'Swindon Disease' memorial garden closed for several months

But council bosses say it should reopen this year.

The Mesothelioma Garden in Queen's Park was closed last year because it was deemed to be dangerous and a gate was put up blocking it off to visitors in December. 

The garden's closure was brought up during a South Swindon Parish Council meeting in January by former councillor Stan Pajak, who officially opened it when he was mayor just over twenty years ago. 

After this, signage was put up at the garden informing locals that it had been closed but was due to be refurbished.

The notice newly put up at the Mesothelioma Garden in Queen's Park, Swindon (Image: Colin Finch)A spokesperson for the parish council has confirmed this in a statement. 

They said: "The Mesothelioma Garden in Queen’s Park was closed last year due to safety concerns.

"Last summer, we presented plans to refurbish the garden to the public through a community consultation.

"The feedback was very positive, with most comments asking us to make sure there are sufficient seating options and to have less of an emphasis on the railway theme.

"The refurbishment work is due to start in the coming months, with designs being finalised and a contractor being chosen to complete the groundwork."

South Swindon MP Sir Robert Buckland has welcomed the plans but stressed that the garden shouldn't stay closed for too long. 

"It is important that this garden is restored and opened as quickly as possible so that people here in Swindon have a place to go and remember their loved ones affected by this cruel disease," he said. 

Plans for the Mesothelioma Garden before the public consultation, so the final design will be different (Image: South Swindon Parish Council)Mesothelioma is a form of lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It is more common in industrial towns and cities, with many of the Swindon cases linked to the GWR Works.

Between 1981 and 2017, the latest year for which numbers are available, 237 men from Swindon died as a result of exposure to the substance, which has led to the disease being nicknamed after the town. 

And in 2003 a memorial garden paid for by £12,000 raised through an Advertiser appeal and built by Swindon Borough Council was opened in Queen's Park for the loved ones of this and other work-related diseases to reflect and remember those they have lost. 

The original garden was a Japanese-style one and featured a pergola with seating and a centrepiece memorial stone engraved with lines from Shakespeare.