THE hunt is on to find a site for a statue saluting Southampton's most famous comic son.

National television pundit Garry Bushell has agreed to stump up £50,000 for a Benny Hill sculpture, as revealed in the Daily Echo last month.

Now city council arts bosses are embarking on a search to find an area of land suitable for the project.

There is still no permanent memorial to the former Eastleigh milkman more than 12 years after his death.

The statue is likely to be a huge tourist attraction, as his shows are shown in more than 100 countries.

Garry pledged to get a statue erected in the city after fan Roy Burge sent him a Daily Echo article published earlier this year on calls for the memorial.

He has enlisted the help of sculptor Graham Ibbeson, who created the Eric Morecambe statue in Morecambe.

City council chiefs have said on previous occasions that there was not enough in the coffers to pay for a memorial themselves. But Councillor Peter Wakeford, Cabinet member for tourism and leisure, said he was confident a suitable site could be found after hearing of the £50,000 offer.

Now public arts officer Liz Smith is in charge of finding land.

She said: "Any site that we do find will be subject to planning controls and an application would have to be put in.

"We have not seen any plans or drawings for it yet.

"I think the sculptor would like the statue to be put in a park.

"But the central parks in Southampton as well as the common are common land and therefore covenanted.

"As such we are prevented from putting anything in them unless we go to the Department for the Environment or the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister or go to a full Public Inquiry.

"I have been asked to put a list together of possible sites, which I will be drawing up."

If you can think of a suitable site for the statue, call Jamie Thompson on 023 8042 4760 or e-mail him using the link above.