Clear-up order over Scott Cooke Shrewsbury memorial bench
Floral tributes set up beside a memorial bench in tribute to a murdered Shrewsbury man will have to be removed, council chiefs have ruled.
The decision by officials at Shrewsbury Town Council has upset family and friends of Scott Cooke, who was stabbed at Monkmoor Recreation Ground in December 2011.
They had paid £1,400 for a memorial bench on the recreation ground following Mr Cooke's death, and his mother Jackie has continued to tend the bench and the two floral hanging baskets which were put up on either side of the memorial.
But Mrs Cooke has now been told the hanging baskets will have to be taken away in the interests of health and safety and that a number of other personal items, including a picture of her son, will also have to be removed from the memorial bench.
Town council officials have defended their decision and said both health and safety and maintenance issues had to be considered.
Mrs Cooke said: "I can understand why they wanted the picture taken away but not the flowers. It looks beautiful and people take their dogs there.
"Either me or a member of the family goes there every day to tend to the hanging baskets.
"I also pick up litter and remove any dog muck nearby.
"If they have other hanging baskets around Shrewsbury why can't they have them there?"
Gary Farmer, operations manager for Shrewsbury Town Council said: "We have contacted the family of Scott Cooke to request that a number of personalised items be removed from around the memorial bench.
"The town council has to consider both the health and safety, and maintenance implications of these items .
"No permission has been sought to display the memorabilia and, while we remain sympathetic to the family, we do not allow this type of enshrinement at our other memorial sites, for example within the Quarry and Dingle.
