BOLTON Wanderers' futuristic Reebok Stadium has been turned down for an award by the Civic Trust. About 80 nationally-renowned architects considered the application, but they did not put it forward for a commendation. And a local official has said in a report: "It sits like a great white crab in what is still a semi-rural backdrop of fields or hills."

The comments were made by Mr Peter Hope, chairman of Bolton Civic Trust's planning committee, in a recent edition of Civic Trust News.

He said that it is a "magnificent football stadium" and its facilities are "first class".

But he adds: "That is not the point. The same facilities could have been provided without the festoons of steelwork and lights which are visible for miles.

"The steelwork could have been contained within the building and the lights attached to the canopy.

"But it's done and we must put up with it. But it is sad that so much effort should have been put in for what, in my view, is so unsatisfactory a result."

But Mr Paul Fletcher, Reebok Stadium chief executive, hit back: "The Civic Trust is entitled to its opinions.

"But this is a stadium which grasps hold of the future and it does not hang on to the past.

"We have been visited by representatives from all over the world who have said that this is the football stadium of the future. As with anything futuristic, there will always be people who knock it, but I don't think that view is shared by the vast majority of people."

Mr Hope's report also hits out at the rest of the Middlebrook development.

He said: "Its appearance is just as horrible as we anticipated when we tried to persuade the planning authority that Horwich deserved better.

"The buildings are mostly just sheds with decorative frontages."

But Mr David Short, developer Orbit's planning director, said: "As far as I can recall, their views were not prominent at the time the design was going through the planning process.

"The buildings at Middlebrook are large functional buildings which have to be secure. They certainly seem to be popular with the public." '

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