Objectors to the controversial tilting pier artwork planned for Inverness are urging members of the public to attend a potentially fiery council meeting next month that will review the project.
Proponents of the unique £300,000 installation said a fotnight ago that it was definitely happening and at their revised site beside Eden Court Theatre on the banks of the river.
Opponents including a growing band of city councillors, however, argue that it can and should be scrapped to save the public purse in times of austerity.
The local authority had to find £50million of savings this year and will need to make further cutbacks next year.
There has been extensive public consultation on the project and claims from several city councillors that public opinion on the issue has been “ignored.”
While many people have voiced support for the dipping wooden-built platform, there has also been considerable opposition to the artwork’s design and impact on the riverscape.
City resident and regular critic of the council, Donald MacKenzie, who launched on online petition against it, said: “I’m intending to call on signatories to turn up on July 1 to show councillors what we think.
“We cannot have the arts committee decide how to spend our money. It has to be a council decision and they need to listen to the opinion of the people.”
More than 2,000 people have put their names to the petition opposing the artwork while 100 people have signed a rival petition backing it.
The pier – or “Gathering Place” – is the flagship piece of a broader £760,000 arts project that is funded by government agencies, the council and the city’s common good fund.
A consultants’ report has suggested the artwork would pay for itself within two years based on the anticipated extra tourism spend that it would attract.
Two councillors have signed the objectors’ petition – Andrew Baxter and Dave Fallows. Several others have publicly stated their opposition to it.
Such declarations are likely to bar them from participation in the debate once a planning application is submitted.
