Memorial design 'wrong from start'

Two members of the committee which gave the goahead for the ill-fated Diana memorial fountain insisted today the wrong design was chosen.

They have broken ranks to speak out against the Kathryn Gustafson memorial, which has been dogged by problems since it was opened by the Queen three weeks ago.

Prominent architect Edward Jones and Richard Cork, art critic for The Times, part of the original eight- member Diana memorial committee, say they believed artist Anish Kapoor's plan - which was rejected in favour of the "moat-without-acastle" - would have been the better design.

Doubts about the fountain working do not seem to have been raised because the committee would have received the proposals on the understanding that they were feasible. The committee's task was to decide which was the better design, not assess whether there could be flaws in their feasibility.

Mr Cork said of Kapoor's rejected proposal: "It is a great loss. It would have been an extraordinary, world-class memorial. People would have come from the four corners to see it and to contemplate it - there is a difference between contemplation and splashing around in water."

Visitors to the memorial that was chosen, the Gustafson design, are unable to paddle in its cascades and it is likely to stay closed for much of the summer because of a problem with slippery algae.

However, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has defended Gustafson's monument by claiming it is "a victim of its own success".

Ms Jowell claimed the main problem at the site is caused by the numbers of people flocking to it.

"The sheer numbers of visitors have shown up some teething problems at the memorial," she said. "But they will be overcome by the experts at the Royal Parks." She was unable to set a date for its reopening.

Since it was opened on 6 July the memorial has been beset by fiascos. First it flooded, then three visitors, including a mother and child, were injured when they suffered nasty falls - despite the fact that the public are encouraged to paddle in the cascades.

None of those who were known to have supported the Gustafson design would comment.

? An investigation has found that the water in the fountain contains a cocktail of deadly bacteria.

A sample taken from the feature just before it was closed showed the water had 840 times the acceptable level of contamination, including alarming levels of the deadly E.coli - which indicates the presence of faeces.