A plan to site a mini lighthouse as a gateway feature for Arbroath will go ahead — but without a glowing all-round welcome.
The scheme will bring a rare piece of Scots maritime history to open space at Elliot, beside the main A92 Dundee-to-Arbroath road.
It is another element of the 2011 Year of the Light celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bell Rock Lighthouse — and Angus development standards committee approved part of the council’s own effort to mark the milestone.
The red lighthouse — standing around 4.5m (15ft) tall — has been salvaged from Shetland and is believed to be one of only two of its kind surviving. The other is in Fraserburgh museum. It was built early in the 20th century of cast iron and was gas powered. In September 2010 it was given to Angus Council by the Northern Lighthouse Board.
“At one time, there were at least 120 minor lights around the coastline and these structures were normally either brick or cast iron,” said Angus infrastructure services director Eric Lowson. “These were in use as temporary lights when a permanent light was inoperable.
“The proposed lighthouse will provide a new attraction on a gateway approach to Arbroath. It will be highly prominent adjacent to the A92. However, the nature of the proposal is to provide a landmark feature and it is not uncommon to see such attractions at the entrance to urban area,” added Mr Lowson.
The structure will be unlit and, for road safety reasons, Mr Lowson says any future desire to light it should be subject of a planning application.
Arbroath councillor Bob Spink said that while he welcomed the idea of the feature, he had concerns that interested visitors might stop on the verge of the busy A92 and he urged officials to consider signs alerting drivers that they could park close by.
Local Alliance member David Fairweather aired a different concern in the debate after the council took enforcement action against a feature nearby.
“I’ve no objections to this and I think it will be an interesting feature but I can see trouble ahead here. Just further east someone put up a temporary sign advertising their new hotel business in the town to try and bring in desperately needed tourism and they were told they could not do that. This could be seen as one law for one and one law for another,” said Mr Fairweather.
Head of planning George Chree rejected Mr Fairweather’s fears and said the other sign referred to was unauthorised and in breach of established council policy on advance signs.
“They are two separate land use issues,” added the official.