ANGRY Ewood resident Mrs Jean Lewis today slated Blackburn with Darwen Council for its latest piece of street art, saying simply: "It's a mess!"

Mrs Lewis is hopping mad over the creation on the corner of Livesey Branch Road and Moorgate Street, which she has dubbed "a mini Stonhenge".

Workmen erected a circle of metre-high pieces of Lakeland slate close to Mrs Lewis' home in Livesey Branch Road and she said it not only looked ugly but posed a safety problem.

"The site lies close to a junction and mini-roundabout," she said, "so it is also a serious safety issue with the junction being very busy anyway.

"I actually like art. But I like art that looks like art, and that you can tell what it is supposed to be. This just obscures the view of the junction. I don't think it adds anything to the environment."

Workmen at the site, which also includes a lawned area as well as flower beds and borders, did not know what the slate slabs were supposed to represent.

A council spokesman said the area was simply being landscaped under the budget and was not part of the public art programme.

He said "There were a couple of buildings there, which have recently been demolished, and the land has been landscaped to make a feature.

"We don't agree that it impairs the view of the road or hampers motorists, it's just a bit of wasteland that has been landscaped to look nice."

The authority has come under fire for its public art programme, which includes a stone sculpture on a roundabout in Haslingden Road of a naked man and a metal beehive.

Mrs Lewis concluded: "Personally, I would liked to have seen them use the land and money to improve the junction, because this is a mess."