Outrage as World Trade Centre girders given to the UK to remember the 67 Britons who died on 9/11 are discovered rusting away in a farmyard

Gi rders shipped to UK for tenth anniversary went on display briefly

Charity raised £250,000 for structure and hoped to put in central London

However, it was discovered in a farmyard and is now in storage in Ruislip

UK was one of only a handful of countries to receive WTC fragments

Boris Johnson today said he was looking to put it in the Olympic Park



The 28ft structure in place in Battersea Park, London, which was put on display for less than a month

It was intended as a lasting memorial to the Britons killed in the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

But the sculpture, named ‘After 9/11’ and made of a twisted girder pulled from Ground Zero itself, was left to rust in a farmyard for nearly two years because bureaucrats refused to find it a permanent site.

London received the relic of the Twin Towers after Britain declared it would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America in its hour of need.

Sixty-seven Britons were among the 3,000 killed on 9/11.

London mayor Boris Johnson, who originally unveiled the piece in Battersea Park in 2011, has now been forced to act and yesterday announced that he had found a permanent home for it in the Olympic Park.

The 28ft sculpture, designed by Asian-American artist Miya Ando, was put on display for just 28 days before being pulled down and left under a tarpaulin on the farm in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Planning permission had been granted for it be installed in Potters Field Park, by City Hall.

But the park’s private owners refused to accept it, saying the size was ‘inappropriate’ and citing ‘local opposition’.

And when applications to all of London’s boroughs for a site were refused or ignored, the sculpture was sent to the farm for storage.

It has recently been moved to a storage depot in Ruislip, north west London.



Former New York City fire commissioner Thomas von Essen, who led the 9/11 rescue effort, said: ‘Those responsible for deciding who they gave this steel to would be very upset.

‘It is confusing and very disappointing to think of it being kept in storage somewhere.’

Scroll down for video



Boris Johnson pictured (left) at the unveiling of the memorial in Battersea Park where it stayed for 28 just days



The three girders were shipped over to the UK and crafted into a sculpture costing £250,000 At the ceremony, Mr Johnson called for an end to 9/11 conspiracy theories, saying that he wanted a 'controlled demolition' of wacky alternative explanations for the disaster. Miss Ando said she wanted to 'give light back into the community' with her work, which will be moved from Battersea Park to a permanent home as soon as a suitable location is found.

'I thought it was a poetic way to express transformation,' she said. 'Not only are we having the piece stand upright in a gesture of resilience, but to create something serene and light.'

Permission was given to put the structure up permanently at Potters Field Park near Boris Johnson's Office, but then the land's management trust blocked it, according to The Sun.

Patricia Bingley, mother of Kevin who died in the disaster, said: 'It's sad no one seems to want it anywhere. It should be put up in central London where everyone can see it.'



The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'We backed the 9/11 project when the sculpture first came to Battersea, but finding a permanent home for it has proved incredibly difficult, whether it be opposition from Boroughs or bureaucrats.

'Clearly this can’t continue. As a result I've asked my team to find a permanent home for the sculpture on the Olympic Park.

'The park was home to a Games based on tolerance, harmony and respect, and will soon be home to a massive multi-dimensional and vibrant community - the perfect riposte to those who sought to divide the world on 9/11.'

There has also been anger from Mr von Essen who described the situation as 'confusing and disappointing... to think of it still being in storage.'

He added: 'Those responsible for deciding who they gave this steel to would be very upset.'



A memorial museum has been set up at Ground Zero near the site of the new World Trade Center in New York

Visitors to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum peak into the museum ahead of the 12th anniversary of the attacks