The five-metre-high sculpture of a phoenix stands at the entrance to Peckfield Business Park in Micklefield.

The thriving business park is on the site of Peckfield Colliery, which closed in the early 1980s.

And the chairman of Micklefield Parish Council today said the mythical phoenix's association with the concept of rebirth made it an ideal choice for the sculpture.

Coun Jon Crossley told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "We wanted something impressive to promote the fact that the business park was there.

"After Peckfield Colliery closed it took a long time to make the site fit for purpose.

"But around the time of identifying the phoenix work, business units started being proposed on the old mine. It was like a reinvigoration – like the site itself was rising from the ashes."
Made from forged steel and finished in nickel plate, the sculpture weighs in at half a tonne.

It was created by Huddersfield-based artist Julian Wadsworth and funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

The project was managed by environmental regeneration charity Groundwork Leeds.