AN UNUSUAL tree is causing quite a stir in a Blackburn business park.

The tree made of metal and designed by Hampshire artist Peter Parkinson, was "planted" off Greenbank Road by Blackburn Council.

The £1,200 construction, with steel panel leaves, is part of a City Challenge environmental face-lift, backed by the European Regional Development Fund.

But it produced a mixed reaction among employees at the nearby B&Q DIY store.

One worker said she loved it, another hated it. A staff spokeswoman concluded: "It just seems to us that money has been spent inappropriately and real trees would have been better."

And motorist Judith Heap, who passes the tree each day on her way to work, said she could hardly believe her eyes when it appeared last week.

"It looks like a prop from Star Trek," she laughed. "It's a real eyesore and I don't see the point of having a metal tree. What's wrong with a proper one?"

Before the sculpture was erected, Councillor Gail Barton, chairman of Blackburn Council's development services committee, told the Citizen: "This demonstrates our commitment to making the borough a more attractive and interesting place for firms considering a new business location."

City Challenge chief executive Janet Bradbury described the tree as "an attractive public art feature and image for the business park."

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