Frank Gehry’s Brighton building axed

Canadian architect Frank Gehry's (pictured) plans to build one of his trademark lop-sided buildings in Brighton, have been dashed. After a five year battle, the local council has finally ruled against the £290 million apartment block, which was unkindly if accurately dubbed by locals "Tin Can Towers".

The building had been in peril for sometime. The developer, Josh Arghiros, lost many of his backers, notably Dutch Bank ING, as the financial crisis worsened a few months ago. Many are disappointed – his friend and fellow architect Piers Gough said it was "a heartbreak and a loss for Britain". However, many are delighted, among them local conservationist Valerie Paynter, who said: "A monstrous and disastrous mistake has been averted."

The 79-year-old architect, described by one critic as "the one trick pony's one-trick pony", will no doubt take this philistine attitude to his would-be masterpiece in his stride. He famously scorns people who deride his large, tumbledown creations, once saying: "They're part of the reason that things are ugly but they don't realise it...So fuck off, people."