Local planners threaten to sink Scotsman's Titanic

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2006

LONDON (AFP) — The real Titanic was done in by an iceberg. Now a 33-metre (100-foot) replica of the "unsinkable" luxury liner faces an equally tragic end at the hands of local planning authorities. Stan Fraser took six years to build the 1:10 scale model behind his house in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands, only to be told by the local council that he now must seek planning permission for it.

If refused, Fraser will have to destroy his nautical pride and joy, which is fitted with running lights, a foghorn and smoke-emitting funnels. "All that work will be down the drain if it has to be chopped up," said Fraser, 41, who constructed his Titanic with his two sons after he could no longer work due to illness. "But I will argue my point. It would be sad and a waste if it had...