Landmark plans for Portland 'could inject millions into local economy'

Plans for a landmark on Portland to raise global awareness of species

extinction could inject millions of pounds into the local economy and

attract an extra 100,000 annual visitors.

Dorset County

Council’s Cabinet this week gave its support to the

MEMO (Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory) project, which would see a

monument to all species of animals and plants that have become extinct

in modern times built on Portland.

The Cabinet has agreed to

commit a one-off grant of £30,000 from its special projects budget for

next year towards the £150,000 cost of developing the project. This

contribution triggers two further pledges from private benefactors

towards the development stage. The full cost of the memorial is

expected to be £3-5m, with the aim of completing it by 2012.

The

county council will not be asked to provide any further funding. The

rest is expected to come from private donations, corporate sponsorship,

charitable grants and in-kind contributions. 

MEMO, the

charitable trust and project set up by former Weymouth College student

Sebastian Brooke, has the backing of bodies and individuals including

the Royal Society, WWF UK, novelist Philip Pullman and the co-founder

of the Eden Project, Tim Smit.

Portland has been chosen by MEMO

because of its links with the Earth sciences through its position on

the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, where fossils of extinct

species can be found in the cliffs. By drawing attention to the need to

save the 17,000 species now under threat, MEMO aims to make Portland a

global focal point for conservation.

It is anticipated that the

project would provide a range of long-term benefits for Portland and

Dorset. MEMO would aim to boost the profile of Portland, Dorset and the

Jurassic Coast around the world and act as a landmark for conservation

bodies and the international media on the critical issue of

biodiversity loss. It will do so by celebrating Portland’s proud

traditions of stonemasonry and carving.

Thousands of young

people around the country will be involved in the education programmes.

The project director, Sebastian Brooke, has already involved the

Portland community through mini-festivals and other events. It is

expected that the project would lead to the creation of a significant

number of badly needed jobs on Portland and become a new draw for more

than 100,000 visitors.

Robert Gould, Dorset County Council cabinet member for environment, said: "This

is an imaginative and ambitious project which has attracted national

and international support. It will help stimulate the local economy and

bring benefits to local residents.  We have agreed strictly limited

funding from our existing special projects budget and it is right that

at this difficult time for public finances we focus our efforts on

projects that will bring in significant private and charitable

investment to benefit our local community."

The project would

see the construction of a memorial made from Portland stone blocks,

each carved to depict the 850 species of animals and plants known to

have become extinct since 1662 – when the last dodo was seen. A

circular enclosure open to the sky, it would act as an ‘observatory’ to

ongoing extinction, with each new extinct species requiring a new block

and carving. The observatory would also incorporate a bell that will be

rung every year on the International Day of Biodiversity (22 May).

Through

the memorial and associated education projects, MEMO aims to raise

international awareness of the ongoing threat to the world’s

biodiversity and the need to save the 17,000 species currently on the

endangered list.

Two sites for the memorial are being

considered, both of which have been offered at no cost. The first is

‘New Ground’, overlooking Fortuneswell, Portland Harbour and Chesil

Beach near the Portland Heights Hotel. The second, owned by Stone Firms

Ltd, is overlooking the East Weares where extinction was first

‘discovered’ in the shape of giant ammonite fossils.

Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project and principal advisor to MEMO, said: “MEMO

is an extraordinary project to create a truly global monument to the

species being lost, now and ongoing, in the Earth’s sixth mass

extinction. We are seeking to build something that is a living monument

to the fragility of life. It will also stand as a testament to the hope

that our actions also have an influence. A monument for our times, it

will undoubtedly attract many visitors. It could and should become

Europe’s finest.”