Plans to commemorate the late singer George Michael have reached a crossroads after the council raised questions about its viability.
The council in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, have raised doubts about plans to erect a life-sized £100,000 statue of the singer outside his hideaway cottage in the village, claiming there is insufficient information to go ahead with the idea.
The statue and plans for a two-day memorial concert have been shot down for not being ‘thorough enough’.
The councillors added that many of Goring’s 3,200 residents, many of them wealthy, retired people, are opposed to any large-scale tributes to the pop legend.
Plans to commemorate the late singer George Michael have reached a crossroads after the council raised questions about its viability
‘George’s lovelies’, a fan group behind the plans, said they want a bronze sculpture of him sat on a bench or sofa in the village high street or near his home in the town.
The statue would resemble a similar pose the former Wham! star struck on the cover of his 2004 album patience.
Goring parish council have also shot down plans to hold a concert on June 23-24 this year to coincide with what would have been George Michael’s 55th birthday.
Councillor Catherine Hall said: ‘I have read the plan through and, while I’m not an expert, it seems rather insufficient and more of an outline with a few notes. It simply isn’t enough.
‘I feel that we can’t agree anything until we know exactly what is being proposed. I am reluctant to even agree in principle because we risk stirring up a hornets’ nest among residents. There’s a lot of resistance in the village.
‘There are similar problems with the bench for his statue. There’s a budget but no information on funding or whether they have even approached the family for support, so essentially there’s nothing for us to consider.
The Goring home of George Michael. Fans and well wishers p[ay their respects at the riverside home of the singer who died on December 25 2016
‘Additionally, if we were to accept the bench as a donation, we would have to take responsibility for maintaining it.’
Fellow councillor John Wills said: ‘The paperwork that had to be completed for our diamond jubilee celebrations in 2012 was extensive – there were absolutely books and books of risk assessments and things like that.
‘The parish clerk has had lots of people coming into our office who are against this and they would have to be consulted.’
However councillor David Brooker left the idea of the concert and statue open, saying: ‘Bear in mind that we’re a village with thousands of people. If five or six people pop in and moan, does that represent everyone’s views?
‘It is not the whole of the village and we should be cautious as there are many times when people cave in when one person complains.’
Terry Daniels, from Milton Keynes, said that she and other George Michael fans still retained hope that a memorial would be built.
She said: ‘We are in talks with the district council and have been put in touch with its safety advisory group. This is going to take a lot of effort but it will be worth it.’
The statue would resemble a similar pose the former Wham! star struck on the cover of his 2004 album patience