The £21,000 oak giant – called Gauging the Ripple – has been removed from the side of the Millennium Ribble Link canal after five years of uninterrupted service.

Questions have been asked as to whether the statue has been properly treated to prevent against decay.

A routine inspection before Christmas found damage, rot and a crack in the calf of the monument raising concerns over its safety.

Now experts will inspect the statue, which is nicknamed The Ribble Piddler due to its particular posture over the waterway.

Ingol councillor Bill Shannon said: "It's as iconic for Ingol as the Statue of Liberty. One hopes that it was properly treated before the sculptor started working on it.

"There should be some sort of inquiry, it sounds absurd that it's only lasted five years. Looking out in my garden, I can see things that have lasted longer. But it is much-loved and I hope to see it return."

George Moore, secretary of the Lancashire and Cheshire Woodcarvers club, said: "If it's oak, it normally lasts quite a time. But it could have got an infection, possibly caused by damp.

"It depends how it's been looked after, it should've been oiled every year. It's not expensive, a gallon of oil costs about £11.

"To last for five years is very low. I would've expected it to last 30 or 40 years."

The 16-ft creation, which is visible from the road and the railway, took sculptor Thompson Dagnall five months to carve after winning a competition in 2002.

Mr Dagnall, from Bretherton near Chorley, said from the scene: "There's a problem with the legs and for safety reasons it's been pulled out to be repaired.

"Initially there's always a bit of a hooha when anything new goes in but it seems to have become a much-loved landmark."

The statue was commissioned by British Waterways as part of the £5.8m Millennium Ribble Link project, which saw the Lancaster Canal connected to the rest of the UK waterway network.

Iain Weston, North West works planner for British Waterways, said the statue was treated when it was installed. He said: "Oak should last without any treatment at all. To start rotting after five years is quite unusual, that's why we're getting experts to look at it.

"It's always a possibility that it may not return but we've every intention to do what we can to return it."

The two-ton monument was cut from its concrete base, lifted by a crane and taken by lorry to the British Waterways' North West maintenance depot at Burnley on Tuesday.

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