Plans to build a lighthouse in Leeds are shelved

The organisers of the year-long arts and culture festival, Leeds 2023, proposed bringing a lighthouse to the South Bank area of the city, to commemorate 18th century civil engineer John Smeaton.

The project, which was due to be funded by a local business, was inspired by the Leeds-born engineer’s most famous creation - a 72ft-high lighthouse built on Eddystone rocks near Plymouth in 1759.

It has been shelved but the arts organisation Foxglove is working on other exhibitions that celebrate the work of Mr Smeaton, who is known as “the father of civil engineering”.

Plans for the lighthouse were first discussed when Leeds prepared a bid to become 2023 European Capital of Culture. The city was forced to withdraw when the European Commission ruled UK cities would not be eligible after Brexit, and it then pushed ahead with Leeds 2023.

Kully Thiarai, the chief executive and creative director of the event, said: “We will be celebrating the extraordinary contribution of Leeds lad John Smeaton to the world of civil engineering, creativity and innovation across the year in all sorts of ways as part of the build up to his tricentenary in 2024.

“We are currently developing these ideas with local arts organisation, Foxglove and once we have finalised the research and development phase we will have a better idea of exactly how we will do that.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to highlight his work on lighthouses and it could be in a myriad of imaginative ways."