Hopes remain high that £500,000 will be raised for a revamp of the Piper Alpha memorial gardens, despite the controversy surrounding the project.
Steve Rae, chairman of the Pound for Piper Trust said there’s been a “very positive industry response” on the funding but conceded the sector is “never going to throw money at something if they don’t think it’s going to happen”.
In May, the Pound for Piper Trust proposed a £500,000 renovation to the gardens – known as the North Sea Memorial Gardens – in Hazlehead Park, which hosts the memorial sculpture that bears the names of all 167 men who died inscribed in pink granite.
The famous monument was erected on 6 July 1991, on the third anniversary of the disaster.
The monument and gardens are the focal point of events including the annual memorial service held on the anniversary of the 1988 North Sea disaster.
Read more Piper Alpha: The night the sea caught fire
The 34th event was held earlier this month, attended by around 70 people and led by oil and gas chaplain Reverend Gordon Craig.
Backlash to plans
Plans to revamp the gardens unveiled by the trust met with a backlash, including a petition to stop the redesign that has amassed more than 5,000 signatures.
Concerns were raised over fears of a rebranding of the site, use of materials like concrete, as well as serious claims on a lack of consultation with stakeholders.
They talked about renaming, they talked about no consultation, they talked about using concrete products in the redesign, none of those are factual and true.
However, Mr Rae insisted “there is nothing controversial about what’s going on” in relation to the proposed redesign and the petition that challenges it.
Addressing the petition, he said: “Many folks had an adverse reaction to the proposal we presented to the public and we did so with full intentions of entering the consultation and getting feedback – you can’t get feedback if don’t have something to show.
“So we went in knowingly that we wouldn’t please everyone, we (also) went in knowingly that some people, many people, would be very supportive, we’d sounded that out already.”
Although many people oppose the redesign, the trust has had “just as many positive responses”, and has replied to “everyone that has had a respectful query”
‘We went in knowingly that we wouldn’t please everyone.”
Mr Rae, himself a Piper Alpha survivor, said: “I think if the petition had been raised on factual evidence it would have been much more meaningful for those who chose to raise it.
“I actually would welcome the petition because I think it’s a great public document.
“I just find the topics they talked about: they talked about rebranding, they talked about renaming, they talked about no consultation, they talked about using concrete products in the redesign, none of those are factual and true.
“So the only part of the petition that I really think should be considered is the fact they objected to the redesign and I think everybody is in their right to object to the redesign if they chose to do so.”
Piper Alpha memorial petition
The proposal submitted by the Pound for Piper Trust and the petition against it was discussed at a full council meeting Wednesday and is “open to the public for consultation”.
Councillors at the meeting confirmed that any proposed changes to the gardens would be subject to consultation and the “final decision on the future of the memorial and the gardens would be made by the council”.
A report to the committee submitted ahead of the meeting clarified that the Piper Alpha Memorial is referred to as the “memorial,” but the gardens surrounding it are referred to as “The North Sea Rose Garden”, adding that there had been “no discussion” between the the trust and Aberdeen City Council on rebranding or renaming the memorial or the gardens”.
Speaking ahead of yesterday’s meeting, the Pound for Piper chairman said: “We’ve never expected anything different.
“I think it will get to public consultation at some point, what I would say is the petition was raised against the Lord Provost and the council, it wasn’t raised against the Pound for Piper Trust, we were named in it.
“We’ll take on board the positive discussions we’ve had with the council to date and the next stage will be a meeting with the council.
“There’s nothing controversial for me more than a process.
“I genuinely still believe that we’ve went about it the right way.
“How it’s been reported by some may have misconstrued what we were actually attempting to do and we have to accept that.”
Raising the £500K
If the proposal to redesign the Piper Alpha Memorial Gardens is successful the Pound for Piper Trust will have to raise £500,000 to pay for the work to be carried out.
The trust aims to appeal to oil and gas companies to help raise the money for the proposed work.
Mr Rae spoke about how confident he is that Pound for Piper could raise the money: “I think we’ve had a very positive response from the industry, I think that industry is never going to throw money at something if they don’t think it’s going to happen.
“Many of the industry leaders that I’ve presented to with the proposal have indicated that they are positive to it but I think we have to get to a place where we have done public consultation and then we can really go and say, ‘right this is maybe the change we’ve had to make for this to go forward’.
“It’s going to definitely be a proposal that is going to be acceptable to the council and those who are deemed stakeholders in this north sea memorial gardens and then I think we’ll be in a place where we will receive adequate funding but we can never be confident in that until we’ve got to a place where we’ve got a design that’s – not necessarily been accepted by everyone, but it’s got to a place where the council would like that to happen to their facility because it is their facility.”
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