The upkeep of a proposed Queen Elizabeth II statue is already vexing townspeople.

Rutland County Councillors have welcomed plans for a 13-foot statue outside Oakham 's library – but only at zero cost to them.

They have since asked Oakham Town Council to bear the cost of its maintenance, and at a meeting of town councillors on Wednesday, concern was raised about being 'shafted' by the county council.

Chairing the town council meeting, Oakham mayor Sally-Anne Wadsworth said: "Earlier this year we agreed to donate £5,000 towards the erection of the statue.

"We have now had a request that we take over the management of the statue once it is in situ, including the insurance, cleaning, repair, and cost of removal if damaged.

"We have looked into the insurance, and it will not affect our premium so it won't cost us anything extra.

"The land that the statue would be placed on is owned by Rutland County Council, and it has been suggested that they transfer that land to Oakham Town Council, and that we manage it under licence from Rutland County Council."

The statue fundraising was laucnhed at Oakham Castle earlier this year. Image credit: Nub News.

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Cllr David Romney was wary of having a lease with Rutland County Council, and said: "We got shafted by them on the deal over the toilets – we are stuck with them for 99 years and we can't do a damned thing with them. We can't get rid of them, but they are costing us a fortune to maintain.

"Look at this proposal: yet again we have no costs as to how long this lease is going to be, what it is for, and God knows how much it is going to cost when the kids start swinging on the arms and breaking the statue. Its going to cost us an absolute arm and a leg.

"So, this doesn't sit well with me. It didn't sit well with me when we gave them the money in the first place, and I did vote against it.

"These are harsh economic times and all we seem to be doing is giving money to Rutland County Council – that's all we've discussed at this meeting tonight is how much money are we going to be giving to Rutland County Council for the Hopper Bus, Streetlighting and now the statue.

"Why do they want to palm this off on us? Let's have a think.

"Could it be because they already know it's going to cost an absolute fortune to maintain?

"It'll want cleaning, it'll want bubble-gum scraping off, it'll want repairing.

"It's going to cost this council and arm and a leg.

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"Our insurance people say that it won't affect our premium, but you wait until you put a bill in for £25,000 to 30,000 for repairing because they'll have to take it away to repair it – I'm not happy with this until we get some hard costs."

Cllr Chris Nix agreed, saying he felt it would be "very foolish" to take on anything without knowing costs or an appreciation of how it will develop, particularly since the idea for the statue had nothing to do the town council.

"All we agreed was to help fund something, and now it feel very much like something else that is being pushed on to us," he said.

Cllr Paul Ainsley went further: "I think we should remind ourselves that this is not Oakham's statue. It's Rutland's statue, and the initiative from the Lord Lieutenant was very clear that this was a statue for Rutland.

"We have no liability for this statue, and we should not assume liability for this statue – if this is for Rutland, then the best place for this to be financed is Rutland."

That residents were "not even asked if they wanted it" troubled Cllr Paul Buxton, who also said Rutland should foot the bill for maintenance.

Taking a more conciliatory approach, Cllr Adam Lowe said: "I feel I can support this and talk to Rutland County Council to establish exactly what are the costs and the expectations."

The statue has been mocked up of a young Queen with a corgi. Image credit: Hywel Pratley.

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It was proposed by Mayor Sally-Anne Wadsworth that the town council pays Rutland County Council the £5,000 already agreed, and finds out more about potential upkeep costs.

But the vote on this was tied and so Cllr Wadsworth decided that the matter would be deferred to a later meeting, giving the two councils time to talk about precise costs.

The statue, which will cost about £100,00 and has yet to be fully funded, was the idea of the Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, Dr Sarah Furness and is set to be created by Sculptor, Hywel Pratley.

Should funding be found, it is proposed the statue is sited at the entrance to Rutland County Library, in Oakham.

Read more about the statue here.