RESIDENTS have been left feeling underwhelmed by a new £24,000 sculpture unveiled on their housing estate, with one describing it as looking like “random sticks stuck in dog excrement”.

Linden Homes commissioned an artist to create the piece of public artwork on the Kennel Farm housing development, at a cost of £24,000.

Despite objections from numerous residents and local councillors, the proposal was given the go-ahead by the borough council, and the sculpture now appears to have been finished.

However, residents at Longacre are not impressed by the artwork.

One told the Gazette: “It looks like five poles and it’s an extortionate waste of money. Linden Homes hasn’t even finished the roads around here but they can spend £24,000 on that monstrosity? I don’t think it looks finished. We could have had a splash pad or something for the kids with that money.”

Another resident, 29-year-old Jack Finch, described the sculpture as a “monstrosity” adding: “It’s crazy the amount of money they have spent and the road hasn’t even been tarmacked. It was meant to be done in April now we’re in July and it’s still not done, but they can spend money elsewhere on a sculpture we don’t need.”

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One resident described the sculpture as “pointless” adding: “I’m not at all impressed”.

Mandy Ellis, a 34-year-old mother-of-two can see the sculpture from her home.

She said: “It hasn’t been positively received from a lot of residents. It looks unfinished. It would have been nicer to have a nice memorial bench or something that means something to the community.

“They can’t finish the roads but they can spend that much on a sculpture? It’s some rusty steel bars and some concrete.”

Mother-of-one Gemma Neal, 38, told the Gazette: “I’m not sure what it is. I think personally it would help if it said what it was. It’s not to my taste but I think art is in the eye of the beholder.”

Numerous residents objected to the sculpture before it was installed, including Phillip Richards, from Kennel Farm, who said: “It reminds me of random sticks stuck in dog excrement that unfortunately can be found in open spaces, is this the criteria? It does not represent local history.”

Janet Palmer also objected, saying the artwork “appears to have absolutely no resonance to the locality other than a representation of the mature trees that are being removed for the linked development”.

Borough councillor Rebecca Bean raised concerns about the safety of the design, saying: “I do not see how the proposed artwork is at all in keeping with the look and feel of the development. There is also a very real health and safety risk in my view in terms of children potentially attempting to climb the structures.”

She added: “I also worry about the longevity of the material and structure, what is the plan for maintenance and ensuring the structure remains fit for purpose and safe? The developer has thus far failed to adequately landscape the development and therefore I believe this should not be a priority.”

Cllr Diane Taylor described the artwork as “an incongruous eyesore”. The installation was paid for using developer contributions.

A spokesperson for Linden Homes said the sculpture – a minimal geometric form in Ancaster limestone and Corten steel - provides a “place to sit and contemplate”.

They said it has been installed “as part of our planning obligations” adding: “The public artwork cost £24,000 in keeping with this agreement.”

The artist, Michael Dan Archer, has been commissioned to make public artworks across the UK.

He described the sculpture at Longacre as having “horizontal and vertical elements connecting it with the earth and the biosphere” with the circle used as a “symbol for the earth and for wholeness” and the vertical pillars “relating to standing figures and plant growth”.

He added: “This commission is a physical expression of research into the archaeological and aesthetic effect of inserting an artwork/monument into the landscape and the implications of this regarding humanities psychological situation, i.e. its relationship or separation from the environment surrounding it. This significant work is here because of the development of a new village, a new human settlement.

“An archaeological theory is that the settlement of hunter gatherers into agricultural communities, becoming villages and towns, marked a point where ancient man started to consider itself as a separate entity and not an integral part of the environment.”

“Monuments ranging from Stonehenge and the stone circles bordering the limits of humanity spread; the Atlantic coast from Portugal to N. Scotland, mark this point of separation and the new instigation of settled communities and the subsequent development of custom and religion.

“The methodology of this research includes intensive study visits to significant sites across the planet where mankind physically interacted with the fabric of the planet, literally using pieces of the planet or physically manipulating the living rock itself into temples such as Ajanta and Ellora.”