TV screen will 'dumb down' square

Sep 18 2007 By David Bell, Birmingham Mail

THIS is the reason conservationists are up in arms over the "dumbing down" of the city's premier public square.

The 22ft wide 27ft high big TV screen, dressed up in faux-Roman architectural trappings, will be sited permanently at the bottom of the fountain in Victoria Square.

Critics say it will downgrade Birmingham's busiest public place to the level of a screen shot in a TV soap like EastEnders.

"It would be more appropriate in Albert Square than Victoria Square," said conservation champion Peter Douglas Osborn.

"There is every chance the location of the screen will be known as Dot's Corner."

The council is forking out £365,000 to relocate the big screen from the wall of the Town Hall in Chamberlain Square.

The council's planning committee has agreed unanimously to re-site it permanently in one of the conservation areas it is sworn to protect, surrounded by some of the city's finest historic buildings.

Chairman David Roy said doubters were swayed by further information contained in a detailed 20-page report.

"All you can do is present the facts openly and fairly and in a democracy. If it is supported, I don't see what else one can do," he said.

He said officials would monitor noise levels from the Big Screen site in front of the side of the Halifax Building Society.

"We are not going to walk away from this. If it proves inconvenient in any way, we will turn down the volume," he added.