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19
Mar 2021
Queen Victoria will remain on her plinth in Harrogate
A consultation document on the Station Gateway project asks for views on moving the monument, which was erected in 1887, prompting concerns. But its future now looks secure.
Queen Victoria monument
The statue of Queen Victoria that has watched over Harrogate since 1887 is set to remain.
Local historian Malcolm Neesam raised concerns the white marble monument could be moved as part of the £7.9 million Station Gateway project.
The project, funded by the government's Transforming Cities Fund, will radically transform Station Parade, where the statue is located.
A consultation document asks for views on moving the monument, which put the issue on the agenda and prompted Mr Neesam's concerns.
But at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Committee yesterday, councillors put the matter to bed.
Aidan Rayner, Transforming Cities Fund delivery manager at the county council, said the monument was included in initial proposals to get peoples’ views.
However, he added that it will no longer be included in any future consultation and that there was no plans to move it.
He said:
“I can be very clear that it is not required to move it and currently there are no plans to move it as part of these proposals.”
Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member of access at the county council, told the committee:
“There is certainly no intention on our part to move the monument. I am very cognisant of Malcolm Neesam’s views on that.”
Read more:
- Could Harrogate's Queen Victoria monument be moved?
- Stray Views: could Station Gateway plans cause traffic bottleneck?
Mr Neesam welcomed the news and suggested railings, which were removed from the monument in 1941, should be restored. He said:
"Eighty years after the government encouraged Harrogate to remove the Victoria monument's decorative railings which marked the site boundary, it really is about time they were restored. Is this too much to ask?"
Richard Ellis inserted several covenants into the deed of gift when he presented the statue to the town, requiring that if any attempt were made to move it, the land should be offered back to the Ellis family.
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