A Highland councillor has voiced concerns about the £760,000 cost of an arts project being promoted at the same time as the authority is clawing back £50million to balance its budget.
Inverness Liberal Democrat member, Carolyn Caddick condemned the expenditure when services are being cut and the jobs of about 600 council workers are set to be axed following an invitation for staff to take voluntary redundancy.
Colleagues promoting the artworks have stressed a large portion of the funding for the so-called Tilting Pier came from sources outwith the council’s budget.
However, Mrs Caddick highlighted the fact that the council is contributing £106,000 from its budget and committing a further £280,750 from the city’s common good fund for the venture.
The artworks were commissioned by the council’s Inverness City Arts working group.
It has additional funding approval from Creative Scotland, worth £305,600 and development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise, worth £66,000.
A public exhibition and consultation began on Saturday to showcase the projects.
The centrepiece is “The Gathering Place” which is designed to attract visitors to view the River Ness from above on the proposed pier.
Mrs Caddick said: “I struggle with the whole concept of spending £100,000 of council tax payers’ money and £280,000 of the common good fund while at the same time asking our staff to take voluntary redundancy.
“Even if we increase council tax, even if we make people redundant, we are still going to have to cut services as well.”
Her party colleague and fellow city councillor Thomas Prag has defended the pier idea and the broader project.
He said: “There’s been a long period of public consultation on the kinds of things we would do, going to independent experts who were ultimately unanimous in favouring this option.
“The ICArts group also felt it was the best suggestion and that it was innovative and different.
“The tilting pier involves people. You go to it, and you’ll try it. You will, in the meantime, gather round it to have a look at the river and see the beautiful riverside.”
Local resident Ken Clark, 79, was among the first visitors to the public exhibition.
He said: “I like the idea of the poetry and the artwork. The only thing I felt wasn’t suitable was that, as a ‘gathering place’, there seemed to be inadequate space and no parking provision.”
The exhibition runs at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery until February 20.
