Plans to erect a statue of one of St Albans’ most notable residents’ in the city have been passed.

On Thursday, St Albans District Council decided the Samuel Ryder memorial will be located near Nationwide in St Peter’s Street facing the Old Town Hall.

The statue will recognise Mr Ryder, the millionaire former packet seed magnate and golf enthusiast whose name adorns one of the world’s most famous sporting events: The Ryder Cup.

Members from the Samuel Ryder Foundation are now looking to fundraise £150,000 towards erecting and maintaining the statue.

Patricia Foulton, trustee and co-chair of the foundation, said she was delighted.

She said:“We are very pleased this is now moving forward and we hope the people of St Albans will be pleased too.

“We can now start fundraising for this project and we hope that a proportion of the funding will come from local sources.

"We would like to express our thanks and gratitude to our architects Clarke and Whalen of Harpenden for drawing up the application and their help and guidance in getting it through the planning process.

"It would not have been possible without them. We would also like to thank former Mayor Maxine Crawley for her help and the time that she put into the project."

To make a donation visit www.sryder.com.