White Horse at Ebbsfleet

The White Horse at Ebbsfleet, formerly the Ebbsfleet Landmark, colloquially the Angel of the South, was a planned white horse statue to be built in the Ebbsfleet Valley within the Ebbsfleet Garden City area in Kent, England. Designed by Mark Wallinger to faithfully resemble a thoroughbred horse, but at 33 times life size, the colossal sculpture was to be 50 metres (160 ft) high. Taller than the Angel of the North in Gateshead and Dream in St Helens, as a highly visible piece of public art, it was intended to highlight the Ebbsfleet redevelopment area and the Ebbsfleet International railway station in particular. It would have been visible from both the A2 road and High Speed 1 railway line, which cross each other nearby. After a design competition was launched in 2007, Wallinger's vision of a white horse was selected in 2008 by a panel of representatives from each of the three founding patrons/developers of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Ltd (ELP Ltd) — London & Continental Railways, Land Securities and Eurostar — and four other art advisors appointed to the panel by ELP Ltd. Planning permission for the structure was granted by Gravesham Council on 15 April 2010. Though originally estimated at £2 million, costs increased to £12–£15 million according to Ben Ruse, a spokesman for the project based at London & Continental Railways offices in London and failed to be raised. The project was intended to be privately funded. As of February 2008, in excess of £1 million had been committed to the project by the founding patrons (of ELP Ltd) from London & Continental Railways who are "actively promoting the development of regeneration opportunities in Ebbsfleet", Land Securities "the UK's leading Real Estate Investment Trust" and from Eurostar. The project stalled for lack of funding in 2012 and ELP Ltd closed down on 19 April 2016.