By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Sutton’s iconic sundial will be removed from the town centre after councillors backed a major redesign for the heart of the town.
The sundial was installed in 1995 at a cost of £800,000 and was planned to become a “world-renowned attraction”.
It is thought to be one of the biggest sundials in Europe and sits in the centre of the town’s Portland Square.
However, Ashfield District Council says its impact on tourism “remains unclear” while one councillor previously described it as “grotesque”.
Now the authority has approved plans to remove it from the town and completely redesign the central town square.
New green spaces will be added alongside a reshaped central area, with hopes this will become a “green lung” and a new “focal point” in the heart of the town.
The work is part of the authority’s £62.6m Towns Fund pot secured from the Government in 2021, with several projects aimed at transforming Sutton and Kirkby.
The council says it consulted with residents and found an “overwhelming majority” of residents want to see the 28-year-old sundial removed.
The authority’s planning committee unanimously approved the plans on Wednesday (March 22), which were submitted by the council itself.
The sundial will now be replaced by two large, raised-planted green areas with built-in seating, designed around a new large central space.
It’s hoped the new area could host social activities and events.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Councillor Matt Relf (Ash Ind), cabinet member for regeneration, said feelings were mixed about the sundial.
“It’s a real opportunity to reinvigorate and regenerate the town centre with Portland Square looking fresh and renewed,” he said.
“We’ve seen some people are not happy with the proposal to remove the sundial but this is something we have sought public opinion on.
“We went into the design of this with a completely open mind about what the public wants from this space.
“The very, very strong feedback that came in was that only a minority of people wanted to keep it and a very strong majority were very keen to see it gone.”
He added the sundial “isn’t in the best state of repair” with its 28 years having “not been kind to it”.
But he said community groups could come forward to relocate and refurbish the sundial if they wish to see it stay elsewhere in the district.
Other parts of the plans include redeveloping land on Fox Street into a new town centre car park.
The land, which previously occupied the Conservative Club until its 2013 demolition, will be turned into a car park with 41 bays.
Three of these spaces would be disabled bays, with three further motorcycle spaces and one electric vehicle charging point.
A public open space would also be created on the Fox Street site which would accommodate up to 32 market stalls.
These are currently held on Portland Square but will be relocated to the car park site, which would be closed to public access on market days.
On the Fox Street plans, Cllr Relf said: “This will be turned from [being] derelict into a highly-usable space that also brings more accessible car parking into the town centre.
“It will offer flexible space for food markets, normal markets and any pop-up events we want to do.”
Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), the authority’s leader, added: “These are some great leaps forward for regeneration in Sutton-in-Ashfield.
“I’m delighted this has come forward and I’ll be equally delighted to see us resite the sundial to somewhere more appropriate, if possible.
“If not, I think we should melt down the cast legs I think we should melt down and donate to a local foodbank.”