"The Dream"... or a public art nightmare?

The Dream - computer generated image

A 2 million pound scheme to erect a concrete sculpture on top of a former slag heap has been condemned as "bonkers" by residents.

Work has started on creating The Dream - a white bust of a woman's head that will stand 20 metres tall alongside the M62 motorway at St Helens.

The Dream has been commissioned from a Spanish sculptor by St Helens Borough Council with cash from The North-West Regional Development Agency (NWDA)

NWDA is the government-funded quango that is meant to create jobs and stimulate the economy in the North West.

But critics say taxpayers money would have been better spent in creating jobs in the town where more than 5000 are jobless.

North-West Lib-Dem MP John Pugh said: "In these difficult economic times, public money would be best spent on helping struggling businesses.

"The backers of this project seem to be aiming for some kind of 'Angel of the North' phenomenon but they're way off.

"All too often projects like this build up momentum and are waved-through without any proper consideration for what it will look like or what ordinary people really want.

"The cost of this sculpture is enough money to pay the wages of more than 100 local people for a year.

"It would have been better invested in local companies to secure their long-term future."

Southport MP Dr Pugh added: "Creating new jobs in the North West would keep this money in the local economy.

"Instead we are getting a folly with a large proportion of the funding going to a Spanish artist.

"It shows a lack of realism about what is required to tackle economic regeneration in the North West."

Locals in St Helens have mixed opinions about 'The Dream' which has been designed by award-winning artist Jaume Plensa at his studio in Barcelona.

Dave Watts, Labour MP for St Helens North said: "I don't like it but I wouldn't pretend to be an art critic.

"Public art will always divide public opinion and raise controversial questions, but in my opinion it really doesn't seem like the right time to be doing this.

"This amount of money could make a real difference to a lot of people desperate for public funding at the moment.

"As the project nears completion I am sure more and more business leaders will question the logic of spending a vast sum of public money on this."

Work has already begun on building the site of 'The Dream' on a hill in "Community Woodland" - a former spoil heap at the Sutton Manor Colliery which was closed in 1991.

Janet Jones, 56, whose home in Union Bank Lane, overlooks the site said, "It's bonkers. We will have to look out at this every day and it will stick out like a sore thumb.

"It's huge and it's white, it will look totally out of place with the trees around it. It will be a blot on the landscape and will probably end-up covered in graffiti.

"We weren't asked what we would like at all, they just put something through the door saying that they've designed it and it's going up.

"But there's no point arguing about it, once the council have made up their mind it'll happen anyway."

The sculpture will be assembled from 90 blocks that are being cast at a concrete works in the East Midlands.

June Lornie director of the Liverpool Academy of Arts said, "The arts in the UK need investment and shouldn't be neglected.

"But two million pounds is a lot of money to spend with a Spanish artist to create a sculpture that seems to have no relevance or connection locally.

"This is supposed to be an iconic sculpture but it says nothing at all about the area.

"There are hundreds of local artists who could have done much better job for a lot less,.

"Using a Spanish designer to create this very simple sculpture of a head seems really wrong."

Catherine Braithwaite, spokesperson for "The Dream" project said: "This is going to be an iconic structure. It has had a really positive response from local people.

"We've taken a model of the sculpture around local libraries and had really positive feedback.

"Obviously it is a lot of money, but we have to be completely sure that this is a top quality piece of work, and it's not going to fall apart."

Peter Mearns, executive director at the North West Development Agency was keen to point-out that NWDA had not decided the nature of the sculpture.

He said: "We've provided the funding to redevelop the land, but we haven't been involved in choosing the actual artwork.

"Hopefully The Dream will stimulate local pride and generate regional identity.

"We are committed to improving the quality of life for residents and this will give people a new site to go and visit, and it should bring some new visitors to the town."

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