Swaffham Town Council call potential five-foot duck statue ‘a bit of an embarrassment’

Councillors went ‘quackers’ and voted against contributing £250 towards a five-foot statue of a duck.

Swaffham Town Council was asked if it wanted to contribute to the art project, which would see a giant bird, painted by a local artist, put somewhere in town.

However, conflicting opinions on the duck were voiced at the council’s full meeting on Wednesday.

One councillor even touched on the council’s dislike of the birds, after they previously debated culling some of them in the town to prevent a “health problem”.

Breckland District Council offered to contribute £2,000 towards the project, which was started in a bid to promote tourism in the town.

Cllr Graham Edwards was against the statue and said: “It’s an embarrassment for this town.”

Cllr Steph Cooper was in agreement and said that vandals would “decapitate the duck”.

She said: “If it does get wrecked, which it will, we will have to pay. Everybody wrecks everything in this town. That’s why we are the way we are.

Cllr David Braithwaite added: “Seriously, it [the duck] should be fixed to the ground or it will wander off.”

Cllr Jill Skinner said: “We used to be a council that were against the ducks. I find it a bit of an embarrassment actually.”

However, deputy mayor Lindsay Beech was in favour.

She said: “Ducks are a unique selling point, and we would be mad avoiding this. It would promote tourism.”

Five councillors voted against funding the duck, while four councillors voted in favour.