A sculpture in honour of Julie Rose at the athletics stadium named after her in Ashford is lying discarded behind a bush more than a year after it was vandalised.

The sculpture was pulled from its plinth and damaged in September 2007. It is thought that thieves were trying to get their hands on the metal to sell it on for scrap.

But 16 months on and the rose is lying behind a bush at the stadium.

The rose sculpture was designed and erected at the stadium, which was built in 1997 to honour Julie Rose, the Ashford athlete who died in 1985 in a plane crash in America when she was 21.

There have been offers of help to get quotes for the work but there has been little movement. Bosses of the Ashford Borough Council-funded stadium blame lack of funding.

Julie Rose’s brother Martin Rose said: “What are the board going to do with it? Leave it there? One wonders whether the council would adopt the same attitude if the cows on the roundabout were smashed or other less conspicuous town features defaced.”

When asked why the sculpture had not been repaired, chairman of the stadium trust Cllr Peter Davison (Ash Ind) said the repair was put on the back burner after it was found it was not covered by insurance.

Cllr Davison said: “Discussions have taken place on redesigning and rebuilding the rose, and repositioning, repairing and fixing the stone work.

“The estimated cost for all this is a fraction under £6,000.

“Regrettably, neither Ashford council nor the trust have this funding available as all resources at a time of credit crunch are going into keeping the stadium open.”