A £100,000 landmark art piece will be built in the city of Ely after planners gave the project the green light.

A £100,000 landmark art piece will be built in the city of Ely after planners gave the project the green light.

The artwork, named Sluice, will be a combination of light and technology and will be built on an area of public space along the River Ouse near the Maltings.

The four-metre-high steel sluice replica will project light images of water ebbing and flowing, in synchron-isation with the real river flow, using data gathered from Norfolk's Denver Sluice by the Environment Agency.

There will also be sounds of water from speakers built into the structure as well as blue and white lighting to animate the artwork.

East Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee approved the application at a meeting last week.

Sluice was created by Lulu Quinn, and has been commissioned by visual arts agency Commissions East.

Alison Callaby, from the council, said: "Sluice is a unique artwork commission for Ely's riverside, highlight-ing as it does the link between water management and the physical environment.

"The images on the screen will reflect the changing nature of the river as it passes through the Denver Sluice - sometimes it will be calm and reflective, at other times it will surge.

"The planning committee heard how the artwork had been developed in response to the site characteristics, and in making their decision noted how interesting the concept behind Sluice was and how it would provoke a different range of reactions from those visiting the river."

It is hoped the artwork will be ready by the summer.

The project has been jointly funded by the Arts Council, which gave £97,500; Ely Perspective, £2,000; and East Cambridgeshire District Council, through money provided by developers to enhance the cultural offering in the city, £27,500.