Specialist conservation companies have determined that two of the three statues of historic figures that looked down from the Congleton Town Hall for almost 150 years are beyond repair.

The stone figures of Queen Victoria, King Edward I and Henry de Lacy, who granted the town's first charter in 1272, were installed at the front of the town hall in 1866.

Due to the statues not receiving any special attention during the town hall's interior refurbishment 20 years ago, the statues deteriorated over time and had to be removed due to health and safety concerns.

The statues are now located in a shed in Congleton Park.

Congleton Town Council has been working with Cheshire East Council's heritage officer with a hope the statues could be restored to their former glory in time for the charter's 750th anniversary celebrations in 2022.

Councillors were given a progress report at last Thursday's meeting of Town Hall, Assets & Services Committee.

Mark Worthington, town hall manager, stated that the initial cost for repairing the statues was based on photographs sent to a specialist company.

A guide price came back at around £50,000 and after further examination and further photos being sent to two other companies, who came to the town hall to view the statues, it was agreed that two of the statues were beyond repair.

The companies came to the conclusion that the Henry de Lacy and King Edward I statues were beyond repair and would need to be replaced rather than refurbished.

The statue of Queen Victoria could be repaired, but according to Mr Worthington the companies stated she would "probably look out of place" next to two new statues.

All the companies are specialist conservation companies who have extensive experience in this field.

Mr Worthington said: "There has been a significant jump because of that and as a budget cost, companies are quoting up to £200,000."

Mr Worthington told the committee that the town council would be going back to the initial company that provided the repair quote because they had a contingency of £10,000 if the statues needed to be repaired.

Cllr Duncan Amies queried whether there was a possibility of getting an alternative replica to act as a "time gap" until "times are better", where the town council could afford to carry out the refurbishment of the statues properly.

Mr Worthington told the meeting that the conservation officer would not agree to anything that was not made out of the stone that it is going to replace.

Mr Worthington added: "Initially the conservation officer said they would not even accept new statues, they would have to use the existing statues.

"But if anyone goes down to the park and has a look what is left, there isn't much."

The conservation officer has the final say on what would be placed on a building.

Mr Worthington told the committee he would have a conversation with the conservation officer about where the town council would stand regarding a "temporary measure".

Cllr Amies added: "I think something is better than nothing."

Town Mayor, Cllr Sally Ann Holland, said: "Although it would be nice to consider in the future, at the moment with current conditions and Covid-19, it would be deemed an incorrect use of money."

Cllr Holland queried whether the town council had applied for grants and "exhausted all areas".

Mr Worthington informed councillors that due to Covid-19, all heritage funding has been stopped and any funding heritage has would be going towards keeping national trust sites open.