'Burger Boy' event scrapped as £12,000 cost revealed

PLANS for a 40ft sculpture of an obese child that was to have been burned as part of a health festival cost £12,000 before they were scrapped by embarrassed council chiefs.

Officials at Barnsley Council and NHS Barnsley who were behind the "Bye Bye Burger Boy" scheme originally refused to reveal the cost of development work on the project.

But yesterday they admitted 12,000 had already been spent on the concept, although claimed the money had not been wasted because the work can still be "taken forward".

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Both Council and health chiefs faced a storm of criticism last week when the Burger Boy idea was revealed, with weight loss campaigners saying it would "humiliate fat people".

It emerged that a Newcastle-based Dodgy Clutch theatre company had designed the effigy, which showed a fat boy sitting in an ashtray facing a table laden with junk food.

Barnsley's Council leader Steve Houghton said earlier this week he had been "astounded" when told what was planned and ordered staff to withdraw the sculpture immediately.

In a statement, Councillor Houghton apologised on behalf of the authority and NHS Barnsley for "any offence caused".

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Yesterday, a further statement was released, saying that the entire Heart of Barnsley festival, which was planned around the Burger Boy, had also been pulled.

The statement – issued jointly by Barnsley Council and NHS Barnsley – said: "The festival was intended as a community engagement programme focused on healthy eating and positive lifestyle change.

"The cost of the four-month participatory programme, involving in-depth community engagement, would have been met by contributions of 30,000 from NHS Barnsley and 20,000 from Barnsley Council.

"The image entitled Bye Bye Burger Boy was an artist's impression of what could have been achieved as part of the festival finale. As a structure, this image had neither been approved, started nor completed."

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They said 18,000 had been allocated to the "major"event, but not spent, adding that, so far, only preliminary design and planning work had been carried out.

"A fee of 12,000 is owed to a theatre company in connection with their work.

"This sum has not been lost as much of the preliminary work can be taken forward in other ways to the benefit of the people of Barnsley," they added.

The effigy would have been paraded through the streets before being set on fire at the end of the Heart of Barnsley festival in the town's Locke Park in early July.

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Last night, Christine Melhuish, who runs weight loss classes for teenagers in the town welcomed the decision but questioned how the idea had got so far.

She said: "I am just so glad that they have seen sense and realised the damage they could have done with this idea.

"Its bad enough being a fat kid without the council encouraging people to bully you."