Mother says Southport project a thank you to ‘community that saved us'
Jenni Stancombe, the mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe who was killed alongside Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King, was speaking after the Government pledged £5 million for the work at Town Hall gardens.
The work will also be funded by £2.5 million each from Sefton Council and the Liverpool City Region, bringing the total investment to £10 million.
She told the BBC: 'We hope for Southport, us enabling this will help us to say thank you. Thank you to a community that stood by our side. Thank you to a community that wants to continue our legacy for our girls. Thank you to a community that saved us.
'And we hope we can create a beautiful space that the community can be absolutely part of building with us that will become renowned for how we've reacted to the events of last year.'
Sefton Council said the regeneration will create a family-friendly and child-oriented space that will also host open-air performances.
The families of the young girls said the project is 'a vision we have all shared for some time, which is rooted in love, resilience and unity'.
Plans for the project have been drawn up by Elsie's uncle Chris Long, who said the gardens had become the focal point for the town's grief after the murders in July last year.
'The first point was to see if we could create a town square to enable people to interact and for children to be able to go there and feel safe,' he said.
'There's an element of memorial but it's a regeneration project for Southport and it's to reflect the community in Southport that has come together in solidarity.'
Sir Keir Starmer thanked the families for their 'continuing courage and resilience' during a meeting with him and Angela Rayner at Number 10 on Tuesday afternoon.
'We sit here as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, we sit here as human beings with families of our own, and we sit here on behalf of millions of people who would love to see the plans and to say well done for bringing them forward and getting to this point,' he said.
He also told them Ms Rayner will 'personally oversee' the implementation of the project.
Elsie, Bebe and Alice were murdered by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport . He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January.
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