IF there is one thing guaranteed to divide opinion it is public art - and never more so than when 'times is tough.'

As soon as anything even a little out of the ordinary is erected in a public park, square or street, opprobrium is attracted like the proverbial fly to the proverbial dungpile.

Newbridge's Hallelujah Lamp is the latest example. Ten metres tall and bright green, it is one of a number of pieces of art going up around the town as part of a £12 million regeneration project.

Based on an old gas lamp outside the Newbridge Hotel, it is hoped that the lamp will provide a focal point for special community events.

Already it has been variously described as a weed and like something out of Teletubby Land. No doubt, countless other epithets too earthy to be reprinted here have also been aimed in its direction.

Ho hum.

For the record, I should say that I like the Hallelujah Lamp. Yes, it stands out from its surroundings, but where many will think "garish", I hope a goodly number of others like myself, will think "bold."

I understand that £125,000 is being spent on public artworks in Newbridge through this regeneration project. That is 1.04 per cent of the total budget.

Now I know we live in difficult times, but if we cannot devote even one per cent of such funding to schemes like this, then it is a very sad and boring world we live in.

The Hallelujah Lamp is a little different from many other pieces of public art, in that it has a function. So too, will the proposed memory seat next to the Newbridge Memo, and the railings at the town's Calzaghe Bridge.

But that doesn't, and shouldn't, make them any more worthwhile than other public art. It doesn't always work.

Witness, the huge B of the Bang sculpture in Manchester - sharp, spiky and after a couple of years condemned when bits threatened to fall off and spear passing vehicles.

But for every B of the Bang there are several such sculptures, large and small, from the Angel of the North on Tyneside, to, dare I mention it, the Wave on Newport's Usk riverside, that become successful parts of the landscape.

In 10 or 15 years' time when the Hallelujah Lamp is perhaps in need of a little loving restoration, and there are plans announced to replace it, I suspect the people of Newbridge will rally in support of it.

They will probably hold said rally underneath the lamp - precisely the sort of public gathering it is intended to attract.

Don't ban parents from touchline

THE application of health and safety rules has led to a number of bewildering bans and restrictions on participation in a wide range of events, sporting or otherwise.

But the decision by Lea Valley High School in north London to ban parents from the touchline during home school sports fixtures is particularly puzzling.

The school says it is a matter of maintaining the safety of its pupils and that it does not have the resources to supervise groups of parents and friends who wish to watch their young 'uns.

I don't know anything about said school, but I cannot believe that the crowds for its sporting fixtures are so large as to create a problem.

The vast majority of schools up and down the UK would, I am sure, be delighted if more parents, relatives and friends turned up to watch fixtures.

I caught the tail end of a schools rugby match in Newport earlier this week, involving one of my children, and aside from one or two hardy souls, the odd fellow pupil and the teachers doing the coaching, there was no-one there.

I realise that the time of day when most of these fixtures take place means that many people cannot attend, due to work commitments.

That's why I only caught the final five minutes. But if people are able and willing to attend, surely they shouldn't be discouraged?

It can be a difficult enough task for teachers to raise teams to take part in these fixtures, given that pupils have other demands on their time, while teachers' goodwill enables these matches to be staged - usually after the official school day has finished.

Encouraging, rather than discouraging, support for pupils' sporting efforts has to be a good thing.