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Revealed: The cost of the 'crossed gates' scultpure
The controversial 'crossed gates' sculptures at the centre of a public art row cost nearly £150,000.
The installation on the main roundabout in Cross Gates was the brainchild of civic architect John Thorp and was meant to welcome visitors to the east Leeds suburb. But since they were put up at the start of the year, they have divided opinion like little else, with many people branding them a waste of cash.
Until now, the bill for the artwork has not been made public, but Cross Gates Today can report that the final cost will be 143,000.
The money has come from Leeds City Council's 15m Town and District Centre Regeneration Scheme pot – which is mostly made up of taxpayers' cash and some donations from organisations like the National Lottery.
The final bill includes three pieces of stone carved with 'Welcome to Cross Gates' and lighting. They are yet to be installed.
It will also cover the cost of a repaint.
As reported by Cross Gates Today, the gates were originally intended to be red, black and white. But they became blue, silver and white as council managers feared disgruntled Leeds United fans might deface them if they were painted in Manchester United colours.
Work will start in September to restore them to the planned colour scheme.
Leeds City Council bosses stressed that the gates had been approved by the people of Cross Gates two years ago.
However, joint leader of the authority, Coun Andrew Carter (Con, Farsley and Calverley), did hint that he was not entirely happy with the cost of the project.
He said: "The scheme has been widely successful for two main reasons, the funding has been much needed and greatly appreciated and, importantly, we decided to leave the decisions on how to spend the funding with local representatives and community groups.
"In this case, the Cross Gates and Whinmoor ward members working with the Cross Gates Forum wanted to allocate this funding to the art work scheme.
"Given the escalating costs of this scheme, supported by the local ward members, one might question if this scheme was the best way to spend this funding, but it was always intended that these schemes would be developed and delivered locally."
Coun Pauleen Grahame (Lab, Cross Gates and Whinmoor) said the original cost of the project had been much lower and blamed the "interference" of council officers in the colour scheme for pushing up the cost. She added that she felt the scheme was being used as a political tool.
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Weather for Leeds
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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