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Dispute over tilting pier artwork could result in cancellation of project

Artist's impression of the Tilting Pier.
Artist's impression of the Tilting Pier.

An outcry over a £300,000 publicly funded iconic artwork for Inverness could jeopardise the project, it has been claimed.

Liberal Democrat city councillor Thomas Prag, vice chairman of the (ICArts) working group overseeing the “Tilting Pier” and other riverside arts, was speaking yesterday in the wake of its chairman quitting.

Councillor Prag has urged other group members to hold their nerve.

“Are we saying that we think the public doesn’t want the money spent, because that seems to be what some are saying. In that case, the external money would just disappear,” he said.

Mr Prag added that he was disappointed that his colleague felt a need “to abandon the process which he helped set up.”

SNP member Ken Gowans has resigned because of the volume of public anger about the pier’s cost and location choice of Huntly Street.

He told colleagues he had “no option” but to stand down because he did not consider it “a viable concept.”

In a resignation letter, he states: “I do not feel I can be reasonably expected to continue to champion a project I do not personally support.”

The pier project is part of a broader £760,000 riverside vision commissioned by the working group.

It secured £305,600 from Creative Scotland and £66,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

But, in an era of austerity and council budget crises, there is major public concern about tapping into £280,750 of Inverness Common Good Fund money and £106,000 from Highland Council for the overall project.

After a tide of objections to Friars Shott as the preferred pier location, Labour’s Bet McAllister now backs a spot close to Eden Court Theatre.

She said: “If we decide not to go along with the pier, we’d have to look at other substantial projects. Otherwise it would do a lot of damage to the whole thing because this was the most substantive expenditure.”

Praising Mr Gowans’ leadership on the project, independent councillor Graham Ross said: “I wasn’t against the tilting pier, but I understand that at times of austerity spending money on public art doesn’t seem to be the best idea, although it is inward investment for the city.”

The council’s city manager David Haas confirmed there is no fixed deadline for using the money but that there is a “project programme.”

The P&J revealed in February that, based on an economic assessment commissioned by the council, the cost of the wood-built pier could be recouped within two years through spending by additional visitors.