A MISTAKE could delay the arrival of the Celtic cross in Saltash by several weeks.

The 62ft landmark has been made and was due to be erected this month, but the snag means that the cross itself will not fit into the brackets in the base – which is already in place on the site to the north of the Tamar Bridge.

Saltash town councillor Joe Ellison, chair of the Waterside Residents' Association which commissioned the project, said it was now very unlikely the cross will be ready to go up by the end of February in time for the official unveiling ceremony, due to take place on St Piran's Day on March 5.

'A problem was encountered in the interface between the bottom of the cross and the brackets which are set in concrete piles within the base,' said cllr Ellison.

'The setting of the bolts was not aligned to the holes in the cross, to put it simply.

'Our engineers and Cormac engineers have come up with a solution. It will probably take six to eight weeks,' he continued.

While cllr Ellison expressed disappointment that the cross would not be ready as originally planned, he said that many other major projects funded by the Big Lottery around the country were currently 'underwater' – and that a slight delay did not worry him or the project funders that much.

'As it's getting to the final stages you've got to get it in perspective. It'll be the culmination of a three-year project – in the scheme of things, it's not a huge delay,' he said.

The massive cross, designed by Simon Thomas and constructed by Gateguards UK, is made of lightweight composites, with copper resin in its face at the top.

At a cost of £600,000, the project has been funded in the main by the Big Lottery Community Spaces Fund, with support also coming from Saltash Town Council, Cornwall Council, and a donation from the Duke of Cornwall.

Work on the woodland site below the location of the cross is progressing fast, said cllr Ellison, who added that the area would look wonderful when the cross did arrive.