Quarry art nearing completion

The Coldstones Cut has been designed by internationally renowned sculptor Andrew Sabin, and is being built on the edge of Coldstones Quarry, allowing visitors to see for miles and down into the enormous quarry, one of the highest in England.

Overlooking Pateley Bridge, the installation has not been without controversy.

Initial plans featured urban street lighting and yellow lines painted on a Tarmac built road on top of the Dales.

Coun Les Ellington, borough councillor for Nidderdale, said: "The initial designs were an absolute no-no."

It is hoped – and expected – that The Coldstones Cut will become a major tourist attraction.

The sculpture is 245ft long and 16ft high street scape. Made of a Tarmac road, flanked on both sides by a huge wall, the sculpture features two 18ft high spirals which people will be able to climb. At its highest, the sculpture is 1,380ft above sea level.

The 500,000 funding has come from the Aggregate Levy Fund, a tax paid by quarry operators which is ring fenced for arts and landscape projects around quarries, Arts Council England and Yorkshire Forward.

All the material being used for the sculpture has come from inside the quarry, owned and operated by Hanson UK.

To read the background to the art project, see tomorrow's Yorkshire Post magazine.