07.03.23 – Council Report into Capo Sculpture Damage, No Smoking Day

The report of the investigation into the removal of a significant city statue was released last week, as works have been announced to fully restore it.

The ‘Capo’ brick sculpture of the head of Josiah Wedgwood was very seriously damaged during works to expand the Marina Way roundabout at Festival Park, at the end of January. The works are a Stoke-on-Trent City Council initiative to improve access to Festival Park, following the opening of the Etruria Valley Link Road at the start of the year.

An internal council investigation into what went wrong has found that council officers were responsible for the instructions to contractors that led to the statue being removed without due care. The investigation has found that contractor Galliford Try has no culpability.

The report contains five recommendations that have been fully accepted by the city director, who will now consider any disciplinary consequences for individual officers flowing from the report.

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Staffordshire County Council’s Public Health team are urging smokers in Staffordshire to give up smoking ahead of a national campaign, highlighting that smokers are more likely to develop dementia.

National ‘No Smoking Day’ on Wednesday 8 March which is tomorrow, is encouraging smokers to make a quit attempt and this year’s theme is ‘stopping smoking protects your brain health’.

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, dementia is the most feared health condition for people over the age of 55 – more than any other life-threatening disease including cancer and diabetes.

People interested in quitting can find out more about the support available from the Everyone Health Staffordshire website or text QUIT to 60777.

People can also access support via the free NHS Quit Smoking App. Search ‘NHS Quit Smoking’ in the app store.