I believe this idea was mooted by the late Councillor Allen and thought it had been lost with him. It is a very good idea but I declare an interest – I am a sculptor.
Art can, should and does contribute to the value of human existence and the worth of what it is to be human. The creation of art is the creation of wealth in its deepest sense.
Brighton and Hove City Council has, in the regeneration of the seafront where I have a workshop, amply demonstrated the value of some judicious local authority investment.
On the seafront, the council invested in, first, the fishing quarter and, second, the artists’ quarter. These were the spearhead of what has become a substantial private investment that has paid tremendous economic dividends to Brighton and Hove.
Newhaven and its hinterland could gain similar economic benefits from an imaginative and well thought-out public art development programme. Sometimes you have to invest if you don’t want to end up drifting down the Swannee.
Finally, the Angel Of The North was largely financed without great sums of local authority money.
-Errol Tompkins, erroltompkins@hotmail.com