Grantham Thatcher statue approved despite vandal fears Published duration 5 February 2019

image copyright PA image caption Police recommended the statue should be placed on a high plinth to curb the threat of vandalism

Plans for a statue of Baroness Thatcher in her home town of Grantham have been approved despite vandalism concerns.

South Kesteven District Council planners voted in favour of the £300,000 statue to be erected on St Peter's Hill in the town.

It comes after a report stated the sculpture could become "a target for politically-motivated vandals".

Lincolnshire Police said they did not oppose the application, but urged appropriate security measures be used.

The 10ft-high statue, which has been privately funded, will be placed on a granite plinth of the same height.

During a planning meeting, committee chairman Martin Wilkins attempted to remind fellow councillors the panel was non-political body.

One councillor said: "This is a statue of Margaret Thatcher, how can it not be political?"

Another councillor, Charmaine Morgan, said she would not vote on the application and spoke against it: "It is currently being held in an out of sight, secret location.

"Perhaps it should stay there."

image copyright PA image caption The statue of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher was designed by sculptor Douglas Jennings

Supporters, including Grantham Community Heritage Association (GCHA), which runs the town's museum, said the statue was a "fitting tribute to a unique political figure".

It also said it would encourage visitors to the town "from both sides of the debate".

report to the council said: "The divisive nature of Baroness Thatcher due to her political career and policy legacy and the potential for this to result in vandalism has been raised as a concern."

The sculpture was offered to Grantham last July after the original plans for it to be erected in Parliament Square in Westminster were rejected.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire

Attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and left in 1943 to start a chemistry degree at the University of Oxford.

First stood for Parliament in the 1950 election and was elected as Conservative MP for Finchley in 1959

Defeated Ted Heath in Tory leadership contest in 1975

Became the UK's first female prime minister, after the Conservative election victory in 1979