Former miners have been left dismayed over plans to relocate an iconic statue - amid fears it will be "hidden away".

The figure, known as The Waiting Miner, is a memorial to ex-Kent colliery workers, with the ashes of some who have died being scattered there.

It currently sits outside the entrance to Betteshanger Country Park, Deal.

But now, more than 1,000 people have signed a petition against proposals to move it a short distance away inside the park - rather than on the road.

Campaigners say the present placing, where it is more visible, was agreed as the final one by the ex-coal miners' community.

The park is on the land of the former Betteshanger colliery, the last and biggest of the four mines of the Kent coalfield.

Petition organiser Gary Cox, himself a former Betteshanger miner, said in the petition: "The position where the statue is today was chosen by all four Kent mining communities, as its last resting place.

"When the memorial site was unveiled it was ordained by five different religions.

"Sadly some of the miners have passed away and have had their ashes scattered at the site and wreathes have been placed on the statue."

The statue has been on a roundabout on the A258 Deal to Sandwich road for 13 years.

But the trustees of the Kent Mining Museum want it moved immediately outside that centre, which opened last year and is inside the park.

This was announced on March 17 and the petition went online three days later, collecting 1,058 names out of a present target of 1,500.

"It needs to stay where more people can see it and not hidden away..."

On March 17, Mr Cox had written an open letter to Stuart Elgar, chairman of Kent Mining Heritage Foundation, which runs the museum.

He said: "The wishes of the community are astonishingly clear, their mining communities chose its present position and they have said a big no to you moving it now, or to ever moving it."

This letter, like the petition, appeared on Facebook and received comments of support.

Sarah Maycock said: "Please do not move this statue. It needs to stay where more people can see it and not hidden away in a park where far fewer people can appreciate it."

Sylvia Jones wrote: "Respect the mining community choice and leave it where they chose to put it."

But Mr Elgar, in the announcement of the move, said moving the statue inside the park will make it more accessible.

“It is the view of the Kent Mining Heritage Foundation and many former miners and their families that once the museum was open that the statue would be moved to a more appropriate location as part of a future phase of development," he said.

"This will make it more accessible, more secure and also link with important research projects, carried out by ex-miners, into those who had lost their lives working in the Kent coalfield.

"We have been working for some time on the best way to deliver that, in order to protect the wishes of the community.

"We have come up with a proposal that we believe would integrate it more closely with the work of the museum, while also providing an improved memorial space where people could come and reflect.

"We will continue to listen and take on board the views of the local mining communities as they progress.

"The trustees, many of whom including myself are all former miners, are driven by how best we can share our story – and that is what continues to drive us."

Mr Elgar said that planning permission would have to be applied for to move the statue.

But he stressed that once it is outside the museum, it would be a focal point for visitors and would be given improved interpretation panels that will explain more about its history.

The bronze sculpture, with a miner's helmet and lamp, was first commissioned in 1966 by the Central Electricity Generating Board for a northern colliery before coming to Kent.

It was first placed at Richborough Power Station before being re-sited outside the National Coal Board’s then offices at Granville Gardens, Dover, finally going to Betteshanger in 2010.

Mr Elgar said once the statue is removed it may be replaced on the roundabout by a replica pit-head winding gear.

He added The Waiting Miner will be the centrepiece of a restored and improved memorial garden commemorating all those who died working the seams at east Kent's collieries.

It would also serve as a recognizable symbol to mark a site of mining heritage.

Kent Mining Museum, which opened last April, has had more than 24,000 visitors since.

The Kent Coalfield developed from the 1910s and the other three collieries were Chislet near Canterbury, Tilmanstone and Snowdown near Aylesham.

Betteshanger was the last to open, in 1924, and the last to close, in 1989.