The mother of Joe Abbess, who drowned in the sea off Bournemouth beach, has criticised BCP Council following a ‘thoughtless’ art installation on the beach.

A 15m high rectangular installation named Portal was built on Bournemouth Beach on Wednesday as part of the town’s Arts by the Sea Festival.

However, the council has now started work to take the exhibit down, following complaints from the families of Joe Abbess, 17 – from Southampton – and Sunnah Khan, 12, from Buckinghamshire.

In a statement, Joe’s mother Vanessa Abbess said: “As a family, we were shocked and astounded to see news reports of the disrespectful ‘Arts by the Sea’ installation at the Bournemouth beach yesterday.

“The Portal of Hope was badly located and thoughtless, as it frames the area of sea where our son Joe and Sunnah Khan got into difficulties.

Daily Echo:

“In addition, it is sited on the area of beach where emergency services cared for all casualties on May 31 and the tragic circumstances unfolded.

“This is not a suitable area to celebrate the sea or to place a tourist attraction.”

The relocation of the art exhibition comes just days after a fundraiser in Joe Abbess’ memory at Snap Fitness Gym in Woolston raised £5,120 for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Mrs Abbess added: “We emailed BCP Council, as owners of the beach, to express our distress and upset (on Thursday) evening.

Daily Echo: Vanessa Abbess with her son Joe

“We fully appreciate that this project may have been planned for many months, but due to the tragic circumstances and ongoing inquest, we feel this is entirely unsuitable and plans could have been easily adjusted in the last 17 weeks.

“Last night, Graham Farrant (council chief executive) confirmed the installation would be immediately shut down/relocated.

“We are grateful that BCP Council have acted so quickly but feel with a little consideration and respect to Joe, Sunnah and both families, this could have been avoided.”

In a statement, BCP Council chief executive, Graham Farrant, said: “We are deeply sorry for such a crass mistake which clearly should never have happened.

“We have extended an unreserved apology to the families for causing further upset at what is undoubtedly already a distressing time.

“Work is underway to remove the installation and we will review our internal processes to understand how this happened and what changes need to be made to avoid this from happening again.”