A SHORT-LIST of four possible designs has been drawn up for the £100,000 art feature that will stand at the gateway from Middleton Gardens to the new Tesco superstore.

Nichola Cooke of the Rochdale Development Agency said two of the designs were based on the Middleton Archers theme - including seating in the shape of longbows.

The other two were inspired by the local buildings designed by famed Middleton architect Edgar Wood.

A meeting of the Middleton Cultural Working Party heard that a number of outline designs had been considered.

Chairman, Councillor Alan Godson said: "One design was a giant hand, but when we saw how the fingers were aligned we threw it out immediately."

Now the short-listed artists have been told to prepare finished designs which will then go to public consultation, including a three-day exhibition in Middleton at the end of the month.

However there is still some public resentment about the last public art installation in the town centre - the Moonraker water feature in Middleton Gardens.

One passer-by, Alistair Derbyshire of Windermere Road, Langley said: "It looks like a piece of scrap metal. I'm told it is also supposed to project images, but I've never seen that."

Caroline Shepley of Plant Hill Road, Blackley said Middleton should follow the example of Morecambe and Lytham St Annes who have commemorated their local heroes with statues of Eric Morecambe and Les Dawson.

"A statue of Bernard Manning would be a talking point.Perhaps he wasn't politically correct but he was well loved locally. He did so much for charity. People would come to be photographed next to him, like they do in Morecambe."