Titan, the ship's figurehead on Sheppey, needs an urgent facelift, says resident Amanda Green.

The Sheerness Town Team member, who lives opposite the giant fibreglass bust in Marine Parade, Sheerness, has called for the landmark to be repainted.

At the the team's annual meeting on Tuesday (Feb 6) at the Rumour cafe she said: "The figurehead is very popular with tourists, many of whom pose for photographs next to it.

"But it has faded badly since it was installed 34 years ago. It is falling into disrepair and desperately needs repainting. It is galling to see so much money spent on Sittingbourne and so little in Sheerness."

She is also up in arms after Swale council installed a bin for dog waste next to it.

She said: "I can't believe this bin appeared next to what is one of Sheppey's most popular places for tourists to take selfies.

"There are plenty of less conspicuous places such as behind the concrete flower planters where the bin could have been placed instead of where it is."

She also asked the town team, which organises flower displays in the town centre, to consider planting trailing shrubs in the high-level flower beds at the top of the sea wall to soften the look of the concrete. The beds are maintained by Swale council's contractors.

A spokesman for Swale council said: "We are aware he reproduction figurehead is showing signs of being out in all weathers so we are looking at what we can do to revive him.

“We have also asked our contractor to move the waste bin further along the parade.”

He added: “We seeded the planters along the sea wall last spring. Given the location, the seeds were picked to withstand the wind and salt and, whilst they did flower, these don’t provide the same sort of colourful display as more traditional bedding which wouldn’t survive in this location.

“We left the soil level low so there was some shelter from the wind to help the plants establish and we are hoping to see them again in spring.

"We also planted up the cubes in front of the figurehead with larger seaside-tolerant plants and they were doing well when last visited.”

The figurehead is a reproduction of the original in Sheerness Docks and was unveiled by former Swale mayor Cllr Hugh Curling on May 4, 1984, to mark the completion of the sea wall by the Southern Water Authority.

It depicts Titan from Greek mythology and was fixed to HMS Forte which served as the Royal Navy's flagship in the East Indies until 1872 when it was brought to Sheerness. It was set on fire and destroyed on November 23, 1905.

Figureheads were originally used to calm the sea gods and also came in handy in the early days to ram enemy ships in battle.