Details of when the Margaret Thatcher statue will be installed in Grantham town centre - and its unveiling ceremony - could be revealed next month (July).

In the meantime, the project for the bronze statue of the country's first female Prime Minister has taken a step further forward.

South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) planners gave the go-ahead in February for the statue to be erected on St Peter's Hill, but the council still needs to approve samples of the granite plinth and surrounding paving and receive a written scheme of archaeological investigation.

Applicants Grantham Community Heritage Association (GCHA) has now provided a sample of the proposed stone to be used for the plinth and details of a programme of 'strip, map and record' investigations to be undertaken of the areas covering the footprint of statue site.

The council's decision is still pending.

Graham Jeal, director of the Margaret Thatcher statue project and trustee of GCHA told Grantham Nub News: "Work continues on the project and we are pushing forward.

"The archaeological investigations will be undertaken over the summer.

"We are also working through the details currently and hope to give an update on the project's timetable next month.

"This will include when we are thinking of installing the statue and more information about the unveiling ceremony."

Mr Jeal said decisions were a three-way conversation between the parties involved in the project - GCHA, which runs Grantham Museum, landowner SKDC and The Public Memorials Appeal, which commissioned the statue.

The organisations believe the statue will not only be a fitting tribute to a unique political figure, but boost the town's economy from visitors on both sides of the political debate who come to find out more about Baroness Thatcher's legacy.

The statue by sculptor Douglas Jennings was commissioned by the Public Memorials Appeal and, at 3.2m tall, is a life and three quarters size bronze memorial statue of the Iron Lady dressed in full House of Lords ceremonial robes.

Mr Jeal, who is also a South Kesteven District Councillor, launched the GCHA Margaret Thatcher Appeal to raise funds for the statue in 2012 when he was chairman of Grantham Museum.

A proportion of each donation goes towards funding the museum, which houses a permanent Margaret Thatcher exhibition.

"The original motivation for the project was to look at innovative funding initiatives to secure the future of the museum," Mr Jeal explains.

"It has proven to be really successful and we believe it will secure the short to medium-term future of the museum."

The statue has been paid for by The Public Memorials Appeal, a charity that commissions and erects memorials of historically-important people, with money raised by the GCHA appeal helping to fund the installation. No public funds have been used.

Plans to install the statue in Parliament Square, in London, were rejected by Westminster Council due to concerns it would be targeted by protesters.

The Grantham monument will be placed on a 3.2 metre high plinth, making it more than 6.4 metres tall in total, but still slightly shorter than the statue of Sir Isaac Newton.

Margaret Thatcher was born and raised in Grantham, where her grocer father Alfred Roberts was Mayor from 1945 to 1946.

She attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School, where she was head girl, before gaining a scholarship to study at Oxford University.

She was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, entered the House of Lords in 1992 and died in April 2013.

Picture: courtesy of sculptor, Douglas Jennings.