The widow of late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes is opposing plans to put up a sculpture recognising his work in his home village.

Carol Hughes has written to Calderdale Council to register her objection to Geoff Wood of Royd Regeneration’s plans for a two metre high cast iron sculpture, featuring two foxes around a milk churn, to mark the poet’s work and connection to Mytholmroyd.

The planning application, number 22/00243/FUL, which can be read in full on Calderdale Council’s Planning Portal, says the only public realm reference to Hughes is a small plaque near his former home in Aspinall Street although he is an international literary figure.

“We believe that the sculpture will enhance an area that has been recreated and upgraded by the works to the Flood Alleviation Scheme.

Ted Hughes’s birthplace at Aspinall Street, Mytholmroyd. Picture: Google. The proposed sculpture will be placed in Mytholmroyd village centre, if planning permission is given

“The birthplace of the poet laureate, Ted Hughes, deserves greater interpretation and this work will increase interest in his legacy,” says a supporting document.

But Mrs Hughes disagrees and says: “I am disappointed that the project has reached this advanced stage without involving any formal consultation with me as representative of Ted’s literary Estate.

“Ted was a passionate conservationist, with particular concerns about water quality.

“Some years ago, The Elmet Trust suggested a possible memorial in Mytholmroyd to celebrate Ted’s legacy.

“I stated firmly then that the most fitting memorial would be some well-defined environmental work to improve the canal, and possibly some seats for the public along the canal bank, definitely no statue of any kind, in my opinion, and certainly not an expensive statue of a milkchurn and two foxes.”

Mrs Hughes says for his final resting place, the poet chose that his ashes should be scattered on an area on Dartmoor in Devon, close to the sources of several rivers he loved.

“He asked for a slab of granite to be placed there with just his name and dates to be inscribed upon the stone. Simple and beautiful.

“This project, the design of the sculpture, even the idea itself, all seem to me totally at odds with everything that was important to Ted, and to the person he was,” she says.

Widow of late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes opposing plans for sculpture recognising his work