Deadlock over Diana memorial

A last-ditch bid to agree plans for a £3 million memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales has collapsed in acrimony after a row over its design.

After two years of agonising over proposals by more than 100 artists and architects from all over the world, the committee tasked to choose the project broke up in confusion after its members split into two camps and failed to reach a clear decision.

One faction, led by chairwoman Rosa Monckton, the close friend and confidante of the princess, favoured a design by American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson described as "restrained and elegant"; the others wanted one by Bombay-born British artist Anish Kapoor said to be "striking, but stark - possibly shocking".

Neither side would give way in a meeting at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport last night and it was eventually decided to recommend that Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell seek "an appropriate way forward".

This means she will have to make a final proposal to Chancellor Gordon Brown, who chairs the Diana memorial committee, effectively wiping out the original concept of a competition.

The outcome is a bitter disappointment for Ms Monckton, who has been in the forefront of efforts to honour the princess. She has been frustrated by moves to reverse what she believed was a firm decision arrived at months ago. On 11 February she used her casting vote in favour of Ms Gustafson's design.

The decision was sent to the Culture Department for approval, but Culture Minister Baroness Blackstone was told by members of Ms Monckton's committee that the decision-making process had been flawed. A source close to the affair said the minister was lobbied by a design committee member who strongly favoured the Kapoor entry.

"It was a classic split between the avant garde and the rest," the source said. "Rosa Monckton wanted something that she believed the princess herself would have liked. The ultramodernists wanted to make a statement for British art."

The design committee was originally set up with nine members, but one died. Instead of bringing in another person, it was decided to carry on with eight members. When these divided into two camps Ms Monckton used her casting vote to decide in favour of Gustafson.

Kapoor supporters, led by James Lingwood, a leading figure in London's art world, complained. Mr Lingwood is a darling of the avant garde and has been associated with projects such as the serenading of the North Sea by eight grandmothers singing Bulgarian folk songs, a scheme to build a huge wooden head over Blackfriars Bridge, and a man breaking up his possessions in the front window of an Oxford Street store.

He is a co-director of Artangel, which helps artists produce their work, and was behind Rachel Whiteread's controversial but Turner Prize-winning House, a con-Rosa crete cast of an East End terrace home.

As the wrangling dragged on, Ms Jowell called a final meeting last night to reach a decision and set up a system to score the entries under five headings: design quality, innovation, sympathy with the landscape, relevance to Diana and ability to deliver. This was attempted, but no clear decision was reached.

A budget of £3 million has been set aside to build the fountain and those who favour the Gustafson entry say it is easily affordable. They say the Kapoor design will be more expensive.

The Government has promised that the memorial fountain will be built by the sixth anniversary of Diana's death in August next year, but this now seems unlikely.