A STATUE of Nelson Mandela is set to be erected in a Glasgow street named after him.

Plans have been drawn up to site a lifesize solid bronze statue of the freedom campaigner on top of a 6ft high plinth in Nelson Mandela Place.

An open competition to select the sculptor will be carried out with the winning entry decided by a panel of experts including artists and anti-apartheid campaigners. It is expected the £150,000 work will be in place early next year.

The group behind the plan is the Nelson Mandela Scottish Foundation which was set up to increase knowledge and understanding of the statesman.

On August 4, 1981, Glasgow became the first city in the world to award Mandela the Freedom of the City.

As he was still imprisoned in Robben Island, where he spent 27 years for conspiring to overthrow the state, the award was received on his behalf by the vice-president of Nigeria.

Glasgow launched the world-wide Lord Mayors’ petition calling for his release at the UN in New York in 1984 and four years later St George’s Place was re-named Nelson Mandela Place.