BUSTS of Elgar and Jenny Lind are to be erected in Malvern Theatres - but the threat of vandalism has scuppered plans for replicas in Priory Park.

Malvern Hills District Council's executive committee has agreed to release £2,000 needed for stainless steel pedestals and plaques.

But a proposal to put replicas of the busts in the park was dropped because of fears that they would be vandalised.

Coun Alex Stewart-Cleary said: "Putting the busts back into the Theatres, I've no problem with that. I'm all in favour. But I'd say glass fibre models would be covered with graffiti within 10 days.

"We're having to put in patrols and I would say it could be a number one item to be vandalised."

Members had been asked to consider releasing a total of £3,800 from the Parish Initiatives Fund, which included £1,800 for the replicas and their plinths.

Sharon Gray, the council's head of economic development and tourism, acknowledged in a report that the busts were an important part of Malvern's cultural history.

She added that any installation would provide an additional attraction to the theatres complex.

The busts were removed from their original plinths in Priory Park in 1998, to make space for a compound required during the refurbishment on the theatres. It was agreed that they would be re-erected in a safe place after the work was completed.

Jean Dunlop, who helped fund the first Jenny Lind plinth in Priory Park, this week welcomed the council's decision.

She said she hoped Swedish opera singer Elizabeth Soderstrom would be invited to the unveiling of the busts on their new stands. Ms Soderstrom waived her fee after a 1987 concert in Malvern Theatres to pay for the Jenny Lind bust but has never seen it.