A MONUMENT to Sir Walter Scott in a Borders town could be returned to its original glory.

Members of Selkirk Common Good Fund Sub-Committee were last week informed that the statue in the town’s Market Place was looking rather “tatty”.

The original statue celebrating the renowned Scottish novelist has been covered by four coats of paint over the years and a conservation masonry stonework expert was approached late last year over removing the paintwork and carrying out other repairs.

But the cost quoted for carrying out the work – £25,650 – was not considered a viable outlay.

Now it is hoped to pursue funding options to preserve the long-term future of the memorial.

Committee chair councillor Caroline Cochrane said: “When I was at the market on Saturday I did see that there was some large chunks of paint flaking off it.”

Councillor Elaine Thornton-Nicol said: “Historic Environment Scotland have a small grants scheme up to £25,000 but you need to match fund it, so if we could put in £12.5k they would put in £12.5k. There’s lots of funding out there to preserve statues and if we were taking it back to a safe place, i.e its original form, we are likely to get money for it.

“Every time you paint it you lose definition because the paint sinks in to all those points of definition, the prime example is the top of his cloak – it’s very hard to see that beautiful pattern on there.

“We need to look seriously at what is available and if we can do a match fund, so it only costs half that amount but preserves it properly for the future, and then have a maintenance programme, that would be far superior.”

Now a site visit to the statue is to be organised to be attended by community members and SBC’s conservation officer to take the project forward.