ONE of Halton's most striking and iconic views has appeared on a BBC list of Unsung Landmarks.

Ineos ChlorVinyls, Runcorn's former ICI site, is described as 'a sea of lights' and 'a glittering city by the roadside' by a magazine journalist for the Beeb.

Writer Finlo Rohrer's passion for its illuminated 'spiralled towers' and 'squat domes' confirms to the nation what locals have always known: that a proud industrial heritage can result in the eye-catching, not just the eye-sore.

Viewed by night from Weston Village - the location for the BBC's comedy drama Drop Dead Gorgeous which was shot in the town- Ineos's twinkling lights by the river are reminiscent of the landscape in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

But the inspiration for the hit 80's Harrison Ford thriller was actually the ICI and former British Steel works in Middlesbrough, whose own unsung landmark, the Transporter Bridge, is a celebrated local treasure.

Rohrer concedes that 'Runcornians are perhaps not united in their affection' for the chemical works 'with some concerned about pollution'.

But with Ineos responsible for making the chlorine, caustic soda and plastics contained in thousands of vital everyday things, the 'stunning vista' is a bonus.