HO HUM . . . Forgive the yawn as we note that wealthy artist Robert Ballagh is among the objectors to a proposed 14-storey building near Broadstone bus station. The new structure would be a mix of residential, offices and restaurants.
Mindful their plans would replace an old industrial building which houses a local co-operative of artists, the developers have, probably with an eye to planners sensibilities, undertaken to replace the artists spaces and studios.
None of that is cutting any ice with Ballagh and other objectors. The artist, whose work fetched enormous prices in recent years, derides the scheme as "having a negative impact upon the community" as well as being "the destruction of a landmark 1940s building".
All very well, but this column cannot resist two random questions. One: in the current downturn, with building workers losing jobs apace, what price the value of "a landmark 1940s building" over jobs, income and family welfare? As the scheme represents at least two years work for a few hundred people as well as suppliers. Who loses most if the scheme is defeated?
Two: on the other hand, if it gets permission, 48 new apartments provide a lot space and blank walls for new works to be hung, by new city livers.
Most of whom could not afford a Ballagh piece, but might be tempted to buy a graphic or print from a less well-known artist in the new gallery provided by the developers.
We're only asking?
