County Durham Labour has called on the Tory-led Coalition running the County Council to scrap plans to turn the former DLI Museum into a restaurant, labelling the move “an affront to the memory of fallen service men and women”.
Having opposed the controversial move at every turn, Labour councillors have tabled a motion to go before March Full Council to halt a £23m plan to turn the near-derelict site into a high-end restaurant and art gallery.
Labour’s Cllr Kevin Shaw will table the motion to Council. He claims the plans are a waste of public money, will tie a financial millstone around the neck of the Council for years to come and, most serious of all, desecrate an area where the ashes of countless fallen soldiers have been scattered.
“This plan is an affront to the memory of service men and women. It’s like vandalising headstones, with trees felled that had loved ones’ ashes scattered at their base with personal memorials,” he said. “Relatives of those who made the ultimate sacrifice are horrified that ashes scattered on a site they thought sacrosanct are now smeared across workman’s boots and excavator wheels.
“It brings shame on this Council that the memories of these brave souls and the wishes of their loved ones have not been given one moment’s consideration, and it is outrageous that this is acceptable to the Coalition.
“The public outrage is completely understandable. Development of this site should never happen.”
At Full Council, Labour will demand the Council:
- Immediately stops work on the site,
- Cancels the project, which can’t be delivered without destroying a place many chose to lay their loved ones at rest.
Cllr Alison Batey, who will second the motion, added:
“The Coalition is forcing through a plan that blows a hole in the Council’s budget at a time when local authorities are going bankrupt. The fact this plan for conference facilities, an art gallery and a restaurant – that most residents will not be able to afford – desecrates servicemen and women’s graves to achieve their goals is shocking.
“This disgracefully immoral project is a colossal waste of public money that started with a budget of £5m, which has ballooned to £23m and continues to rise!
“The County Council can’t afford this – just last week it cancelled two leisure centres due to reduced capital spend. But here we are again, money ploughed into a City project while towns and villages suffer…but worse than that, the remains of our fallen heroes ploughed into the earth for car parking spaces and smoking shelters. It’s despicable.”
Labour put forward plans for a Memorial Garden on the site, offering people a place for reflection and remembrance. Proposals ignored by the Tory, LibDem and Independent Coalition, who are hellbent on creating the new restaurant and gallery.
The motion:
This council calls for an immediate halt to all activity on the former DLI Museum site. For the current development proposal to be cancelled and replaced with a memorial garden and a space for reflection and remembrance.
The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) collection is proudly displayed at The Story, the state of the art £20m history centre at Mount Oswald’s commissioned by the former Labour administration.