A WALL sculpture of a hiker to enhance Okehampton's St James Street is to be funded by the town council at a cost of £14,000.

The two-metre sculpture will be a combined millennium and Queen's Golden Jubilee project for the council, which had already earmarked £4,000 towards a piece of artwork in St James Street.

At a meeting this week members voted to also put the £10,000 it received as part of the Waitrose receipt towards the sculpture as their contribution to the enhancement of the town.

The fibre glass and bronzed finished construction, which will be known as 'Jim', will represent St James, the patron saint of pilgrims, and promote Okehampton as a centre for moor walking.

Mayor Christine Marsh said there was a stipulation with the money from Waitrose that it had to be spent on enhancing the town.

'We could not give the money out in grants — it had to be for specific projects,' she said.

'The £4,000 was originally for a sculpture outside St James Chapel for the millennium but the scheme did not go ahead so the money has been waiting in the bank.'

She said the intention was that West Devon Borough Council would contribute to the sculpture but there was currently no money in its budget to do this.

'With all the enhancements being done in the town we thought the sculpture of Jim would fit in well,' she added. 'It will encourage people to walk around the town and see all the things we have to offer.

The sculpture is a collaboration between Okehampton architect Peter Woodgate, who designed the enhancement for Fore Street and West Street and sculptress Wendy Evans-Webb from Lewdown who attended the Royal Academy of Arts and taught at Okehampton College for many years.

Mr Woodgate said installing a sculpture was not a cheap matter: 'First of all you need a road closure and scaffolding before you even start,' he said.

The architect added he would be experimenting with ideas to light the sculpture, which will be situated on the wall of Telecare Electrics opposite the Okehampton Times office, and create interesting background effects.

He praised the owner of Telecare Electrics, Brian Hutchings, whom he said had been 'terrifically helpful and supportive' right from the word go.