PRESTWICH councillor Keith Grime hit back at criticism of the new water feature unveiled in the Longfield Centre this week.

The St Mary's ward representative defended the piece of art after a member of the public called it a "monstrosity".

The comments were made at Prestwich Area Board on Tuesday evening, just a day after the glass and granite structure was formally launched in a lavish ceremony.

One man said at the meeting: "I think it is a monstrosity. How much money was wasted on it that could have been spent on other things? If you have a meeting in a month's time then I bet it will be full of graffiti and vandalism."

Coun Grime said he thought it was wonderful and denied it was a monstrosity, angrily adding: "It you just expect people to vandalise things, then they will. It is a challenge for us all to prevent it from being vandalised. I do take issue with you calling it a monstrosity."

Coun Grime compared The Retreat to the Urbis in Manchester and said that that structure was an example of how something had escaped vandalism.