A TOWERING tribute to sport in the borough on Thursday got the final go-ahead despite fears that it will it could be a danger to traffic.
At a meeting of the planning committee, councillors expressed concern that the 85-feet tall Spirit of Sport sculpture, which is to be placed on the De Havilland Road roundabout outside the Reebok Stadium, could distract drivers.
Fears were also raised that planning officers had recommended the scheme for approval even though it had not yet received a safety certificate.
Cllr John Walsh was one of the nine councillors on the 24-strong committee backing a deferment of the application.
Afterwards, he said: "To place a sculpture such as this in the middle of a roundabout with no pedestrian access seems to me perverse.
"It should be somewhere accessible on foot and I share people's fears that it could be distracting to drivers.
"I am not against the monument but the council will look very foolish if it turns out not to be safe."
Horwich Town Council has also expressed concerns that the proposed materials could reflect sunlight towards the highway and distract drivers.
Planning officers told the meeting that the creation of the statue, due to be completed by the end of the year, would be reconsidered by members of the council if it failed its safety audit.
But Terry Eaton, of the Stockport-based firm Eaton Waygood Associates, which has designed the sculpture, said he believed all the council's safety concerns would be addressed.
He said: "We are delighted to get the go-ahead. The safety audit is something that is being dealt with and we have been working with the council's safety officer who is happy with what we are doing.
"I do not think it will be distracting to drivers in the same way that the Reebok Stadium is not - drivers will be aware of both of them long before they reach get up close."
At 85 feet tall, the internally illuminated Spirit of Sport will tower 21 feet above Gateshead's famous Angel of the North but it is smaller than the massive B of the Bang sculpture at the City of Manchester Stadium.
It will be covered by more than a thousands panels emblazoned with the pictures of sportsmen and women across the borough, including the "People's Choice", a list of sporting heroes chosen by the readers of the Bolton Evening News.
Council leaders instigated the £250,000 sculpture to create a stunning gateway to Middlebrook - one of the most economically buoyant areas in the borough - and to pay tribute to the role sport has played in its rise.
It has been designed to look like a trophy, with many people commenting on its resemblance to the Jules Rimet Cup, which was awarded to the winners of the World Cup until 1970.
No other letters were received by the committee opposing the scheme.
Cllr Stuart Lever said: "It will be a symbol of the new town Bolton is becoming."
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