Bolton Council has agreed to take down a controversial statue after scores of complaints. And now council bosses are asking: "Does anyone know what to do with it?" The £5,000 sculpture in the Westhoughton Rotarian memorial gardens came in for strong criticism after it was unveiled last month.

In last night's BEN, shoppers slammed the lady-with-child art object as "a waste of money", "ugly" and even "eerie".

Bolton Council had put up the statue in Ditchfield Gardens, at the bottom of Market Street, as part of a redevelopment scheme for the gardens.

The council asked schoolchildren at three Westhoughton schools to come up with a design.

But the sculpture met with such a barrage of abuse, officers have decided to get rid of it.

Cllr Peter Finch - who will be the next mayor of Bolton - was today celebrating the demise of the white and brown statue after he had petitioned council bosses for its removal.

He said: "I have had a lot of complaints from residents saying it is awful. "It doesn't represent anything to do with Westhoughton or the Rotary Club.

"I haven't been able to find out what it represents at all. It's inappropriate for the town."

He called it a waste of money, and added: "I don't care where else they take it so long as it's not in Westhoughton."

Cllr David Wilkinson said the council could have avoided the embarrassing climbdown if they had asked people in the town what they thought of it.

He said: "If you don't carry the public with you, you're on a hiding to nothing."

A spokesman for Bolton Council called it a "wonderful" sculpture. She said: "It's a nice statue, the local children have done a lot of work on the design.

"If the people of Westhoughton want to suggest what location they would like for this piece of art, then we will consider it."

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