Giant Rombald could be on the move. The famous statue -- which has been in Keighley's Airedale Shopping Centre for more than 35 years -- may be given a new home.

Now Keighley News readers are being asked for their views on where the 12ft-high structure should be placed.

After a similar survey seven years ago, it was decided to leave the half-ton statue alone.

But the debate has been resurrected by Keighley Town Council's general purposes committee, which feels the time is right to once again look at relocating Rombald.

"He's being used as a shelf for coffee cups and he just looks a bit sad and out of place now," said committee chairman Councillor Bob Horrell. "There seems to be a growing feeling that something needs to be done.

"We have a few thoughts about where he could be moved to but the proceedings are at a very early stage and we are effectively testing the water. We are keen to gauge public opinion and get ideas for locations where he could be better displayed." One of the favourite options already put forward is the centre of the Skipton Road roundabout, on the approach into Keighley from Beechcliffe, with him looking out towards Rombalds Moor. Others include Church Green or an area of land at the bottom of Cavendish Street.

The statue -- sculpted by John Bridgeman -- met with a mixed reaction from the public when it was swung into place on its plinth in the shopping centre, in May, 1968, and it has frequently been at the centre of controversy over the years. In the early 1970s it featured in the cover design for a proposed Girl Guide year book, but the idea caused shockwaves because of the structure's semi-naked appearance. The book was never produced. And suggestions in 1986 that Rombald should be moved to Ilkley, so that he would be nearer his "home", met with a huge outcry. Public demand kept him in Keighley.

If you have any views about the statue and where it should be sited, please drop a line to the News Editor at our offices, at 80-86 North Street, Keighley. We will publish a selection of the suggestions and pass them all on to the town council's general purposes committee.