A COMPETITION inviting children to design gargoyles for the Bodleian Library has been criticised as a slap in the face for good taste.

Details of the competition offering children the chance to create gargoyles for the historic library appeared in The Oxford Times last week. But the idea of children's work being placed on the north-west face of the 16th-century library has appalled one leading local conservationist.

And Oxford University has been accused of launching the competition before its plans were cleared with statutory bodies that protect old buildings.

Oxford University organised the competition as part of the county's millennium celebrations. It will see up to ten young people having their gargoyles placed on the Bodleian, where they will look down on the city for centuries to come.

But Peter Howell, of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society, said: "Only in our own age do we think it appropriate for children to design features of historic buildings. It would be an utterly fatuous way of replacing parts of a grade I-listed building. The competition cannot possibly be intended seriously.

"Listed buildings consent has not yet been granted for the removal of the existing decayed carvings. The city planning office had a duty to notify the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings of the application, amongst other statutory bodies, but failed to do so."

But Isobel Hughes, Head of Conservation at Oxford University, said: "The university has responded to requests from English Heritage for further information about why there is a need to replace the horizontal banding and gargoyles on the Bodleian Library."