More time will be allowed for temporary memorials, shrines and tributes after a proposed two-week limit looks like being relaxed following criticism.
Brighton and Hove City Council initially proposed a two-week limit for temporary memorials such as roadside floral tributes to crash victims and shrines in parks, asking the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss the plan in March.
The proposal came about six months after a memorial to hostages kidnapped and killed by Hamas on Saturday 7 October 2023 was forced to move for a makeover of Palmeira Square, Hove.
Next Tuesday (8 September), the committee is due to consider revised proposals, extending the timeframe from 14 days to 28, after which a “spontaneous display” would require permission.
The temporary and spontaneous tribute policy states that items may be removed earlier if a display “reaches capacity, creates a health and safety risk, obstructs access, damages council property or the environment or causes another significant operational concern”.
In March, the proposals came under fire for limiting temporary shrines to 14 days and barring people from leaving anything more substantial such as “tables, vases, trinkets, stones, gazebos, books and ribbons”.
At the meeting in March, Labour councillor Ty Goddard asked whether the policy was even necessary, saying: “How humane and human is this council in response at times to things that local communities want?
“I would warn you, not in a patronising way, but we must take care over this. Take it carefully. I think 14 days is daft.”
As well as extending the time allowed, the revised policy proposes improved “signposting” of memorial options within cemeteries.
The policy originally proposed a 20-year wait before any long-term memorials could be put in place but the draft policy has changed to allow for “historically significant” exceptions.
The report to the committee said: “The application process will normally take eight weeks from the initial application once all relevant documents and permissions have been obtained.
“For temporary flower displays, officers will seek to contact the bereaved within 28 days.
“For a more permanent memorial, consultees will be agreed with community cohesion colleagues.
“After 28 days, temporary memorials will be removed by Cityparks or environmental services if on the highway.
“Longer-term applicants will be advised to contact the planning department.
“Applications will be assessed on historical and cultural significance, impact on the landscape, accessibility, safety, environmental factors and saturation of existing memorials in the area.”
The council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to meet next Tuesday (8 September) at 4pm at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
“Good grief”? Good heavens. When reporting on roadside memorials to people killed in crashes, perhaps the temptation to squeeze a jaunty pun into the headline might have been resisted.
As for the substance, I find the whole business rather depressing. Grief is not an administrative process to be allotted 14 days, reconsidered by committee and generously extended to 28 before the bereaved are directed towards an application process which may itself take eight weeks.
Of course the council must intervene where a memorial creates a genuine obstruction or safety problem. Otherwise, might a little humanity, sensitivity and common sense not serve us better than yet another policy?
On this occasion Councillor Goddard had it exactly right: I am not entirely convinced that doubling an arbitrary number makes it twice as sensible.
It does feel like one of those policies where there a cold hard logic behind it, but really, it should be more of a common sense approach. Grief doesn’t fit a timeline, after all.