Mystery of who must pay to fix Stratford-upon-Avon sculpture

Two months ago, a major piece of public art was badly damaged in a car crash.

The Armillary Sphere sculpture still stands in the centre of the roundabout at the junction of Banbury Road and Trinity Way in Stratford-upon-Avon, but its steel is bent and twisted.

It is in need of fixing. Or, its critics say, in need of taking away.

The thing is, it is unclear which - if any - of those options will happen. No-one will take responsibility for the future bill as mystery surrounds who is in charge of the artwork's upkeep.

As several councils deny it is down to them to solve, one former mayor has suggested the piece was unwanted from the start.

It was put up 15 years ago using part of a £100,000 pot given by local housing developers for public art projects but proved controversial, with a petition to remove it getting 1,183 signatures in 2009.

Former mayor Cyril Bennis said he wants to see the damaged sculpture removed.

"It's a love-hate relationship I have with this," he said. "Most people in our community don't like it.

"The bottom line will be, it's got to be removed. It will cost more money to fix this mangled mess of steel."

Warwickshire County Council is responsible for the safety of local roads but told the BBC that it had "no involvement in the commissioning, delivery or installation of this sculpture.

"The responsibility for this is with Stratford District Council under their 2005 Arts Strategy."

Stratford District Council confirmed it was "currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the damage".

It said it was also "exploring the options available for repairing or reinstating the sculpture" and was "seeking to recover the associated costs from the insurer of the vehicle involved in the incident".

But it added none of that meant the district council had responsibility for the structure.

It is not clear whether any report was ever made to Warwickshire Police about the crash, or whether the driver had been identified.

Meanwhile, Stratford Town Council said none of its records showed it had ownership of the piece.

It seems, for now at least, the only thing that is certain is how much Bennis dislikes it.

Bennis has campaigned to get the statue removed since it was first conceived.

"This was not the way to encourage people how to understand art" he said.

"It's a lump of steel and it's just rusting, rusting for the last 20 years."

He said he wanted to see a line drawn under the affair and money raised from scrapping it, spent on the town.

"Thank God it is 100% recyclable because hopefully, if we get it recycled, if we get it pulled down, taken away... then the money can go towards potholes."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds , Facebook , X and Instagram .