Sculpture to honour Scott Brash planned for Peebles

Plans to erect a sculpture to honour Scottish showjumper Scott Brash have cleared the final hurdle.

Scottish Borders Council has backed proposals to erect the statue in his home town of Peebles.

The sculpture of a horse and rider jumping a five-bar gate will be made from recycled and re-shaped horse shoes.

The 30-year-old made history in September as the first person to win showjumping's grand slam.

Riding Hello Sanctos, he scooped the sport's biggest individual prize of 1m Euros (£806,000).

Brash was part of the British jump team which won gold at the London Olympics in 2012

Community group Bonnie Peebles applied to the local authority to erect a statue in his honour at the junction of Edinburgh Road and The Bridges.

In their application, secretary Margaret Wightman said: "This new project is to recognise the amazing achievements of local lad Scott Brash who has gone on to be world number one showjumper.

"We are excited to have this idea for public art for all to enjoy and delighted with the design by Kevin Paxton, blacksmith. This site is ideal to display such a unique work of sculpture."

The group of volunteers, who improve and maintain parts of town, said the sculpture would be three metres high (10ft) and three metres wide.

Last year, Brash was the subject of a social media campaign after complaints that he was overlooked for nomination for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

British Showjumping said they were "naturally extremely disappointed" that he was not nominated.