The Brighton Argus has launched a campaign for a memorial in the city to Anita Roddick, founder The Bodyshop.
The Argus has conducted a poll on its website to ask readers to back their appeal to create a plaque for the entrepreneur, who died last week from a brain haemorrhage aged 64.
However, city rules dictate that at least five years must have passed before a memorial can be placed in order to assess the individual’s reputation.
Miles Godfrey, a reporter for the Argus, said: ‘The Argus and its readers feel that, as a local woman, Dame Roddick helped put Brighton on the map. In a way we feel like she is a daughter of the city and that she should be honoured for her work.”
If plans are agreed the plaque will be placed at 22 Kensington Gardens, the place where she opened her first shop in the 1970s.
Brighton and Hove City Council has agreed that if there were a public demand for the plaque then they would be prepared to waive the rule.
Miles Godfrey said that not just the readers but MPs and shopkeepers feel that the plaque should be made. He said: ‘The results from the online poll show that around 60 per cent of those who voted feel that the plaque should be put up immediately, and a further 30 per cent think that the plaque should be put up in five years.’
The decision is likely to be made by the council in October.
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