kicked into touch

For info, this is what the Shad Thames Residents Association has said:

The Shad Thames Residents’ Association objects very strongly to the planning application from the 9/11 Foundation to erect a sculpture on Potters Fields Park made from damaged steel girders from the attack on New York’s Twin Towers.

The size, scope and scale of the sculpture is out of all proportion to the size of the small Potters Fields Park, it would completely overwhelm the Park, allowing users of the Park no choice as to whether, or not, they wish to be confronted every day by such an overpowering and “violent” installation.

We know that the Board of the Park have decided that the installation would be inappropriate given the size of the Park, and that the Board voted not to allow the sculpture to be erected, and therefore, it is difficult to understand why the 9/11 Foundation have decided to go ahead with their Planning Application. While understanding that anyone can apply for planning permission for any project, anywhere, is it worth noting that Potters Fields Park Management Trust hold a lease on the Park until 2037, and, therefore, decisions about what the Park is used for lies with the Trust ?

In conclusion, local residents cannot find any justification to site the sculpture on the small Potters Fields Park, and therefore, strongly object to this proposal for the reasons outlined above.

Jilly Frisch
Secretary - Shad Thames Residents' Association

ultrapatrick wrote:

I have no objection to the 9/11 Foundation putting up some kind of memorial somewhere. After all, there were quite a few people from the UK who died in the attack.

A quick googling gets me to: 67 British people died in the 9th Sept attacks (from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/aug/18/usa.terrorism ).

Which may or may not meet one's criterion for being "quite a few", but certainly is a fraction of the number of British people who've died in the wars waged in the wake of the Twin Towers.

That aside, I'd agree that PF Park is no place for such a memorial. And personally, I'd love to see some sort of playground there. It seems to me that children are one group who aren't well catered for along the riverside, which is a real shame since there's so much for adults to do.

There is already a memorial to the British victims of the 9/11 attacks in Grosvenor Square:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reniann/1855883560/