Group 'shunned' over big screen 'carbuncle'

Aug 24 2007 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM'S conservation champion today slammed council planners over plans for a big screen in Victoria Square.

Coun Peter Douglas Osborn was outraged that the official conservation panel had not been consulted over the decision to put a giant £365,000 screen at the foot of the Victoria Square fountain.

His blast came as the council's planning committee put off a decision over the screen until further noise assessments and investigations are carried out.

The temporary screen, which has been beaming BBC news and events coverage in Chamberlain Square for four years, has to be removed next month ahead of the Town Hall re-opening.

So council bosses decided Victoria Square, in front of the side of Halifax Building Society, would make an ideal location.

Coun Douglas Osborn (Con, Weoley) said: "This is the most important area of conservation in the city and we have a panel of experts in this area.

"But that panel was not consulted."

Coun Douglas Osborn described the screen on the Town Hall as a "carbuncle on a much loved face" and said he has similar thoughts on the proposed new location.

"We need to ask do we have to have a screen? and if so then where it should go," he added," he said.

Coun Mike Sharpe (Lab, Tyburn) suggested the ICC in Centenary Square would be a better location. "ÒIt is a modern building," he said.

Director of planning and regeneration Clive Dutton said that a lot of thought and preparation had gone into choosing the location, including the idea that a televised crowd shot would show the Town Hall and Council House as a backdrop.

Planning committee chairman Coun David Roy said he proposed a temporary planning permission of four years to allow the committee to test the screen and reconsider.

But the committee rejected this by seven votes to six. They instead deferred a decision and called for further consultation and an investigation into the noise impact on the Square and nearby offices.

There had earlier been fierce objections from Birmingham Civic Society and the Victorian Society who claimed the screen would "shatter the ambience and peace" of the historic square.