Artists have backed the idea and one heritage campaigner even suggested the statue could be placed at L’Etacq instead of on a rock off Green Island as originally proposed.
Earlier this month the JEP revealed that an anonymous donor was willing to bankroll the project to the tune of £1m.
However, some Islanders have said they are against the idea.
Sasha Gibb, gallery director of the CCA Galleries in Hill Street, said that in essence she thought it a ‘marvellous idea’ and she offered to make the gallery available for a discussion of the project if this were helpful in the future.
And Advocate Christopher Scholefield, chairman of Save Jersey’s Heritage, said that he ‘applauded the initiative, public spiritedness and generosity’ of the potential sponsor but suggested that consideration might be given to a different site in the north-west of the Island at l’Etacq. In particular, he said the location of a former round tower demolished during the Occupation. He suggested that the German bunker – which houses Faulkner Fisheries – that replaced the tower would make the ideal plinth for a sculpture.
‘It offers the advantage of being fully accessible to the public which could turn it into a destination in its own right, and also it would be among the first things ships would see of Jersey when arriving from the north,’ Advocate Scholefield said.
He added that the site would be diagonally opposite the harbour at La Rocque which might afford the opportunity to provide some linkage with the most southerly point of the permanently inhabited British Isles.
Reaction to the so-called Angel of the South project expressed through the letters pages of the JEP has been more mixed, however. Ian Moignard and Gerald Harrison have both written to object to the adverse impact of a sculpture on the natural beauty of the St Clement coastline.
Mr Harrison wrote: ‘I have nothing but praise for the gentleman who wishes to spend a large sum of money on a piece of public art.
‘However, I have to say no, a thousand times no, to a statue on La Sambue [rocks near Green Island].
‘I loved this area when I was growing up and I love it still in all its natural beauty, which is also so much enjoyed by many others.’
The point was echoed by Peter Mourant who also raised practical objections. ‘The Angel could well look impressive from a distance but the opportunity to get up close would be limited to a quick visit on a pretty low spring tide. Anybody who gets their timing wrong would be in real danger of drowning and I expect the rescue services would be kept busy,’ he wrote.
