A SCULPTURE of 14 faces has come in for criticism after it emerged that the city council spent £18,000 on it during a time of cuts.
The artwork was put up at Derby's Speakers' Corner in the Market Place in a bid to draw more people "to exercise their democratic right for freedom of speech".
Each of the faces has a code underneath it that people can scan using their smartphones.
When this happens, the people on whom the heads are based appear on screen and give short talks entitled things like "respect" and "a richness of difference".
The authority said the sculpture cash was spent "as part of its continued investment in helping to regenerate the city centre".
But it has come in for criticism from Tory councillor Frank Harwood, a member of the council's audit and accounts committee.
He said: "I accept the fact that the council and the (Labour) regime has a very difficult job to do in balancing the budget.
"But I've got a problem with spending money when we don't need to.
"You would have thought common sense would have prevailed."
Shoppers passing the sculpture on Friday had mixed views on the art.
Mark Fairclough, 52, of Trenton Green, Chaddesden, said: "It isn't worth £18,000 – five at most. I'd rather see the council spend money on something that helps disabled people."
Janet Crouch, 63, of Burton, said the £18,000 wasn't too expensive for a tourist attraction but that it was a shame it relied on smartphones that not everyone has.
A council spokeswoman said it was created "to bring more people to that space to exercise their right for freedom of speech and to give Speakers' Corner a new and exciting dimension."
The authority said the codes on the sculpture, unveiled at Septembers' Feste, had already been accessed 1,700 times.
The £18,000 came from the capital budget, used for spending on assets like buildings and roads rather than the council's day-to-day services.
The council says it is facing "new burdens" on its capital budget such as needing cash for expanding schools.
This has led, for example, to its delaying progress on a new multi-million pound swimming pool for the city centre by a year. It had been set for completion by late 2015.
