A local lady has shared her concerns about the £5,000 donation given by Oakham Town Council (OTC) to support the erection of a statue of the late Queen.

Oakham resident Rosemarie Whittaker attended the annual town meeting yesterday evening, 9 May, to protest about the town council's decision to donate £5,000 to the Lord-Lieutenant's fund for a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The sculpture is set to be created by Hywel Pratley and located outside Rutland Library in late summer 2023.

Read more about the statue here.

The appeal to raise funds for the statue, commissioned by Rutland's Lord-Lieutenant, Dr Sarah Furness, was launched in February this year. Although the statue will be funded mostly through private donations, Oakham Town Council have pledged £5,000 towards the project.

Rosemarie told councillors: "I have written to the Lord-Lieutenant to express my concern about the project, although she has not afforded me the courtesy of a reply. I would now like to express my concern that the town council has spent my council tax on this project.

"I fervently hope that the council will allocate no further funds or resources to it."

It appears though, that OTC will be tasked with the upkeep of the statue. Read more here.

Ms Whittaker claims that the project is inappropriate because it is out of step with current times, adding: "You only have to look at the Coronation weekend to see that King Charles wishes to encourage service, community effort, humility and kindness. 

"Expensive though the Coronation inevitably was, the King went to a great deal of trouble to slim down the trappings of wealth and privilege. Apart from heads of state, government ministers etc, most of the people in the Abbey were there because the King wished to recognise their contribution to their communities – their service, their efforts in making life better for people less fortunate.

"In Rutland, we also need to be concentrating on service, community effort and kindness."

Ms Whittaker also acknowledged the increased use of Rutland Foodbank, with more people than even being fed by the service amid the cost of living crisis. Read more here.

She added: "Rutland Foodbank provided ingredients for more than 44,500 meals in the year up to the end of March. In March 2023, 1,823 Rutlanders qualified for Universal Credit – that's one in 23 of the population. 

"Rutland is a place of extremes. For every Porsche and Range Rover owner who can afford to write a cheque for the Lord-Lieutenant's fund, there are dozens and dozens of Rutlanders lying awake at night worrying about how to pay the highest council tax in the country and feed their children. 

"I suggested to the Lord-Lieutenant that, instead of raising money for a statue, she should be launching a fund to commemorate the late Queen usefully, perhaps through a bursary to train a doctor from an underprivileged Rutland home. I think the King might like that. 

The scultpure will be located outside Rutland Library. Image credit: Jules Fuller / 66Media.

"This proposal is for a shiny and extravagant statue paid for by a whip-round of rich Rutlanders at the entrance to the Warm Hub in the library where poor Rutlanders take refuge from homes they cannot afford to heat. This statue has no place in 2023. It is the opposite of Levelling Up.

"The Queen visited Rutland three times in her 70 year reign, in 1967, 1984 and 2001. Of course there was flag waving and cheering. But does this really establish a connection with the county which warrants an extravagant and ostentatious project at a time of a national cost of living crisis?"

Rosemarie asked what research the council did to establish whether Oakham people want this statue and want public money to be spent on it. She alleged that: "They didn't ask me or any of my friends and acquaintances. I really don't know anyone who wants it, even my most ardently Monarchist friends."

Oakham Town Council have been contacted for comment, and it appears that the item will be discussed at the Annual General Meeting, set to take place tonight, Wednesday 10 May, at 6:30pm at Rol House, Long Row, Oakham, LE15 6LN.