{"id":716688,"date":"2026-07-29T05:13:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/716688\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T05:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:13:29","slug":"statue-plans-for-ilkestons-gnome-island-take-significant-step-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/716688\/","title":{"rendered":"Statue plans for Ilkeston’s ‘Gnome Island’ take significant step forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilkeston’s ‘Gnome Island’ is already recognised as ‘culturally significant’ and could gain a permanent statue<\/p>\n

06:00, 28 Jul 2026Updated 09:05, 28 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Plans to install a large gnome statue on a \u201cculturally significant\u201d ornament-adorned roundabout in a Derbyshire town have taken a step forward.<\/p>\n

In the midst of a near five-hour Erewash Borough Council <\/a>meeting filled with debates about free parking, rewilding, a new M1 junction and asylum seeker accommodation, sat a discussion about Ilkeston<\/a>\u2019s beloved \u2018Gnome Island\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Nottingham Road, Park Drive and Morrisons junction is marked by a roundabout home to a number of gnomes, an impromptu community quirk which started more than a decade ago and continues to this day.<\/p>\n

Councillors were told that the roundabout\u2019s vertically-challenged pottery residents are often destroyed or stolen but are then promptly replaced by a fresh flurry of former garden-dwelling fixtures.<\/p>\n

The community importance of the feature saw it formally registered as a location of cultural significance by the borough council in 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Gnome<\/p>\n

Gnome Island in Nottingham Road, Ilkeston(Image: Derby Telegraph)<\/p>\n

As such, Councillor Dan Price (Ref), brought a motion calling for the council to support a community fundraising campaign for the creation of a permanent statue of \u2018Mr and Mrs Gnome\u2019.<\/p>\n

He dubbed Gnome Island an \u201cinstitution\u201d, created through the \u201chumour and community spirit\u201d of residents.<\/p>\n

Cllr Price said the statue would not require \u201cvast sums of money\u201d but would serve to honour the \u201cprestigious piece of Erewash culture\u201d that makes the borough \u201cunique\u201d.<\/p>\n

Councillor Harrison Broadhurst (Lab) said that because the roundabout is owned and managed by Derbyshire County Council<\/a>, the borough could not act without its full cooperation and permission.<\/p>\n

He said the roundabout initiative belongs to the community and should be led by residents, without political interference, saying the authority should support a scheme brought by the public.<\/p>\n

But he added the authority cannot commit funding when it has no permission to use it for its intended purpose.<\/p>\n

Councillor James Dawson, Labour leader of the council, said the gnome initiative is believed to have been linked to the Morrisons supermarket development over a decade ago and was something \u201cpeople can laugh about and enjoy\u201d, but needed county council support for a statue.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Councillor Wayne Major, Conservative opposition leader, said: \u201cIt is a wonderful thing. It puts our town on the map alongside the hole in the wall next to Natwest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we need to leave things alone and not institutionalise things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what my children would say and they would say that the council getting involved would make it not cool. I want it to remain cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the county council if it would support plans.<\/p>\n

In response, council leader Councillor Alan Graves (Ref) said: \u201cGnome Island is a much-loved local landmark and the county council is happy to see Erewash Borough Council back the community\u2019s efforts to give it a permanent statue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with any structure on public land it would need to meet the normal safety, planning and maintenance requirements, but we are happy to collaborate and work with the borough and residents on the options for this project.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilkeston’s ‘Gnome Island’ is already recognised as ‘culturally significant’ and could gain a permanent statue 06:00, 28 Jul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,138821,1120,96,136906,109217,2053,2665,727,229,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-716688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-derbyshire-county-council","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-erewash-borough-council","tag-ilkeston","tag-labour-party","tag-m1","tag-morrisons","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}