A CONTROVERSIAL statue has been given the thumbs-up by locals, many of whom can hardly wait for its erection.
The 'Angel of the North' has been slammed by art lovers but hard-up residents of Gateshead see it as the answer to their prayers.
The statue was designed by 'artist' Anthony Gormley and will be made from over 200 tons of steel, costing nearly a million pounds. It will stand next to the A1 and will be seen by an estimated 31m people each year.
But it will need 24-hour security measures to stop skint locals having it away with large chunks of the valuable metal.
Already price lists are circulating around pubs and orders are being taken by unscrupulous scrap dealers.
Prime breast is expected to fetch £12 a stone; leg will go for £10 a stone (of the bone), while those partial to a bit of wing will have to pay at least a fiver a stone.
A Gateshead scrappie - who did not wish to be named - told newcastle stuff: 'People around here will have it carved up in weeks.' Barry Greaves, 47, continued: 'You can't leave any scrap metal lying around here mate, never mind a sixty-foot tin pigeon.
'I'll have the fillings out of its mouth in five minutes,' added father of three Greaves, of 39, Harms Way, Bensham.
Local car dealers are also eagerly awaiting its arrival. There has been a run on cutting and welding equipment in the town as they gear up for this welcome windfall.
'Imagine having the rusty wings of your Ford Capri replaced with part of a real work of art,' one dealer - who wished to remain anonymous - told newcastle stuff. 'It'll be a real fanny magnet for posh birds, the class types what read books and look at pictures,' Ronnie Greaves, 27, added.
Father of eleven, Greaves, of 39, 40 and 41 Harms Way, Bensham, is full of praise for 'artist' Anthony Gormley. 'We've been talking about nobody else down the club for weeks. He's one of us, thinking of the common man. I'll be getting a few drinks out of this, no mistake, pal,' said Greaves.
Father of four, Darren Greaves, 14, is planning his own statue as a tribute to Greaves. His 80-foot 'John The Baptist' is being made entirely from a BMW chassis, a quarter-mile of copper wire and a supermarket trolley.

Speaking from his home in Deerbolt Young Offenders' Centre, he said: 'The bloke's cush. Following him got me where I am today.'

Anthony Gormley was unavailable for comment, as he is currently working on a 200-foot tall copper and lead whippet, which will span the Tyne just down the road from Scotswood. At least he hopes it will, for at least a fortnight.

Mellow Pages, 1997