A STREET statue commissioned for £40,000 as part of Chepstow town centre's £1.7 million facelift has attracted criticism from traders who have called it "ghastly".

Artist Andre Wallace's 6ft figure of a naked man sitting on a boat in Bank Square, made from bronze and stone, is named 'Boatman'.

And according to 'Through the Arch', the regeneration working group's newsletter informing people of the scheme's progress, 'Boatman' seeks to "provide a reference to Chepstow's past and future aspirations with its location near the river and the history of shipbuilding".

Boatman will sit in a newly-pedestrianised Bank Square and was chosen from a shortlist of three from more than 40 artists' submissions by the working group, which consists of Monmouthshire county council, Chepstow town council and Chepstow chamber of commerce.

But other traders have dubbed it 'Naked Man on a Bidet' and said the money spent on the statue would have been better spent on parking for coaches.

Armand Watts, former Chepstow mayor, current town councillor and local trader said: "I think its ghastly but then art is always subjective. But I believe the bronze part of the statue will need constantly polishing or it will become shoddy very quickly.

"It's far too big for the space it's in and it shows that nobody on that working group has any understanding of art."

Trader Greg Lance-Watkins said: "The Boatman is tasteless street litter. The money would have been better spent on more parking spaces for coaches bringing tourists back to town, so chepstow can earn money for us."

But Tim MacDermott, area manager for Monmouthshire county council said: "In some ways, the negative comments and publicity have done us a favour because it has got people's attention, local people are talking about the Boatman as a piece of art.

"We estimate the Boatman will cost £40,000 but we got specific funding for the art which couldn't have been spent on anything else.

"The art is a way of dragging tourists and shoppers back into the town. "Tourists tend to visit the bottom end of town only where the castle and the museum are - we need them to walk up the hill and spend their money."