AN architect behind plans for public art on the hills above Accrington today said his updated design was a "homage" to the Accrington Pals.

More detailed proposals, drawn up during ongoing public consultation, have gone on display this week at venues across Hyndburn.

The scheme, part of the £1million Panopticons project to place works on art in each of East Lancashire's six boroughs, has already met with fierce opposition.

But the work, originally a series of mounds on the Coppice, now includes five circular banks of earth arranged in concentric rings. The 'ripple' formation will be covered with a mix of local grasses and heathers.

The furrows have been designed to catch rainwater and promote the growth of wetland grasses. There could also be a single semi-mature oak tree at the centre of the form, or a group of young oak saplings.

The art has been renamed HIGH_form, which refers to the potential site overlooking Accrington and the word 'form' meaning bench or long seat in dialect.

London architect Peter Beard said: "The Coppice carries strong memories of the 11th (service) Battalion, the Accrington Pals, so many of whose members died at the Somme in 1915.

"While the trenches we see today on the Coppice have their origins in World War Two civil defence, they still have the power to trigger a memory of the Pals and this is a homage to them."

Earlier this month, Hyndburn councillors rejected the scheme saying they would prefer picnic benches over public art. One of their concerns was potential damage to the Coppice.

But Mr Beard said the mounds would be constructed from the earth on the site and no additional material would be taken up there. All work would be closely supervised by a local ecologist, if the scheme was given the go-ahead.

Gayle Knight, from Mid Pennine Arts, the organisation leading the project, with support from the North West Development Agency and East Lancashire Partnership, said: "This series of exhibitions will help the public to understand the reasons and the benefits of the proposed scheme."