Plans for Bath 'AquEye' observation tower unveiled

The plan is to build the AquEye on Pulteney Weir Island below the city's Grade I-listed Pulteney Bridge

Plans have been unveiled to install a £5m revolving glass observation pod in the centre of Bath.

Those behind the 65m-tall (213ft) AquEye want it built on Pulteney Weir Island by the historic Pulteney Bridge.

Suspended between two masts, the glass capsule would swing out over the river, lifting passengers above the roof tops.

But the Bath Preservation Trust say the location is not right, as it would block "everyone's favourite views of the weir and the bridge".

The city - which combines features from both the Roman and Georgian eras - is a designated World Heritage Site, subject to strict planning rules.

Architect Nicholas Stubbs, who designed the observation pod, said he wanted to design something "that would offer a similar breathtaking aerial experience" to the London Eye "but in a way which was both elegant and unobtrusive".

"AquEye will lift people high enough to enjoy the city but its resting position is down and so doesn't interrupt the city skyline."

The pod is designed to take up to 25 passengers on a 20-minute "flight" over the Georgian city, offering 360-degree "unrivalled aerial views".

Tourism boss David James said Bath could not rely on its architecture to pull in tourists and had to be "innovative". Projects like the Thermae Baths hot springs and Holburne Museum extension showed "you can mix the old and new," he said.

But Caroline Kay, of the preservation trust, said the location chosen, "right next to the glorious Grade I listed 18th Century bridge" meant the AquEye would "come across everyone's favourite views of the weir and bridge".

A crowdfunding campaign will launch in November to support the full planning and development of the installation.

If planning permission is granted, it is hoped AquEye will open in 2017.