RESIDENTS have called for urgent improvements of Dream after it has featured heavily on the new Netflix thriller Stay Close.
Since airing on Netflix on December 31, the eight-part series has quickly become one of the most popular on the streaming platform and has clocked more than 91 million streams worldwide.
With characters consistently returning to Dream, it forms an integral part of Stay Close and many people in St Helens now want to see serious development on the site to make it more accessible, visible, and attractive to potential visitors.
READ MORE: How Netflix's Stay Close can propel Dream into an iconic global landmark
Sitting on the former Sutton Manor Colliery site, ex-miner Gary Conley said that the 20-metre sculpture, coated in Spanish white dolomite to resemble the face of a young girl, should be an "iconic landmark that people in St Helens can be proud of".
However, with overgrowing trees and shrubbery affecting the visibility of the sculpture, many feel that the site - owned in part by St Helens Council and Forestry England - has been neglected.
Looking to capitalise on the success of Stay Close, improved tree maintenance and lighting at Dream is said to be crucial in making the site "highly visible" and more attractive to the millions of motorists who drive past it on the M62 every year.
Other suggestions to improve Dream have been to implement better infrastructure around the area, with the nearby Smithy Manor pub said to be an "eyesore" and in urgent need of redevelopment - with a tourist hub, an education or heritage centre, or even a cafe or restaurant offered as viable alternatives.
Further changes that are said to be "desperately needed" are improved car parking or toilet facilities at the site, which can discourage people from visiting and observing Dream's beauty at present.
Since Stay Close began streaming, Gary - who helped bring the sculpture to St Helens - said that visitor numbers are already "massively increasing" at the Sutton-based site.
Therefore, with such an increased focus on Dream at present, these improvements are hoped to be acted on swiftly in order to encourage further visitors to the site and truly cement it as an "iconic" landmark that the people St Helens can be proud of.
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