Green light for pen sculpture in city

The sculpture is set to be installed in New Walk

A sculpture celebrating Leicester's literary heritage has been granted planning approval.

The artwork, called The Nib, will be located next to the Writer's Pavement feature in New Walk and aims to pay tribute to writers such as Philip Larkin and Joe Orton.

Commissioned by Friends of New Walk, it is hoped it will draw attention to the pavement and “inspire a new generation of authors to begin their own journeys and put pen to paper”.

Leicester City Council’s public arts department raised concerns over how “structurally robust” the sculpture would be when installed, but the application was approved by the authority's planning officers.

The Nib will pay tribute to the city's literary history

Documents say the artwork will be formed of a cylindrical column, on top of which will be a thinner metal “neck” topped by the “sharp-edged” nib, appearing to imitate a fountain pen.

The council's public arts department raised concerns it had a “risk of being climbable”, which would allow people to stand on it and “interfere with, or dislodge [the] sharp element of the sculpture”.

"The proposal does not demonstrate how structurally robust the central structure of the nib section would be," officials said.

"There is a risk that, if this could be bent or snapped, the two metre steel point could become damaged or dangerously detached."

However, the council's planning officers disagreed and said the base and sharp elements were “significantly higher than the average person”.