Plans for a new seawall art project along part of Burnham-On-Sea’s seafront have been given a boost with an injection of funding and the appointment of a regional arts getting to get involved with managing it.
The Town Council has recently been given £7,000 of funding by Sedgemoor District Council to proceed with the art project on Burnham’s South Esplanade.
Furthermore, at a virtual meeting of the Town Council’s Town Improvements Committee this month, town councillors agreed to appoint regional arts group Seed to help oversee the project.
The proposed artwork on the sea wall would “respond to the local natural environment, celebrating the ecology of this part of Bridgwater Bay. It will depict, describe or interpret an aspect of local wildlife and/or flora in a way that will encourage visitors and the local community to appreciate the value and distinctiveness of the place in a new way.”
The seafront art project was first identified in the Burnham Evolution business plan that was approved in 2018. The original £1.6m plan was for a far larger programme of work to be funded by the Hinkley Community Impact Mitigation (CIM) Fund and other funding bodies, but when a far smaller sum was eventually received, the projects identified were reduced in number and ambition. The seawall art element did not attract CIM funding.
However, Sedgemoor District Council has said that it will grant the town council £7,000 of funding to enable the art project on the South Esplanade to proceed.
During this month’s council meeting, Town Clerk Sam Winter said in a report to councillors that the wall is owned by the Environment Agency and she had made contact with the body to ascertain what restrictions might apply on their property.
Seed would assist in creating and distributing the brief to local artists and manage the selection process. The meeting heard that Seed has suggested running the project as a competition with two rounds:
- 1: A committee of people with expertise in public art, along with town council
and/or local community representatives, select the best 2 or 3 proposals. - 2: Seed then commissions those artists at £1,000 each to develop their proposal
into an ‘exhibition’ ready proposal. The final proposals would then be shared with the wider community, who would be invited to vote for their favourite.
A small working group of Burnham and Highbridge town councillors will work with Seed, comprising of Cllr Andy Hodge, Cllr Peter Clayton and Cllr Dawn Carey, it was agreed.
Cllr Clayton said: “I’m very keen on seeing what is being proposed. We should engage with Seed to work with us – I’m more than happy to be involved with this.”
