Spire might do, but something certainly needs to be done

But while it will look good I doubt that it can ever replace the plans that were unveiled a few years back for the land rehabilitation project for once the opencast work stopped.

It would appear that landowner Hargreaves have given the project their approval and a feasibility study is being prepared.

The guy who has designed the 200 foot landmark has been quoted as saying the structure will exist primarily for aesthetic and symbolic purposes.

A feasibility study will establish the true costs of construction but it will take a lot of applications for grants to make it happen, I hope they are successful.

The spire, from info I managed to come across, is not dedicated to a single individual but through symbolism is geared to make onlookers contemplate their opportunities as free citizens. It presents a giant copper eye on the South facade. On seeing this you will be urged to wake up to pay attention.

On the north facade, a Viking longboat is depicted. This motif apparently was borrowed from the ancient carvings in the caves at East Wemyss. The west facade will show a constellation of stars which signify the local villages as they appear on the map.

The great geometric form emerges from a coal bing and points upwards to the heavens and clearly signifies the coal industry which made the likes of Kelty and Cowdenbeath flourish. At ground level, this is an obvious reference to the past, but the spire then literally comes to a point about citizenship - it is an opportunity.

It sounds ambitious but when we remember the flowing grassland and water features of the plans to rehabilitate the St Ninian's land which was tabled by Charles Jencks a few years back, it maybe is not.

The current look of the towers of grass look a bit basic, from the M90 as you go past, so something like the Citizens Spire could add that little bit of gloss to things. Something is certainly needed.

SPIRAL,

Tuke Street,

Dunfermline.