Villagers campaigning to 'bring home' a statue of Sir Titus Salt are hoping to have it put up in Saltaire in time for his 200th birthday.

Shipley MP Chris Leslie, a member of the multi-agency Saltaire Project Team, said they had set 2003 - the bicentenary of the Victorian industrialist's birth - as a target for bringing the statue to the model village which he created.

The 124-year-old statue, carved from white Italian Carrarar marble, is currently sited in Lister Park but many villagers believe it belongs in Saltaire.

They say it is hidden away in the park, where it has been targeted by vandals, and deserves a more prominent position, possibly near Salts Mill at the bottom of Victoria Road.

Mr Leslie has a home in the historic model mill village and is keen to have the statue brought there.

He said: "Bringing the statue to Saltaire would be a fantastic way to celebrate the bicentenary of Sir Titus Salt's birth.

"At the moment it is languishing away in a corner of Lister Park, where it has been vandalised and not many people see it.

"I think the most appropriate place for it would be Saltaire because of the bicentenary and the fact that people like the late Jonathan Silver have been talking about it for a long time.

"It's a nice piece of architecture in itself which would be very in keeping architecturally and historically with the village.

"It would be a big exercise and whether or not it can be moved, where it should be sited and how we can pay for it, are nowhere near being resolved.

"But 2003 is a good focal point for us to work towards - it is not too far away but gives us time to get things organised.''

Created by sculptor John Adams Acton, the statue was unveiled on August 1, 1874 - two years before Salt's death - and stood outside City Hall for several months before its move to Lister Park.

The ornate carving shows Sir Titus Salt, who created Saltaire for his mill workers during the mid-19th century, holding the plans of the model mill village in his left hand.

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