APART from Pacittos ice cream and pizzas (forgive the pun), the only similarity between Redcar and Pisa, in sunny Italy, is that they’ve both got towers.
Of course, there’s a big difference: Redcar‘s Vertical Pier, is just what it says on the tin, whilst, since the 12th century, the Tower of Pisa has been leaning, so much so that, in 1990, it had to be closed to the public.
Engineers, however, have reversed the lean by four centimetres in the last two decades, adding 200 years to its life. Of course, the Italians do not want to see the Tower completely return to the vertical, because its lean attracts millions of tourists with pockets full of euros.
What a chance we missed! When we decided to build an early 21st century tower on Redcar seafront, instead of bragging about its verticality, why didn’t we give it a bit of a lean?
The tourists would have come flocking!
Steve Kay, Redcar & Cleveland councillor
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