Consultations will be held to help decide what residents want new public art in Andover to look like.

Artist Alex Hoare will be hosting three meetings with Andoverians in the town centre to get their ideas and feedback on what two new pieces of art for the Riverside Park should look like. This is set to be funded by £50,000 set aside earlier this year for new art in Andover by Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC).

The council’s leader, Councillor Phil North, said: “When planning to install two new pieces of art in Andover, we always envisaged this as a collaboration between the council and the local community. We want to make sure that we capture the imagination of people living, working and visiting the town so that we can produce something truly special that will be enjoyed now and for years to come.

“I hope that people enjoy taking part in the consultations and having the opportunity to work together to inspire the vision for the town’s new public art.”

Money for public art in Andover was set aside at a TVBC cabinet meeting held in March, where members voted to allocate funds towards artwork in the new estates. Svetlana Kondakova was given £27,000 to produce a sculpture for Picket Piece, while Tim Ward was given £69,000 to produce an arts trail in Picket Twenty.

In addition to this, £50,000 was set aside for artworks in the town centre. This includes £10,000 for the Four Fun Fridays arts festival, £20,000 for an art wall on Wilko’s facing the Town Mills Riverside Park, and £20,000 to “relaunch” the Poetry in Motion trail with new artwork, a poetry festival and a new guide.

This latter pot of money has now been put towards taking steps to move these projects forward, with Alex Hoare having being commissioned to understand what people think of the current art in town, and what they would like to see in addition.

Two pieces will be produced for the Riverside Park, which was officially opened this month after being completed in March. One piece is likely to be proposed art wall, with the other yet to be determined.

The consultations will each focus on a different theme, with June 20 looking at the heritage of the area and the River Anton, including the construction of a viking boat, writing poetry and designing a photo frame.

On June 26, the consultation will focus on trails and connections, with park maps being made, before the final consultation on July 4 will focus on river stories, with visitors making river-dwelling creatures.

The events will take place each day from 11am to 3pm.