BOURNEMOUTH Council has agreed to build a permanent memorial on the East Cliff to Red Arrow Jon Egging.

The special steering group last night made the decision after meeting with his widow, Dr Emma Egging.

A competition has been launched to give schoolchildren and students the chance to submit designs.

Dr Egging and Dawn Egging, Jon’s mum, along with the Red Arrows, will be invited to choose the winning design so the memorial can be ready for next year’s air festival.

A special fundraising dinner and ball will also be held each year, to raise money for the charity set up in his memory, the Jon Egging Trust.

The meeting also ruled out three options after hearing the views of Dr Egging. They were a memorial at or near the crash site, a Red Arrows museum and a statue of Jon himself.

Council leader Peter Charon said: “It was a very easy recommendation for the meeting to make because we have always said that the wishes of the family are paramount.

“We are privileged to have been able to meet Emma and Dawn so soon and they had clear ideas about how they would like Jon remembered.

“They overwhelmingly want to focus on Jon’s life and the joy his flying displays brought to others, and suggested to us that a permanent memorial on the East Cliff would be the best way to do this.

“The idea of involving schoolchildren came from Emma Egging herself and I am sure it will go down very well indeed with local people.”

Other ideas including road naming, a community garden and a local young person’s scholarship through the Jon Egging Trust are still being considered.

Flight Lieutenant Egging died aged 33 on the third day of this year’s Bournemouth Air Festival in a crash near Throop. The cause is still under investigation.