AN update has been given on when work will begin on a huge sculpture close to the Widnes junction of the M62.

As previously reported, Warrington Borough Council has given its consent for the artwork to be built close to junction eight of the motorway as the centre point of Mountpark roundabout, within Omega South on Skyline Drive.

Entitled Bolt of Lightning, the highlight of the art piece would be an iconic Second World War American aircraft – the Lockheed P-38 Lightning – which would be illuminated and bathed in wartime searchlights at night.

The sculpture will honour RAF Burtonwood airbase, with many warehouses and homes in the Omega vicinity – and the M62 itself – built on land formerly occupied by the base.

It will measure 22.8 metres, making it larger than the Angel of the North near Newcastle.

In April, full planning permission was granted, but with a condition that details of the future management and maintenance of the sculpture and landscaping are submitted and approved before any work can start.

This latest application, which has now been submitted to the council for approval, seeks to approve a maintenance strategy to allow work to begin.

This strategy states that the sculpture is designed to require minimal maintenance throughout its life, with periodic inspections planned for aspects such as lights and electrics.

Meanwhile, gardening work would not take place during certain seasons, such as bird nesting months, but grass cutting would be every fortnight outside of winter months.

Impressions of how Bolt of Lighning will look, paying tribute to RAF Burtonwood airbase

Impressions of how Bolt of Lightning will look, paying tribute to RAF Burtonwood airbase

On a potential start date, documents state: “Notwithstanding the current constraints impacting many activities across the UK economy, the proposal is to undertake all soft landscape operations during the first available planting season following commencement of the works, and all works as seasonally appropriate.

“Therefore, assuming a construction start on site in 2024, the landscape works would be completed by the end of planting season 2024-25, perhaps with the exception of some smaller areas of seeding, which may have to be undertaken at the appropriate time and season immediately thereafter.”

During the earlier planning phase, it was said that the long-term vision has always been to install an ‘iconic and major piece of public art’ to celebrate the history of RAF Burtonwood.

The airbase opened in 1939, just in time for the crucial Battle of Britain, and it played a vital support role for the war in Europe when the United States Air Force took over in 1942,.

The site also played a vital role in the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and throughout the Cold War era.

In 1967, Burtonwood became the largest US base in Europe, having expanded to cover a 15-mile site between 1948 and 1958, but once the US Army pulled out of the base in 1993, its fate was effectively sealed.

Aldon Ferguson, president of RAF Burtonwood Association, previously said: “The concept of Bolt of Lightning is to remember the impact of American forces on Warrington, all local towns and villages, the ongoing inter-relationship between the British and Americans and the introduction of American culture.

“To address the 50-plus years of the link with the USA, a substantial, commanding memorial is very appropriate.

“Its location needs to be dominant and highly visible from the M62 motorway – the original main runway – as a permanent and graphic link to the glorious history of the site and its impact on the north west of England.”